Parenting With Playdate Planet – Meryl Neiman

On this week’s show, two very funny moms and I take a look at parenting behind the scenes: what most of us are really thinking and feeling as we spend our days wiping noses and checking for ear wax. Karen Bergreen is a stand-up comic who you may have seen on Comedy Central or at one of the comedy clubs in New York City. As a married mom of two boys and a couple of hermit crabs, she turned to writing as a means of cutting back on travel time. She’s now published two entertaining comic mysteries: Following Polly and her latest, Perfect is Overrated, about a former assistant DA who finally snaps out of her postpartum depression when mothers of her daughter’s pre-school classmates start getting knocked off. Jenna McCarthy is an internationally published writer whose work has appeared in more than fifty magazines, on dozens of websites, and in several anthologies. She’s very funny, she’s given a TED talk, and on top of that, she’s the author of several books that highlight her honest and humorous take on life, including The Parent Trip: From High Heels and Parties to Highchairs and Potties and her most recent, If It Was Easy They’d Call the Whole Damn Thing a Honeymoon: Living With and Loving the TV-Addicted, Sex-Obsessed, Not-So-Handy Man You Married. If these ladies sound like fun, they are! So make sure to tune in to hear their hilarious take on being a mom, and then check out their websites to read more. As usual, I will be blogging about this topic and sharing my humorous parenting moments at Playdate Planet’s Blog. Hope to see you there!

If you are going to listen to just one of my shows, this may be the one. On this week’s episode, I talk with author and educator, Tony Wagner, and entrepreneur and documentary filmmaker, Robert Compton, about the disconnect between what our kids are learning in schools and what they should be learning to be competitive in our new innovative, global economy. If our education system isn’t instilling the creativity, passion, problem-solving, entrepreneurial spirit that our children will need, then what should we be doing as parents to help them gain those skills? Tony and Bob have travelled the world to explore what other countries are doing, and interviewed young innovators and cutting edge businesses to answer this question. You won’t want to miss our conversation. To learn more about their project, purchase Tony’s book, CREATING INNOVATORS: THE MAKING OF YOUNG PEOPLE WHO WILL CHANGE THE WORLD, and watch Bob’s video interviews, head on over to CreatingInnovators.com.

Vacation time is almost upon us. If you have children in school, pre-school, or day care, that can mean a lot of days off for them and a lot of time to fill you for you! Scheduling a few playdates may be your answer. On this week’s show, Multiple Mayhem Mamma Samantha Kemp-Jackson and I exchange our best strategies for handling all things playdate related. We cover everything from what questions to ask before you drop off your precious child to how to handle a misbehaving guest. After listening in, If you’re inspired to start planning some playdates, head on over and discover the future of playdate planning at my free site Playdate Planet. Once you experience the easy way to plan playdates, I promise your child won’t be without a playdate and you won’t have to waste time scheduling them, ever again! If you want more great playdate tips from Sam, or want to read the rest of her wonderful book of practical parenting advice, check out her ebook Meltdown in Aisle 5: Top Parenting Tips From Multiple Mayhem Mamma. It has the best of all her blog content and is an affordable, easy read. What are some of your favorite playdate tips? Send me an e-mail at meryl@playdateplanet.com.

This week’s show explores what it’s like to be the odd man out. Literally. I talk with TV producer and writer, now also stay at home dad, David Wallach, about his experience as a minority in a world of mostly moms. You won’t want to miss this funny and eye opening look at what may be the newest playground wars. After listening to the show, you can learn more about David and follow his fathering adventures at his blog, Dad All Day.

Want your child to learn to think like an engineer? Want your couch potato kid to get moving? How about helping your reluctant reader get engaged with words? Want to accomplish this while having fun with your children? On this week’s show, we discuss how to use toys and goals to accomplish these goals and more. My guest, Jenn Choi, is the toy reviewer behind ToysAreTools. She works with child development experts and other specialists, as well as children testers, to find toys and games that kids love and that can serve as teaching toys. You’ll learn what some of her family’s favorites are, and how you can use these toys and games to work on important skills at home. If you want to test drive a whole lot of toys in person, I hope you will join me at the Chicago Toy and Game Fair on November 23 and 24. We will be hosting the World’s Largest Playdate and attempting to set a Guinness World Record for the most participants in a clapping game. Over 300 people have already pre-registered for this event and we would love to see you there as well!

Get ready for the holiday season and a whole new year of play by hearing from several powerhouses in the business of play about what is hot in toys and games for kids. My guests on this week’s very fun episode are: Mary Couzin, CEO and founder of the Chicago Toy and Game Group, which includes the Chicago Toy & Game Fair (“ChiTag”), the largest public toy and game fair in the country; Reyne Rice, the leading toy trends expert and commentator; and Traci Paige Johnson, co-creator of Nickelodeon’s Blues Clues and Super Why and the creative visionary behind her latest endeavor Yummico, a new children’s media company. If you listen in, you will learn about all the excitement happening at this month’s ChiTag as well as what toys you need to stock up on now before the holiday rush. If you are in the Chicago area, or are one of the thousands heading to Chicago over the weekend before Thanksgiving, please visit me at the Playdate Planet Booth and sign up now to participate in the World’s Largest Playdate and help us set a Guinness World’s Record. The first 300 registered child attendees will go home with a toy filled tote bag so you’ll want to make sure you sign up early!

Hundreds of millions of people follow blogs written by parents just like you. Have you thought about blogging yourself, but don’t know how to begin? Do you read blogs and want the inside scoop about what is going on in the blogging industry? Or perhaps you’re just a fan of Scary Mommy, one of the most popular mom bloggers on the Net. If so, then this show is sure to end up one of your favorites. On this week’s episode, I talk with Lisa Stone, the co-founder and CEO of BlogHer, a hugely successful blogging community and social publisher, about how women have taken to blogging to get their voices heard and profit financially. The show also includes my super fun conversation with New York Times best-selling author, Jill Smokler aka Scary Mommy, known for her frequently hilarious, and always honest, take on motherhood. After you listen to the show, you will want to head over to BlogHer and enjoy the amazing and diverse collection of voices represented on that platform. It’s also a great place to start if you want to try your hand at blogging. And don’t forget to visit Scary Mommy to catch up on Jill’s latest blog posts, read more about her books (they make great holiday and baby shower gifts!), and participate in her Thanksgiving charity drive.

The New York Times said of my guest this week, that “she is bigger than Justin Bieber, if you happen to be four or five,” and People Magazine calls her “the queen of kids’ music.” If you are a parent of young children, and you haven’t heard of Laurie Berkner, you’ll want to listen to this week’s show to find out what makes her so special and hear her sing some of her music, both old and new. If you already are a Laurie Berkner fan, then you know you are in for a special treat. During our conversation, you’ll learn about Laurie’s creative process, her new projects on television and on stage, and how you can participate in the launch of her new lullaby album by visiting her Kickstarter campaign. The campaign ends Monday, October 28, so make sure to head over there right away to join in the fun. What did you think of this week’s show? Do you have ideas for future show topics or guests? Please let me know at meryl@playdateplanet.com.

Our country’s drop-out rate is appalling and our students are performing well below those in many other countries. Many kids are distracted from schooling by the constant allure of their cell phones, video games, television, and the Internet so how can schools compete? Maybe instead of trying to distract kids from all this technology, we would be best served by using gaming principles and game designing itself to get kids re-engaged. My guest on this week’s show, Nikki Nava, is the CEO of Zulama, a game based learning platform that she developed with faculty at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center to give schools a way to teach critical programming, art, and design skills at the middle and high school levels. In our fascinating conversation, you’ll hear why learning how to make their own games may be a way to excite children about education and teach them those soft skills of collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving that they need for career success. Nikki also shares resources that parents can use at home to introduce game design to their children. You can visit the Zulama website to hear from educators and students about why the program works and learn more about how to get your school connected. If you want to learn more about what the leaders in education, technology, and gaming have to say or watch the work that kids are producing, check out Zulama’s You Tube Channel.

As parents, we all look for and take joy in our child’s important “firsts” – first word, first time rolling over, first time sitting up unattended, first steps . . . But although these noted benchmarks are significant and memorable, there are lots of other small developmental milestones that may be even more important indicators of whether our baby is on track towards success. The key is knowing what these are and how we can help our children attain and surpass these milestones. On this week’s show, I talk about raising a smarter and healthier child with positive parenting expert and speech-language pathologist Katherine Gruhn. After working for years with parents, school personnel, and other medical team members, Katherine realized that there was no resource that provided an easy check-list of milestones by age that parents and others could use to assess child development. So she created My Baby Compass, a comprehensive program that offers those checklists as well as age appropriate activities that parents can do with their children to help them reach these critical milestones. On this week’s show, you’ll learn: why the 0 – 7 age range is the most critical time for impacting your child’s development the key developmental milestones parents should be looking for by age what Katherine means by the “30 million word gap” and why that is so important for you as a parent to understand how parents can determine when intervention is warranted the problem with programs like Baby Einstein and academic pre-schools; and why language development is so crucial and what parents can do to promote that development

This week’s very special show gives parents and their children an inside look into how their favorite children’s books, TV shows, characters, toys and games are created. You might want to have your child with you as you listen to award-winning illustrator, author, and TV producer, Dan Yaccarino describe how he has developed some of our kids’ favorite books and television shows. He also shares tips for how parents can bring out their chid’s artistic and writing talents and you’ll find out the inside scoop on such varied topics as why Oswald and Willa’s Wild LIfe, take place in tech-free worlds, his favorite design style, and what it is like to work with famous actors to bring his characters to life. This show also includes an interview with children’s literacy advocate, Julie Blake, about her work with the Young Inventor Challenge, a contest that encourages kids to invent their own original toy or game, and children’s inventor workshops and camps throughout the country. Find out how your child’s idea could find a place on the shelves of your local toy store!

When we have children, we never imagine that the relationship with our partner may not last. But it’s a sad reality that many of us face. if you are a parent unhappy in your marriage or partnership, what should you ask yourself before making a decision to split? And if you do decide to go forward with a separation or divorce, how can you best protect the emotional and psychological well-being of your kid during and after the end of your relationship? On this week’s show, I speak with divorce & parenting expert, Rosalind Sedacca. She is the founder of the Child-Centered Divorce Network for parents and a regular contributor to dozens of national blogs and divorce websites. She’s also the author of How Do I Tell the Kids About the Divorce? A Create-a-Storybook Guide to Preparing Your Children – with Love and a divorced parent herself who successfully raised a healthy, emotionally intact son with her ex. She shares the six critical messages you must convey to your child when you tell him or her about the separation as well as concrete suggestions for co-parenting post divorce, including her recommendation for Kids On Time, a website that offers separated parents an easy way to reduce conflict through a shared calendar and easy communication system. After listening to this show, if you are interested in additional information, Rosalind has a free e-book for download on the ChildCenteredDivorce.com home page.

If men are from Mars, and women from Venus, then where in the world are teenagers from? If you are parenting a teen, you know that they are far from the person they might have been just a year or two ago. How do we communicate with this new breed? And what can we do when our children are younger to prepare for this difficult time? On this week’s show, Sarah Newton, know as the “teenage Super Nanny,” shares her unique wisdom on this topic.

Books truly are a child’s bridge to the future and the past, and to imagination and reality. However, with competition from television, video games, the Internet, and apps, are children still reading books? How are things changing in the publishing industry and will modern technological developments help or hurt the field of children’s literature? On this week’s show, I have fascinating conversations with three different guests to help address these questions: Steve Geck is the Editorial Manager for Sourcebooks publishing company’s Jabberwocky division, their children’s book imprint, and he talks about the health of the children’s book industry and highlights what new books parents can look for this fall; Jordan Lloyd Bookey is the co-founder of Zoobean, a curated book subscription service that lets parents easily find the perfect book for their child’s interest, and she shares why it is so important that books mirror a child’s world and also provide a gateway to the exploration of new and different ideas; Dr. Rafael (Tico) Ballagas is the co-founder and CEO of Kindoma, the maker of a revolutionary app that combines video chat capability and shared e-books, and he explains how sharing a story helps families connect long distance.

My guest Kristine Barnett, author of The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism, pulled her 3 year old severely autistic son out of his special education pre-school in an attempt to return his childhood and try to re-connect him to the world by nurturing his passion for the stars. HIs special ed teacher thought that he would never learn to read or even communicate very much. Fifteen year old Jacob is now beginning a master’s program in theoretical physics at one of the top universities in the world. Jake happens to be a genius as well as autistic, but Kristine’s experience working with hundreds of children with a broad range of IQs and special needs has convinced her that all kids have a spark. She believes that we need to find and explore that spark to maximize the positive potential of our children. During this remarkable interview, you will hear Kristine’s story and perhaps discover how you can find your child’s spark. After listening to the interview, if you want to learn more about Jacob or Jacob’s Place, the family’s charity devoted to helping children with autism, visit JacobBarnett.com. You can also connect with Jacob and Kristine on Jacob’s Facebook Page. What do you think? Should we be spending more time focusing on what children do well rather than what they can’t do? Could Kristine’s work be a roadmap for reaching children with autism? Are you the parent of an autistic or genius child? Send me your thoughts at playdateplanet@gmail.com.

For lots of children, the most important, and most anxiety provoking, aspect of starting the new school year is the social component. Making and keeping friends and developing strong social skills is harder today than it was when we were growing up. And some kids find making friends especially challenging. On this week’s show, you will get some incredible expert advice on how to help your child conquer his social challenges from mom, psychologist, and author, Dr. Eileen Kennedy-Moore. Eileen has a particular interest in childhood friendships and is the author of two wonderful books on this topic: Smart Parenting for Smart Kids: Nurturing Your Child’s True Potential and The Unwritten Rules of Friendship: Simple Strategies to Help Your Child Make Friends. Make sure to tune in to learn: What 3 types of children have the most trouble making friends and why Why playdates are so important How to help your child overcome his social challenges How to encourage friendship between siblings Do you have thoughts on this topic or suggestions for future shows? I welcome your feedback at playdateplanet@gmail.com.

Is your child anxious about starting a new school year? Are you? The back to school time is a challenging transition period for everyone involved, and the important subject of this week’s show. My return guest, author and educator, Rick Ackerly, and I talk about how we can partner with our child and the school to make this transition a positive learning experience for all involved. If you’re a parent, you either are in the midst of getting ready for your child to begin school, or you will be down the road, so make sure to tune in ! How do you handle gearing up for fall? Drop me a line at playdateplanet@gmail.com. If you’re looking for more great advice from Rick, make sure to follow his blog, Genius in Children.

Becoming a biological parent is the miraculous result of the successful completion of a complex process that includes ovulation, conception, and carrying a baby to term. For a significant minority of folks, however, this journey to parenthood is fraught with challenges. Whether you are struggling with getting pregnant or staying pregnant, the disease of infertility is an incredibly difficult challenge to face. On this week’s show, I talk with Barb Collura, the CEO of RESOLVE, the national infertility association, as well as father and The Daddy Complex blogger, David Vienna, who along with his wife endured almost a decade of IVF cycles and other infertility treatment before the conception and birth of his twin boys. One out of every 8 couples is impacted by infertility so even if you are fortunate enough not to be touched by infertility, it is likely that you know someone who is. Take a listen to this important show to get updated about infertility and learn how to support yourself or others in need. Then share what you have learned with a friend. Do you suffer from infertility? What has your journey been like? Share your story or feedback on the show with me at playdateplanet@gmail.com.

Those last days of summer break before school or pre-school resumes can be tough! On this week’s show, my guests and I talk about great summer activities that can help you and your children survive, have fun, and even learn, during this transition time. Jennie Ito is a development psychologist and play consultant for Leap Frog. She shares her favorite ideas or beating the summer doldrums including using recycled household objects and where she goes online to get inspiration for new play suggestions. Grant Cleveland is the CEO of DuneCraft, a company that makes great science kits for kids. He’s been growing plants from seeds since he was 5 and will tell you how your and your children can have fun with science together. Let me know what you think. Drop me a line at meryl@playdateplanet.com.

Last week, the New York Post reported that some rich Manhattan parents have begun paying $400 an hour for consultants to arrange and oversee play dates for their pre-school children so they can learn how to properly socialize with others and fare better in their applications to New York’s elite private schools. This is such a sad commentary on the decline of unstructured play in this country that I decided to devote this week’s show to talking directly to my listeners about why it is critical that we return play to our children. I’ll be speaking on a similar subject at the World Congress of Play in late September. Take a listen and learn why the best thing you can do for your kids is send them out to the back yard to play. It will make your life easier and your child more happy and more successful. After you have heard the show, please share your thoughts on this important topic by sending me an e-mail at playdateplanet@gmail.com. I welcome the input before my talk and I’ll be sure to update you all after the conference to let you know what the world’s play leaders have to say.