The Best of the Rest of the Web: Twinkling Stars, Remembering 9/11, and the Other F-Word

From the NYMetroParents September issue, a selection of thought-provoking, laugh-inducing, and just plain interesting facts and quotes from the web and the world of parenting.

“Stars twinkle because they’re trying to say hello to you.”

—Margaret McNamara, the Christopher Award-winning author of the Fairy Bell Sisters series, in a wistful post about “The Magic of Summer” and the transformative nature of vacation—a perfect read as the season winds down; McNamara lives with her family on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

“I remember one weekend, when I was around 17 years old, I was going on a date. The boy was picking me up, and he made the fatal mistake of honking his horn to let me know he arrived. I knew, instinctively, that there was no way my father was letting me out of the house. Eventually, the boy came to the door—and my dad told him I wasn’t permitted to go out with someone who didn’t respect me enough to get out of the car and greet my parents. I was mortified at the time, but that lesson stuck with me through the remainder of my teenage years, and beyond that.”

—Rosemarie Coppola-Baldwin, a dedicated mother of two children, guest lecturer on women’s civil rights, and a lawyer who has practiced for the City of New York, on Rachel Simmons’ Leadership for Life blog, where Coppola-Baldwin is a frequent contributor, in a post entitled “The Mommy Vortex: Lessons on a Little Respect”

A Day for Remembering

“I am still shocked when someone invites me to something frivolous on 9/11. This day remains different in NYC. We remember not just because we lived through it, but because these were our fellow New Yorkers. And I want my daughters to know they should be proud to be New Yorkers, but not take for granted this amazing city full of different cultures, languages, food, energy and opinions. I know I never will.”

—Rebecca Levey, writer, social media expert, founder of KidzVuz (a community of user-generated videos by and for tweens), and Manhattan mom to twin daughters, on her personal blog, beccarama.com

“You have family parties to go to, a house to take care of, kids to keep busy, work that you have to go to every day, people who want to spend more time with you….instead of saying to yourself: ‘My life is so stressed!’ Why not try on: ‘My life is so FULL!’”

—Donna Sirianni (@DonnaSirianni), a Long Island-based single mother of three children ages 13, 8, and 5, former high school biology teacher and soccer coach, actress, and public speaker (we’d say she’s qualified to comment on being overwhelmed—ahem, busy), now owner of Moving Forward Seminars

The Other F-Word

boy covering ears One of the mistakes that mothers make when they are talking to their sons is they ask them how they feel. Please don’t ask them about the F-word—feelings! Ask him what he thinks and he will talk to you more. Boys talk better when they are doing something [like shooting hoops], when you are not sitting and talking in their face—and when you don’t use a feeling word.

—Dr. JoAnn Deak, a widely recognized educator and psychologist whose most recent book is Your Fantastic Elastic Brain (her bio is so impressive and chock-full of noteworthy experience and accomplishments we cannot encapsulate it here; go to deakgroup.com) in a video at kidsinthehouse.com; read more of her research-driven advice from a recent 92Y panel at nymetroparents.com/deak.