As the parent of two county school students, I had heard a lot of discussion among parents about the start times of all local high schools (7:17 a.m.). Now, as the parent of a high school student, I understand what all the fuss was about!  Getting my daughter out the door by 6:30 a.m. for the bus can create a lot of drama.   On one hand, I understand that the early school times provide enough time in the afternoons for sports teams to play games and for students who work to be able to earn more. Local businesses definitely have an investment in the issue. But at what cost? The National Sleep …

Last night my family and I watched Jamie Oliver's show called Food Revolution.  Jamie's goal is to change the way Americans eat starting with the lunches our children purchase from the schools.  He is often met with opposition in his quest to bring healthier foods to our schools for many reasons, including budget issues. Having been shut out, Jamie shifted his focus from the school board to moms.   In front of a crowd of moms, Jamie broguht to light many food issues that parents might not think about. Take milk for example. Most children who choose milk at school will choose flavored milk. …

My husband and I could not wait until our oldest kids were old enough to babysit our seven-year-old. For us, this meant the beginning of Friday night freedom.  We established Friday nights as our “date night” years ago, but sometimes paying a babysitter meant that we could only get an ice cream cone and walk around downtown. Now that our teenagers can babysit for us, we can once again see the inside of a restaurant that doesn’t serve ketchup in little packets. Guarding our Friday night dates together, whether fancy or frugal, has been very important to us. We need this time to reconnect and …

Abercrombie and Fitch has been in the news this week for pushing the envelope where modesty is concerned.  Mothers are outraged by their new "push up" bikini tops for children as young as eight-years-old. Abercrombie has since removed the words "push-up" from this item, but has not pulled it from their shelves.  What do you think? Where should the line be drawn when it comes to clothing for little girls?  Is the uproar over this type of clothing for young girls unfounded or do you think that mothers who buy clothing like this for their daughters are sexualizing them?

Editor's Note:  Welcome to Mom's Talk! Every Wednesday afternoon we devote the afternoon to producing conversations among local moms via the Internet and Patch. Be sure and tell us what you think in the comments! When my kids were younger, bedtimes were easily enforced. My daughter, never a good sleeper, never wanted to go to sleep. It was a battle every night for a while. But a routine of reading together at bedtime (with me reading to her and my husband reading to my son) every night always made going to bed easier on everyone. Now that my kids are older and are busy with homework, …

In light of this week's tragedy in Japan, I started thinking about the emergency plans we should have in place for our family. Currently, we are planless and I'd like to change that. I am heartbroken at what I see happening in Japan and I wonder how many families had a plan for what to do if the family got displaced or a tragic event threatened the normal way of life. No plan is full-proof of course, but we have all seen how important it is to create emergency plans and to discuss them with children.  I know some families have discussed meeting places or points of contact if they were to get …

Local mom Susan contacted Broadneck Patch and wanted to cover a particular topic for this week’s Mom’s Talk online conversation. The county school system has provided parents with ParentCONNECTxp, an easy-to-use communication tool that allows teachers to continually input student grades and attendance and assess student progress.  The thought was that parents and guardians of middle and high school students would now have online, timely, and secure access to their child’s grades and attendance through the website.  Susan has heard concerns about whether the system is actually accomplishing …

Did you catch the story recently on the boy wrestler who gave up his shot at the state championship because he would not wrestle a girl?  The 16-year-old boy is Joel Northrup and the 14-year-old girl is Cassy Herkleman. Both are high school wrestlers from Iowa pitted against each other in the first round of the Iowa State wrestling tournament. Joel walked off the mat and forfeited his chance at the state title because he would not wrestle with a girl. In an interview with Fox News, he said that he made this decision based on his moral beliefs. He did not believe it was right to wrestle a girl…

Editor's Note:  Welcome to Mom's Talk! Every Wednesday afternoon we devote the afternoon to producing conversations among local moms via the Internet and Patch. This week's Mom's Talk topic comes from Broadneck Patch contributor and Mom's Council member Rebecca Cleary who seeks your opinion on breastfeeding and politics. Be sure and tell us what you think in the comments! First Lady Michelle Obama and her comments in support of breastfeeding have been in the news this week. Claiming that American mothers should not be told how to feed their babies, Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann have both …

Editor's Note:  Welcome to Mom's Talk! Every Wednesday afternoon we devote the afternoon to producing conversations among local moms via the Internet and Patch. This week's Mom's Talk topic comes from Broadneck Patch reader and Mom's Council member Jan Hicks who gives us some ideas about how to keep kids active during these cold days. Be sure and tell us what you think in the comments!   So here we are in the middle of February. According to the groundhog, spring is supposed to come early this year, and even though temperatures have warmed up a bit, it's still only February, which means any …

Editor's Note:  Moms Talk is a new feature on Broadneck Patch that is part of a new initiative on our Patch sites to reach out to moms and families. Broadneck Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here on the Broadneck Peninsula. Each week in Moms Talk, local moms will start conversations, give advice and share solutions. Moms, dads, grandparents and the diverse families who make up our community will have a new resource for questions about local neighborhood schools, the best pediatricians, 24-hour pharmacies …