The Nest — #parents

I’m a mom from Iowa, juggling responsibilities left and right — but not the ones you might expect. Between running my three wonderful kids around to sports events and family outings, I’m busy putting out fires — literally. I’ve been a professional firefighter for over two years, and if I’d known sooner how fighting fires would completely change my life, I would have started years ago. Being a firefighter is tough, but so is being a mom. I’m always learning, always facing new challenges, always staying strong for the people around me. Fortunately, firefighting has taught me a whole lot...

Today’s grim anniversary brings up the question for parents, yet again, of how to talk about the terrorist attacks with children, because directly affected or not, even the smallest Americans have felt the reverberations of the terrorists attacks. (Gary Hershorn/Reuters)“Anniversaries, especially when associated with media coverage, often resurface feelings related to a difficult event such as 9/11. Parents and friends can offer support by helping children anticipate this reaction, advise them on how to limit or handle grief triggers (which might include limiting exposure to media coverage of the event) and offering additional physical presence and emotional support around the...

    Over the next few weeks more than three million first-year students will show up to well-manicured campuses all across the nation to begin their first semester as college students. It is a special time filled with excitement and random worries about the unknown for students and the families sending them off. Many of these students will be the first in their family to attend college. The success of these students is critically important to achieving President Obama's goal of America having the highest proportion of citizens in the world with a post-secondary degree or credential. Numerically, this goal...

  The 20-year-old son of a Swiss millionaire has been sentenced to almost two years probation for trying to scam a new Ferrari sports car.  According to local media reports, he organised arsonists to torch his Ferrari 458 so he could buy the newer model with the insurance payout.  The car, which was one of 15 owned by the un-named man, had an estimated replacement value of close to £200,000. His other cars include a Lamborghini.  The arsonists took the Ferrari over the border to the German town of Augsburg, where they set fire to it in an industrial car...

Approximately 32 percent of students report being bullied at school. Bullied students are more likely to take a weapon to school, get involved in physical fights, and suffer from anxiety and depression, health problems, and mental health problems. They suffer academically (especially high-achieving black and Latino students). And research suggests that schools where students report a more severe bullying climate score worse on standardized assessments than schools with a better climate. This is all common sense to educators. They have known for decades that students need to be in safe, supportive learning environments to thrive. And the vast majority care...