Health alert: Stay Up-to-date on Vaccines

From the birth of your baby, carry a small notebook to each well and sick baby visit. Your health care professional will record this data in your child's chart, but you will want to keep your own records. Keep these records for your child's infancy through the teenage years.

Use a small notebook that can fit in your diaper bag, purse, briefcase, or pocket to record:

• height/length
• weight
• head circumference for babies
• vaccinations
• specific details of illnesses
• referrals to specialists
• test results
• instructions for treatment

If you are on-the-go, you can record this data in a "notepad" on your smartphone. Check out these apps:

• Total Baby -- http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/total-baby/id312198543?mt=8 $4.99 
• Doctor Appt Organizer Life --http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.smartware.mobile.android.officevisitlite-- Android -- Free

Learning Resources: AD/HD, Learning Disabilities, and More

CHADD of Greater Baltimore offers speaker meetings, parent-to-parent training, support groups for adults with ADHD, parent support groups in Dundalk, Hunt Valley, and Ellicott City. Go to the local CHADD site for more infomation about meeting dates, etc.

The Learning Disabilities Association of America offers practical advice and resources for parents of children with dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, These leanring disorders are often impacted by attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Click here for the LDA of Maryland. LDA chapter sites are available in the following counties: Calvert, Howard, Montgomery, and St. Mary's.

The Individual Differences in Learning Association works closely with the Howard County Public School System to provide professional development for teachers, support for families, and education for parents. Different learners are often known as twice exceptional, gifted/learning disabled, or gifted underachivers. These learners may also be diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia, Asperger's Syndrome, etc.

What Age Can a Tween Stay Home Alone in Maryland?

Latchkey Kids lists the minimum age requirements for kids to stay home alone by state. Many states do not have a set law in place. In Maryland a child can stay home alone starting at 8. Children between the ages of 9 and 12 are considered to be tweens.

It is up to each parent to decide when a tween should be left home alone. When considering whether your tween is old enough to stay home alone, evaluate the following:

• The tween's maturity. Is your tween mature or is your tween impulsive? If impulsive, staying home alone might not be the best option.
• How has the tween handled being home alone in the past? A good rule of thumb is to start your tween out by leaving him/her home alone for an hour, then go increase to two hours. If your tween is uncomfortable or nervous, wait some time before leaving your tween home alone. Some tweens are just not ready to be left alone.
• How will the tween handle a household emergency? Fire? Call 911. Injury? If minor, apply band aid, ice, then call mom. If serious? Call 911.
• Will your tween be allowed to cook? It is wise to set a rule that your tween is not allowed to cook unless an adult is present. Many household fires are caused by not turning off the oven.
• How will the tween handle phone calls? You could have the tween answer all phone calls and take a message. Or, perhaps, you would prefer the tween to only answer calls from mom, dad, or a trusted friend. Let all other calls go to answering machine.
• Does your tween know all important numbers -- mom work, mom cell, dad work, dad cell, Grandma? Leave all important numbers in a prominent place in the house or on a message board with phone numbers.
• How will the tween handle the front door? Will the tween answer the front door? It would be best to have the tween ignore the knock on the front door, since it might be a delivery person, someone selling something, or a repair person. 
• What is the tween supposed to do if a friend calls to play outside? Is the tween allowed to go outside? Should the tween not answer the phone?     

Each family needs to decide how to handle a tween staying home alone.

Play It Safe This Ski Season

Liberty, Whitetail, and Roundtop are all playing it safe. All three ski resorts -- located several hours drive from Baltimore -- participated in National Safety Month held in January .

The Safety Initiative campaign -- Heads Up -- was created to help ski area operators address slop safety education for their guests. The National Ski Areas Association, along with the National Ski Patrol, the Professional Ski Instructors of America, the American Association of Snowboard Instructors, and Willis and AIG insurance companies were instrumental in creating the Heads Up campaign. The primary goal is to continue to reduce the frequency of accidents, while communicating a proactive, strong safety message.

Heads Up is just one of a number of campaigns designed to keep kids, tweens, teens, and adults safe while skiing. Lids on Kids -- developed by the National Ski Areas Association -- seeks to educate parents about the need for people of all ages to wear helmets, particularly children, tweens, and teens. Lids on Kids is a kid-friendly website. Kids can learn the Responsibility Code:

1. Always stay in control.
2. People ahead of you have the right of way.
3. Stop in a safe place for you and others.
4. Whenever starting downhill or merging, look uphill and merge.
5. Use devices to prevent runaway equipment.
6. Observe signs and warnings, and keep off closed trails.
7. Know how to use the lifts safely.

Source for Responsibility Code: Lids on Kids.

Other ski safety campaigns:

• Smart Style for freestyle terrain snowboarders
• Freestyle terrain user's guide
• Kids on Lifts

Interested in local to Baltimore ski areas? Check out Lewisberry, PA's Ski Roundtop; Liberty Mountain near Gettysburg, PA; Whitetail in Mercersburg, PA; and Wisp in McHenry, MD.

How To Help Your Tween Be Successful in School

Homework is a given. From the time a child enters kindergarten, parents become familiar with learning spelling words, practicing math facts, reading books to mom or dad, and other projects. As the child progresses in elementary school other assignments are added, for instance, science fair projects, the school spelling and geography bees, weekly spelling and math tests, and of course, standardized tests. Schools rely on parents to provide a cohesive learning environment for students at home.

The school-home connection is vital in the middle school years. Ironically, it is during a student's middle school years that parental involvement in school wanes. A middle school principal provides a comperehensive list of how to maintain the school-home connection.

What are local counties doing to foster the school-home connection?

Anne Arundel Public Schools Office of School and Famly Partnership encourages a collaborative relationship between school and parent. School materials can be translated in to eight languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, Urdu, Korean,. Spanish. Taglog, and Vietnamese, thus allowing parents new to the U.S. to communicate with teachers and administration. 

Baltimore City provides parents with the tools they will need to help their children succeed. Baltimore City's Learning At Home site lists the curriculum for each grade as well as access to the password-protected Parent Portal. Parents are given tips and resources to help their children succeed both inside and outside the classroom.

The Parent Support Services of Baltimore County school system assists families in supporting student achievement. Parents are given materials to support parental involvement and are provided with learning opportunities by Baltimore County Public Schools. Parents can access tutoring information, learning at home resources, and information on how to navigate the parent-techer conference.

Carroll County Public School's Parent/Family/Community Involvement Board endorses the following standards: Communication; Parenting; Student Learning; Volunteering; 
Decision Making and Advocacy; and Collaborating with Community. Interested parents of Carroll County students can apply to be Parent Guides helping other parents navigate the school system.

A Parent-Student Handbook & Calendar helps Harford County parents stay connected to the schools. A comprehensive listing of resources includes HCN Television's Homework 4-1-1, High School Assessment Resources for Parents, Tutor Referral Contacts, and the Helping Children Learn Newsletter.

Howard County parents wanting to know about before- and aftercare schedules, explanation of report cards, school readiness, and much more can access the Parents and Community section of the school system website. 

The Howard County Family Math Support Center helps families:

• Gain a better understanding of their child's math program. 
• Refresh or build understanding of math concepts, skills, and practice.
• Provide additional support and practice opportunities for students as needed.

Other Resources for Baltimore Area Parents of Tweens

•  My Child's Academic Success -- U.S. Department of Education
•  Simple Ways to Support Kids in Middle School -- SchoolFamily.com
•  Parent's Guide to Middle School -- Education.com
•  Parenting resources -- Middle school meetings;  paperwork for parents and homework for kids. and it wouldn't be middle school without drama!