KidsTerrain Topics In The News

Earlier this year, Food Network’s chef Jamie Oliver launched a televised food revolution about saving America’s health by changing the way you eat. Oliver stresses that parents must find out what their child is eating at school, and urge schools to switch from processed to fresh food.
Alarmed by the rising obesity rates and the amount […]

If your child has been diagnosed with a learning disability, you may be thinking about and wondering how your kid will get through homework, tests, class projects, and school reports.
Understanding Special Education Programs is not easy for parents. How can you ensure your child has the best chance to reach his or her full potential?
One […]

A comprehensive anti-bullying legislation is, at last, law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is now, however, up to the schools, the parents, and the kids themselves to take all the necessary steps to eliminate bullying from our schools, our streets, and cyberspace.
I’ve written numerous blogs on this topic, beginning with the 2006 suicide of […]

A few weeks ago I had to prepare a short talk on finding sparks of holiness. As I pondered where those sparks may exist in the ordinary moments of life, I thought about the remarkable young people whose stories I’ve shared via this blog. It is in the resilience of children that I find these […]

In 2004 after Hurricane Charlie swept through Florida, seven-year-old Zach Bonner went door to door with his little red wagon to collect water, tarps, and other supplies. He collected 27 pick-up truckloads of supplies for those in need. Moved by the generosity of others, Zach founded the Little Red Wagon Foundation in 2005 to help […]

A couple of nights ago I was awakened at 3:45 a.m. by a torrential rainstorm. After the intense thunder and lightening subsided, and still unable to get back to sleep, I turned on the television and began flipping through the channels. That mindless activity halted when my ears pricked up upon hearing an unfamiliar word: […]

Eleven-year-old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover hung himself after enduring daily taunts at school about being gay. This child’s death is one of several middle-school aged child suicides linked to bullying this year. Carl, a junior at New Leadership Charter School in Springfield, MA, who did not identify as gay, would have turned 12 on April 17 […]

Today, 1 in 150 individuals is diagnosed with autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. And according to the U.S. Department of Education, autism is growing at a rate of 10-17% per year.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are pervasive development disorders that characteristically include communication and social interaction impairment, and repetitive […]

First there was “thinspiration”. . . and now we have “pro-ana” (pro-anorexia) and “pro-mia” (pro-bulimia)– websites dedicated to promoting the idea that eating disorders “are a good thing.”
This month, the National Eating Disorders Association’s NEDAwareness Week, the largest eating disorders outreach effort in the country, is scheduled for February 22-28. The goal is to reach […]

First there was “thinspiration”. . . and now we have “pro-ana” (pro-anorexia) and “pro-mia” (pro-bulimia)– websites dedicated to promoting the idea that eating disorders “are a good thing.”
I recently visited one of the pro-ana web sites and I was horrified to find postings and journals, mainly from young females asking for “help.”
Here’s a sampling of […]