Eat your peas, please!

BY KIMBERLY DISHONGH SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Dinner in households with young children is really more about adventure than appetite. Mealtimes are, in fact, sometimes wrought with whining, complaints and clenched jaws — from children not happy about the food on their plates and from parents who want their children to just eat already. - Wednesday, September 3, 2008

HEART & SOUL : Possibility is defined by culture of family

JENNIFER HANSEN

Lately, I’ve been noticing the profound effect family culture has on our adult choices. The early patterning we receive at home that tells us what’s possible and what’s not can influence the course of our lives. Sometimes it fits us well, or supports us as we grow beyond it. Other times it constrains us, or even stunts our growth. - Wednesday, September 3, 2008

FORCES OF NURTURE : ‘Never again!’ fades as family’s love grows

CINDY MURPHY

They say plenty of people have one child because they don’t know any better. They can’t truly anticipate how brain-scrambling the experience is. The sleepless nights. Postpartum depression. How your marriage temporarily takes a back seat, feels like it’s falling apart and then, hopefully, reinvents itself. - Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Networks roll out more kid-friendly fare

BY BECKY KRYSTAL THE WASHINGTON POST

There’s plenty of new family television fare to entertain and educate this fall. Tots can develop critical thinking skills while playing along with Imagination Movers. Grade-school pupils can settle down to watch Turbo Dogs. And ’tweens, teens and their parents can relive the horrors or happiness of middle school with some big-time stars in Gym Teacher: The Movie. - Wednesday, September 3, 2008

PARENTING : Ending sister’s tantrums benefits older girl

JOHN ROSEMOND

DEAR MR. ROSEMOND: My 4-year-old daughter still has very bad tantrums. When she throws a tantrum while we are on an outing, I immediately take her home. However, this affects her older sister, who complains that she did nothing wrong, but is also being punished. Is there something I can do so that the older girl is not affected by her sister’s punishments ? By the way, I’m typically alone, so leaving the younger child with another parent is not an option. - Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Book shelf

— Karen MacPherson, Scripps Howard News Service

Off to First Grade, Louise Borden (McElderry/Simon & Schuster, $16.99, ages 4-7 ) Louise Borden uses poetry to capture the joy and nerves of heading into a new school year. Borden’s free-verse poems are wonderfully readable, offering just the right touch of friendly reassurance to young readers. Joan Rankin’s clever watercolor illustrations, featuring a variety of animal characters, add further fun. - Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Check your knowledge

1. In apparently the first such crossing, two 60-year-old gondoliers rowed a gondola in July 2001 across what body of water? 2. What was composer Beethoven’s first name? 3. Rome fought what adversary in the Punic Wars of more than 2,000 years ago? 4. How many times was President George Washington married? 5. What is the official language of the United Nations? 6. Which U.S. president was called the “Great Communicator” ? 7. Was the car pet sweeper invented by Hoover or Bissell? 8. The largest leg bone is on the inner side of the leg. Name it. 9. A long ton consists of how many pounds? Answers 1. The English Channel 2. Ludwig 3. Carthage 4. Once, to Martha Dandridge Custis Washington. She was a widow who had had four children. The marriage to Washington was her second and last. 5. French 6. Ronald Reagan 7. Melville Bissell, in 1876 8. Tibia 9. A long ton consists of 2,240 pounds. - Wednesday, September 3, 2008