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All in the Family: Helping Your Overweight Child Make Healthy Choices

Mar 15 2018

I entered the exam room with a paper chart (back in the olden days before the electronic medical record), the patient’s name and the patient’s concern, “discuss weight.” I was no stranger to addressing issues like this with my adult patients; it was a routine part of my day, treating and making treatment plans for a patient’s well-being and overall health. What I was not prepared for was, on entering the room, to see a mother and her preteen daughter…the latter, not the former, being the patient. At that point in my career I had little experience with…

Oct 31 2017

As if summer didn’t commit its disappearing act yet again, here we are, facing down November, and I haven’t published my back-to-school post. No, the dog didn’t eat my homework (at least not this time), and I don’t really think of myself as a procrastinator (my fault usually lies in being the opposite). Honestly, it’s been tough adjusting to the new school year, and it still, a whole quarter down, feels like we are settling in. Looking back, it was a bad omen when we shopped for the usual cache of No. 2 pencils (sharpened!) and three-ringed binders (four different…

Jun 17 2017

It’s here! Summer break. Honestly, my head is spinning the school year went by so fast. And I feel totally unprepared. So I dug up this post from 2015 (which also earned a repost last year) to help refresh my brain on how to (and not!) navigate summer with kids. And I hope it helps you, too: Two years ago, as the school year drew to an end, I wrote a post that received some flak. In Hooray for Summer? (In retrospect, Horrors, It’s Summer! would have been a fun title…) I described the difficult transition for parents, myself…

Jun 09 2017

Homeschool is out for the summer! We did it. We really, really did it. 175 full days. Sometimes we hummed along without a hitch, and some days drug on. And on. And on. In other words, our school year was much like a traditional one, with ups and downs. And here are some of them: The “ups”: I got to spend lots of time with my kids. Every day. We haven’t spent this much time together since before the kids started all-day Kindergarten. I feel like I know them so much better in their “tween” stage; I’ve had more time…

May 23 2017

Summer, summer, summer. Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen. While sunscreen is recommended year-round to prevent burns, aging and the increased risk of skin cancer, in the warmer months we dress less and slather up even more. Have you ever wondered whether those chemical sunscreens are safe to use in such large-and-frequent proportions? In this repost from July of 2015, I describe some of the myths and facts surrounding the totally-tubular and ubiquitous poolside essentials. Everyone notices when someone sports that gorgeous sun-bronzed skin from a sunny vacation. But my family? The people who get sunburned through car windows? We return from a…

May 17 2017

It was four years ago that I attended a dry yet helpful seminar on learning WordPress. Soon after I sat down at my laptop and built a bare-bones website on which to enter my musings on being a parent. Fast-forward a whole presidential term later and no one is more surprised than me that in a few short weeks Pulseonparenting.com will reach 200 posts. When I hit publish on “Hello World (the sequel)” back in 2013 I thought I was embarking on a fun, new hobby that indulged my love for writing. I never expected to still be here on…

Apr 25 2017

The C scale wafts through the house from the front room, my son warming up his piano fingers for “When the Saints Go Marching In.” He provides the background melody for the fiddle piece his brother is working through for a recital. Then joining in is my daughter, learning the first few measures of Bach’s “Minuet I” on her violin. It’s a discordant masterpiece. No dueling pianos here, but rather a solo piano fending off violins attacking from two separate fronts. Whew. Just another afternoon of music practice. I have long been a lover of the arts, having sacrificed my…

Apr 18 2017

We had to think about it for a moment. Then we remembered: it had been four years since my husband and I took a trip together, just the two of us. How time flies, just like we were, taking an early morning flight to Boston. It’s not like we haven’t had the occasional “date night” but there’s something about the freedom a couple has when they can do things on their own schedule for more than a few hours at a time. Author Ayelet Waldman (Bad Mother: a Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace, 2009)…

Apr 10 2017

A couple weeks ago, in The Common Cold: Your Questions Answered, we looked at some of the lesser-known (but widely-wondered) aspects of that pesky triad of runny nose, sore throat and sneezing (etc.). Now let’s dig in to the burning question: What remedies really work to cure the common cold? Well, the bad news is no medication or remedy cures the common cold. And unfortunately, there are no prospects on the horizon. But the good news is there are options that help minimize symptoms and give relief while the virus runs its course: For the full gamut of symptoms: Rest and…

Mar 30 2017

It’s morning. I’m getting ready for school and hear my family in the kitchen. My husband’s rattling cough, punctuated by wall-shaking sneezes, echoes through the house. My daughter harmonizes with a wheezy, low melody. My older son, who normally sneezes three times in a row on a good day, seems determined to break the world’s record for ah-choos in rapid succession. And my younger son? Still out “cold” and I’m just letting him sleep. As for me, I’m dragging and achy and my throat is sore. I don’t have the sonorous coughing or sneezing like the rest of my family…

My name is Heidi Black and I have it all... Maybe not in the traditional sense of the phrase but I do feel I have it all: three beautiful, healthy children, a devoted husband and father and the privilege of being a Domestic Engineer. (I used to call myself a SAHM but that just doesn’t fit when my day is filled with coordinating 5 schedules and preplanning their execution, all up to a week in advance.) And now, indulging in a not-so-secret desire to write, and following the advice “write what you know” I am ready to share what I have learned from this ironic life journey and along with you, discover answers to those many questions related to parenting.

Category - blog

All in the Family: Helping Your Overweight Child Make Healthy Choices

Questions to Ask Your Child’s Teacher: the Sooner the Better

Hooray for Summer (Exclamation Point): Steps to a Successful Break (Question Mark)

Homeschool: a Year in Review

Are Chemical Sunscreens Safe?

Time to Spread My Wings and Twitter. Uh, I Mean Tweet.

Why the Arts are Important

Why Date Night is Important

What Cold Remedies Really Work?

The Common Cold: Your Questions Answered