Is playtime over for kids?

Now everything is pre scheduled and gone are the days when kids could play at their friends' home, leave when they want and walk home. Children don't have the freedom to storm out and run home after a fight, they have to wait until a parent picks them up. The organic nature of socializing is lost when kids depend on adults to tell them when the playdate is over. Now even recess, the last arena for free play is being replaced or augmented with recess coaches.

At home young children are spending up to 28 hours a week on computers and other technology demonstrating that how they learn to negotiate the world from a very young age is very different from their parents' childhood. in The New York Times, David Elkind writes about how children are learning about the virtual world often at the expense of the social world.

New Health Care Policy for our Twentysomethings

Obama's health care reform acknowledges what many parents of twentysomethings already know. Our children represent a large percentage of the uninsured. Thirty percent of 19-29 year olds do not have health insurance and 75% receive financial assistance from their parents. Over five years ago when my 21 year old son had surgery at Georgetown Hospital, I asked a nurse why he was in the pediatric ICU after the procedure. She said they don't consider surgical patients adults at 21 years old. Researching our book

Mom Can I Move Back Home

we heard so many stories about young adults delaying many of the rites of passages until their early thirties. Ian Shapira's article in The Washington Post explores what we have been watching for over six years.

Calorie Counts on fast food menus

The Obama health plan requires that 200,000 fast food restaurants display their calorie counts where customers we actually see them. No longer will this information be tucked in hard to find places. It may actually appear on the menu. Do you think this could effect change in the eating habits of the American public? I think it's a great idea-parents can use this information as a teaching tool for kids. There's no downside. Now you don't have to assume that one thing is the lesser of two evils. You will know which one is better for you to eat. Bravo- Obesity is a real public health issue and an educated public can make better decisions when they are informed.