The documentary BABIES is a delightful and often hilarious look at the lives of four babies from birth to their first steps.

The babies come from extremely different surroundings: a yurt in Mongolia, a modern apartment in Tokyo, a mud hut in Namibia and a middle-class house in San Francisco. The film cross-cuts from one to the other, without narration, letting the babies’ personalities and adventures tell the story. Babies often is slow-paced, but that’s part of its charm – the camera keeps rolling as life goes on. More…

Category: Uncategorized // Posted on May 12, 2010 // Leave a Comment

Children First for Oregon released it’s 15th Annual Essay and Policy Recommendations last week, entitled Keeping Children Safe: Improving Oregon’s Child Welfare System. The essay and policy recommendations provide a detailed analysis of Oregon’s child welfare system and outline a set of nine policy recommendations designed to strengthen families and keep kids safely in their homes; ensure that when safety requires children be removed from their homes, they move to safe and stable environments; and ensure that youth aging out of foster care at age 18 have the support they need to successfully transition to adulthood. More…

Category: Uncategorized // Posted on May 10, 2010 // Leave a Comment

We first printed this in our Mother’s Day issue in 2006. We reprint it here, again, as food for thought for mothers (and fathers) everywhere, as they celebrate Mother’s Day.

If asked what Mothers’ Day is all about, most of us would say, simply, that it’s a day to honor mothers. We do that, for the most part, on Mothers’ Day with gifts, flowers, cards and more.
But the original idea for Mothers’ Day in America wasn’t about elaborate brunches or jewelry or chocolate. Truth be told, it wasn’t even strictly about honoring mothers but rather about honoring what all mothers want – to see their children grow up healthy, strong and safe. More…

Category: Uncategorized // Posted on May 8, 2010 // Leave a Comment

Our April issue features a thoughtful article about Free Range Parenting, inspired by Lenore Skenazy and her Free Range Kids movement, blog and book. Now Skenazy has a new campaign going, one that’s getting lots of attention everywhere from Twitter and parenting blogs to the NY Times. Skenazy is proposing we declare May 22 “Take Our Children to the Park… And Leave Them There Day.” More…

Category: Uncategorized // Posted on May 5, 2010 // 2 Comments

Some time ago, the staff of Metro Parent came up with a system for evaluating family outings. We call it the “Five E’s” analysis: Does the outing provide Education, Entertainment and Exercise? Is it Economical? And does it have minimal impact on the Environment?
We are SO LUCKY to live in an area where the possibilities for family outings that meet all of the above criteria are nearly endless.
For example, on Wednesdays you can head to Leach Botanical Garden for a Honeybee Hike or enjoy Tadpole Tales, a nature walk hosted by the Columbia Slough Watershed Council. On Fridays, the city of Portland sponsors Ladybug Nature Walks and More…

Category: Uncategorized // Posted on April 7, 2010 // Leave a Comment

The City of Portland has developed a pilot program to help up to 500 qualified Portland homeowners finance and install energy efficiency upgrades. The program, called Clean Energy Works Portland, offers homeowners access to low-cost financing for energy-efficient home improvements, from adding new insulation to installing high efficiency furnaces or water heaters and more.

According to the program Web site, your home may qualify if:

* You own and live in your home More…

Category: Uncategorized // Posted on April 5, 2010 // Leave a Comment

Last week my husband took our son to the coast for two nights. I stayed home because I had two big work projects to finish, but I still had my evenings free. (To be honest, I had my late afternoons free as well.) What to do?

This was a big event for me, only the second time in over nine years that I’ve been home alone for more than 24 hours. I considered various More…

Category: Uncategorized // Posted on January 6, 2010 // 3 Comments

Ignore the rain and get out to some of the great events happening this weekend in the area. As always, check our online calendar for many, many more ideas.

Saturday, Nov. 21
Tapestry of Tales Family Matinees. This is the Multnomah County Library’s family program day for its annual story telling festival featuring Will Hornyak, Anne Rutherford, Eth-Noh-Tec (pictured) and others. Ages 5 and up. Free; tickets given out 30 minutes before events. See Web site for times and locations. At 7 pm the final “Tellabration” occurs with three storytellers. Ages 8 and up. Free. First Unitarian Church, 11011 SW 12th Ave. www.multcolib.org/events/tales/events.html.
Family Day at Oregon History Museum. More…

Category: Uncategorized // Posted on November 20, 2009 // Leave a Comment

The US Department of Agriculture released findings this week that hunger is on the rise in America: 49 million people – 17 million of them children – were unable to consistently get enough food to eat in 2008. That’s 14.6 percent of all American households, a 3.5 point jump over 2007.
The study documented both “low food security,” which describes people unable to consistently get enough to eat (49 million) and “very low food security,” describing those unable to eat because there wasn’t enough money for food. In the latter category – very low food security – there are 12 million adults and 5.2 million kids. Nearly half a million are kids under age 6 – which represents a 300 percent increase.
In Oregon, the number of “very low food security” households went from 3.9 percent in the last report to 6.6 percent in the most recent. Oregon is now among the five states with the highest hunger rate, in the company of Mississippi, Maine, Oklahoma and Missouri. Only Mississippi, at 7.4 percent, had a higher percentage than Oregon of hunger.
You can read more details about hunger in Oregon at this link. To donate to the Oregon Food Bank, click here. To learn about other actions you can take to help hungry people, check out the Oregon Food Banks’ Advocacy Alert.

Category: Uncategorized // Posted on November 19, 2009 // Leave a Comment

It’s your last chance to enter to win a Sunriver Traditions Getaway for a family of four! Traditions at Sunriver Resort is a month-long celebration of the holidays that takes place from Nov. 26 through Jan 1 and features more than 150 family-friendly events.
Metro Parent and Sunriver Resort are giving away a Family Traditions Getaway that includes:
• Two nights lodging
• Breakfast with Santa for four
• Teddy Bear Tea for four
• Children’s Christmas stockings for two
• Two 50-minute “Riverside Relaxers” (massages) at Sage Springs Spa
Click here to enter to win! (For more information about Sunriver, click here.)

Category: Uncategorized // Posted on November 9, 2009 // Leave a Comment

In last week’s Metro Parent e-newsletter, we reported that Disney is offering refunds on Baby Einstein DVDs purchased in the last five years. Disney agreed to offer the refunds after the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood complained to the FTC, requesting that Disney stop claiming that Baby Einstein videos were educational for infants. Click here to learn more about how to claim your refund.
Here are some astonishing findings from the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood’s Web site: More…

Category: Uncategorized // Posted on October 26, 2009 // Leave a Comment

One day several years ago, my younger son and I were driving down Sandy Boulevard, when we saw a billboard that we took note of.
Now, normally, my “taking note of” a billboard with children in the car would consist of helping my kids “deconstruct” whatever it is the sign is trying to tell us – or, more likely, sell us. I’d ask my kids things like: Who is this ad aimed at? What methods does the ad use to convince you to buy the product? How does the ad make you feel? And other similar queries. (Click here for some great tips on helping your kids deconstruct media.)
On this day, however, the billboard we drove by had been spray painted with this message in large letters: “THINK FOR YOURSELF”
Wow. That day I walked a fine line between encouraging a discussion of what the graffiti “artist” was trying to convey and applauding vandalism. More…

Category: Uncategorized // Posted on October 20, 2009 // 2 Comments