Parentella

Are you looking for ways to help monitor your child's homework and help them stay on track during the upcoming school year? Are you a busy parent who has a hard time managing your child's school calendar as well as your own?

Parentella is an online portal for all things relating to your child's classroom. The dashboard includes a section for Homework, Field Trips, Announcements and Special Activities. There's even a gallery for teachers to share photos from classroom events and where parents can learn more about what goes on between drop-off and pick-up!

Even though my son's school has their own system for providing parents with information, I plan on recommending this to their staff since it's a beautifully designed, easy-to-use program that allows parents and teachers to communicate and make sure everyone's on the same page. And it's all password protected to ensure the privacy of your family.

So whether you have a child in daycare or high school, Parentella is a wonderful tool to help you remember what it is your child is assigned to work on over the holiday break, or what the school supply list included when you lose the paperwork that comes over the summer.

Next Generation Parenting

Through Facebook, I was introduced to a parenting blog with great articles and resources. Next Generation Parenting. Founded by a husband and wife who have a baby on the way, the site is set to launch in early 2009. They're looking for bloggers to contribute to their site. Already, I'm impressed with the content that I've come across, from the article on Teaching Kids about Money to that of fingerprinting your child - the articles are relevant, interesting and include some fabulous contributors, all in one site.

Head on over to read articles categorized under education, teenagers, communication, child development, safety, special children, motherhood, entertainment and several others.

You can also join their Facebook group to be kept up to date on the latest articles and resources.

Child Abandonment

I wasn't surprised to read about the Nebraska father who had dropped off his nine children, - abandoning them - at a local hospital due to overwhelming stress and his inability to care for them any longer. What parent wouldn't be stressed with nine kids, let alone a man who was somehow trying to do it on his own, after the death of his wife. Talk about emotional overload.

What did shock me, however, was the "backlash" that officials have now created with their insistence that now the laws in that state must be changed. In other words, or what I'm hearing at least, is that older children who are being raised by parents who are so stressed that they are actually contemplating walking away, must remain in that abusive situation.

I know, there is no abuse that we know of being brought up here in these recent cases, but wouldn't that be the next step? If a parent has less last-minute options, what are the choices he or she would feel that would be left? Leaving these children in a neglectful situation?

I'm not sure what's worse, sending out a message to these parents - and children who are old enough to read and hear the news - that just because a parent no longer wants to be a parent, means that no one else should have to pick up the slack, or the helpless feeling of needing to walk away in the first place?

Changing the state laws would be very irresponsible, in my opinion. What I would have liked to hear officials say is that there are resources available to parents to help reduce the stress in their lives and offer a list of these services and support groups and community resources that are out there.

I'm a Certified Parent Educator who works with parents that have kids ranging in age from newborn (or even parents who are expecting) to teens. There are Certified Parent Educators across the country - and in many countries outside of the U.S. - wanting to help parents and families and helping them to to avoid these last minute impulses to abandon their children.

Learn how you can become an advocate for children by becoming an instructor yourself.