Long Island Parent Talk

Holy Cabbage! Third-graders can grow oversized cabbages that reach up to 40 pounds if their teachers register their class now for the free National Bonnie Plants Third Grade Cabbage Program at bonnieplants.com.

Each year, Bonnie delivers more than 1 million 2-inch cabbage plants to schools nationwide where teachers distribute them to students along with instructions on how to plant them at...

If you have a Bank of America and/or a Merrill Lynch credit or debit card, you can enjoy free admission to several family-friendly museums and other cultural institutions on Long Island this weekend.

As part of "Museums on Us," more than 150 leading U.S. cultural institutions, in 91 cities across the country, open their doors to bank cardholders on the first full weekend of each...

On any given day, working mothers have many balls up in the air, so it’s no surprise that a study from Cornell University has found moms who work full-time outside the home tend to drop the ball when it comes to their child's diet and physical activity compared to stay-at-home moms.

Working mothers, a Cornell health economist said in the study's news release, spend, “per day, four fewer minutes...

If you're looking to take a break from the beach or barbecues this weekend, there are many fun Labor Day events for families. From a classic children's performance to exploring nature, turtles, art and more, there's so much to do on Long Island. Here are my top five picks for fun, family-friendly activities this weekend:

1. Shinnecock Powwow at the Shinnecock Powwow Grounds (Westgate Road,...

A new study from Northwestern University shows that people who wear white lab coats while completing “attention-related tasks” made half as many mistakes as those in their regular clothes.

A reporter covering the study for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggested that this might mean that students taking the SAT wearing a white lab coat might score better than those who didn’t.

While that’s...

In my ongoing quest to find tasty, kid-friendly meals for you that are healthy and appropriate for the whole family, this week I chose a smoothie recipe to help get your kids' minds ready for back-to-school. I found the recipe in "Eat This, Not That! For Kids: Thousands of Simple Food Swaps That Can Save Your Child From Obesity," by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding (Rodale; $5 on kohls.com...

When my son, Jonathan, was just under a year old, we ordered the “Your Baby Can Read” DVD collection, which uses a combination of videos, flash cards and pop-up books. He would watch intently as the words flashed across the TV screen and his favorite part of the DVDs were the songs including, “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.”

We then would use the flash cards...

Would you allow your teen to undergo a plastic surgery procedure if it would decrease bullying in school?

If so, you're not alone. According to a non-scientific survey on RealSelf.com, 68 percent of respondents are in favor of allowing teens to have plastic surgery to decrease bullying, while 32 percent are not.

Whether due to bullying or other motivations, teens are undergoing surgery...

Aspiring teen musicians can compete to create an original song or music video that either promotes healthy living or accurately depicts “the dark side of drug abuse” in a contest coordinated by the Partnership at Drugfree.org.

Entrants must be between 14 and 18 and enrolled in high school; they can work in teams of  two people. Entries must be received by Dec.3, and winners will be announced...

There are myriad tools available today for parents and children to stay connected, from old-fashioned phone calls — although my 16-year-old swears teens use cellphones only to text and use other apps, NOT to make phone calls — to texting, Facebook-ing and even tweeting. Tech-savvy kids have forced their parents to get up to speed on technology, including using another popular tool, Skype, a free...