From one moment to the next, my 5-year-old became obsessed with turtles. She decided that what our family needed was not a dishwasher that scrubbed dishes or a garden with live plants. No, we needed a turtle. When she couldn’t spur her parents into action, she did what any smart kid does: She picked up [...]
“Did you hear that?” I asked my girls as they ate dinosaur chicken nuggets and juice boxes for dinner. Their little faces dropped. “What was it?” “I heard something upstairs, maybe in your bedroom.” Their eyes widened as they searched my face to see whether they should be happy or scared. “Maybe it was the [...]
As part of the Coffee Break series on Wednesday, Nov. 28, Dr. Jerry Weichman, a clinical psychologist and adolescent specialist, will be speaking on parenting today’s teens and pre-teens at the Aliso Creek Inn and Golf Course from 8:30-10:30 a.m. The presentation will include the latest trends in the teen environment, how to parent more [...]
School board incumbent Jan Vickers describes how she intends to proceed should the school-funding measure Prop. 30 fail as well as how foster parenting has increased her empathy for the necessity of early intervention.
The Laguna Beach chapter of Mothers of Preschoolers and Older, a place where moms can turn for answers or support from others, meets 9:30-11:30 a.m. Thursdays at Laguna Beach Presbyterian Church, 415 Forest Ave. The first meeting is scheduled for Sept. 20 and visitors are welcome to attend the meeting to learn more about the [...]
Resident Anna Krajec continues to wrest meaning from her family’s courageous journey battling their young son’s inoperable brain tumor. Along the way, the Krajecs encountered an extraordinary outpouring of community support before Christofer’s death in 2008, short of his 4th birthday. Drawing from her own bittersweet parenting experience, now Krajec aspire to prepare would-be parents [...]
Editor, (This letter was also addressed to City Council member Toni Iseman.) My stance on the Social Hosting Ordinance is very similar to my opinion on the homeless issue. Let’s enforce the laws that are already in place! It is illegal for minors to possess alcoholic beverages, it is illegal for minors to consume alcoholic [...]
Parenting Method #261 I’m finding it difficult to whine about motherhood these days. Perhaps after 11 years, I’ve perfected a method to this parenting madness. Granted my girls are older and out of the dirty-diaper-oops-I-pooped in my-panties phase. Also, public restrooms are no longer extremely fascinating there fore trips to the bathroom are minimal. [...]
Creating A Social Future My eldest daughter, Lisa, shared a profound insight about the differing parenting experiences between herself and her sister Jennica. “Mom, I realize that I have been a lazy parent in a lot of ways, simply because I could get away with it since my children fall within the ‘norm’ in [...]
Campus Re-Opens for Night Session Arts Night at Top of the World Elementary earlier this month drew 330 families. The school’s multipurpose room was successfully transformed into “The Dolphin Gallery” for the evening, and featured a visual arts piece exhibited by every student in the school. Talk on Parenting in the Digital [...]
When Crème Brulée Isn’t Good Enough There are the milestone moments that we think are the important days of our lives: graduations, weddings, anniversaries, etc. We photo document the event and now we Facebook or Tweet it while it is still happening, as if it is so important that everyone must know what we’re doing. [...]
By Kate Rogers, Special to the Independent Coffee Break, part of the Laguna Beach PTA Council’s parent education program, plans sessions next year on nutrition, critical thinking skills, and raising children to be achievers. Coffee Break presentations provide an opportunity for parents, school personnel and community members to hear from professional speakers about a host [...]
Plain Speaking Mark Dressler, a drama teacher extraordinaire who has supplied leadership for the drama programs at Laguna Beach schools for many years, took the time to write a note to the editor in response to my column of a few weeks ago about the “Think It Over” parenting project at Thurston Middle School. As [...]
Plain Speaking Mark Dressler, a drama teacher extraordinaire who has supplied leadership for the drama programs at Laguna Beach schools for many years, took the time to write a note to the editor in response to my column of a few weeks ago about the “Think It Over” parenting project at Thurston Middle School. As [...]
Police Use Taser to Subdue Assault Suspect
An assault involving three men escalated into a struggle with Laguna Beach police, who ultimately deployed a taser twice to subdue the younger combative suspect in the 300 block of Cozumel around 1:15 a.m. Friday, May 10, police said. Police ultimately arrested Laguna Beach resident Sergio Gabriel Borgognone, 51, for allegedly resisting arrest and his [...]
