During the school year, my hubby and I don’t watch much TV. Finding free time at home together as a family can be a challenge too — everyone is so busy. When the kids do have downtime, for the most part, they want to be left alone. But summer is different. Life slows down. Our…
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Kids & Family
Parenting
A year of parenting in NYC — it’s a helluva town
My oldest son will enter first grade in the fall. Impossible. A new school year marks not only Nate’s rocketing through the milestones of childhood, but…
Kids & Family
A new baby's first Shabbat
Our first grandchild was born in the wee hours of a balmy Friday morning. Shortly into our daughter’s difficult 25-hour labor, our son-in-law began a…
Mixed & Matched
I found religion. My partner left it. What will happen to our kids?
Dear Dawn: I’m the daughter of a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother who raised me with no religion. Finding my way into Judaism has been difficult and,…
Parenting
Looking to a 16-year-old border detainee for a ray of humanity
I have been thinking a lot about a 16-year-old girl whose name I don’t know. As of early last week, she was being held in a detention facility in Texas…
Jewish Life
Mitzvah leads to miracle as Folsom man gets a kidney
In 2010, Folsom resident and Israeli native Shahar Sigal performed a simple mitzvah, expecting nothing in return. But then life happened. He ended up…
Parenting
Motherhood has earned me a Ph.D. in waiting
When I was pregnant, I waited for my babies to arrive. Both were late. This was surely a sign. A few months after they were born, I was desperate for…
Kids & Family
Wilderness Torah expands as adherents age into parenthood
Nature Deficit Disorder. It’s a thing. And Berkeley-based Wilderness Torah wants to teach Jewish parents the antidote: Send the kids outdoors. Since its…
Parenting
Kindergarten, carefree no more
In a few weeks, my son’s kindergarten class will have a “step-up” ceremony to recognize the students’ completion of the school year and ascension to first…