Horseback riding, canoe wars, frisbee golf, anxiety, loneliness and stomachaches – summer camp can be a bittersweet mix of fun activities and homesick moments. Separation from parents and home is an important developmental milestone for children, but homesickness can put a real damper on a kid’s experience.

Ready to help your child give up a pacifier? Here are some tips for navigating the tricky transition.

Do you ever wish you could be a kid again? When the days of carefree playing, learning and exploring were priority number one! Where meeting the neighborhood kids for an impromptu game of Red Rover, climbing to the top of the trees, and chasing fireflies until called in for dinner were the day’s ‘to-do list’. The only stresses revolved around homework and which Saturday morning cartoon to watch. Our best friends were our brothers, sisters and the next door neighbors. Parents were the super heroes and Hollywood stars who made our home feel like the greatest place on Earth. Let’s not forget what we lived for-- Summer Time! When that final school bell rang, it meant three whole months of fun, fun, fun! No homework, playing all day, vacations and summer camp! Some things never change. Our kids still countdown the school days until they can enjoy those same carefree summer days and nights. And the simple ways of the past can be loved by our children, too. Plan a summer that they will never forget. We can create a simpler time, against the backdrop of video games and laptops, by helping them see summer as we used to.

When the BP oil spill disaster happened a couple of years ago in the Gulf, no one knew the extent of the damage or when the leak would be controlled. To the chagrin of hotel and restaurant owners on the Coast, tourism waned drastically over the summer months. My own family had made reservations to stay at a condominium in Fort Morgan over the Fourth of July weekend, a trip we wished to replicate from the summer before. However, when tar balls started washing up on the shores of Dauphin Island, too close to Fort Morgan for our comfort, my husband said he no longer felt good about our plans. Paying beach prices when we’d likely not be able to use the beach, he said, just didn’t make sense, so before our opportunity to cancel the trip expired, we reluctantly pulled the plug.

So much about family road trips has changed! I remember the big deal it was when FM joined AM on the radio, but now—OMG —kids have more entertainment and ways to interact and connect than ever to stave off boredom and enjoy the ride.

For decades, parents have loaded their children up in the car and headed to Panama City Beach for their spring or summer vacation. But if you haven’t been in a few years, now is the time to go. Long known for its emerald-green waters and white sandy shores, the destination has recently experienced a tidal wave of growth and development. Perhaps the greatest example of this growth is the opening of the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, which opened in May 2010. Luckily, this charming beach town with Southern hospitality is within a three-hour drive of the River Region.

I never thought I would be a ‘minivan’ driver. Before kids, I drove a two door coupe and then a sedan. I loved the “hipness” of my coupe and the comfort of the Accord. Even with the addition of two kids, there was still plenty of room to fit and travel in style. I can distinctly recall the panic that set in, standing in the driveway watching my husband try to install the third car seat between the other two. Aside from a miracle occurring, it was not going to happen! And, of course, this was not sitting well with my full ‘nesting’ mode. I found myself practicing my breathing skills learned in Lamaze, and trying to hold back tears, when my hero husband suggested it might be time to upgrade to a larger family car. We found ourselves testing SUVs and not feeling completely satisfied with the second row designs. Then it was suggested! Have you ever thought about a minivan? There it was. To me, the final transition from youth to adulthood. Reluctantly, I gave it a test drive, including strapping all the car seats into place. Within moments, my fears were replaced with calm and I became a ‘Minivan Mom’! Thank goodness we made that plunge, because to our surprise, number four came along a few years later. His seat in the van had been waiting for him all along!

 I get exhausted just thinking about how much clutter kids are born with: clothes, shoes, diapers, wipes, bottles, toys, stuffed animals, paperwork and on and on. And it only gets worse as they grow up and start to participate in activities outside the home (think ballet shoes, softball equipment, Scout projects, homework papers and such). Sure, you can tell your kid to clean his room, but chances are he has too much and won’t even know where to start. Why not give a few of these tips a try to help your household recover from clutter?

You’ve consulted books, logged onto web sites and asked your friend, but you’ve still got niggling questions about feeding your baby safely that no one seems to know the answer to—until now. To help you sort through the confusion, we rounded up top pediatricians and baby safety experts to answer some of your most burning baby food questions. Bonus: Their answers might even save you money!

You’re strolling with your baby regularly and deskinning your chicken--but you’ve still got leftover pregnancy pounds that just won’t budge. What’s going on? One possibility is that you’re expecting too much too soon. “To get back to your old weight, give yourself a year,” says Fran Grossman, a registered dietitian at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. It can take that long, especially if you’re not nursing and you gained more than the recommended 25 to 35 pounds.
Still, if pregnancy weight lingers past your baby’s first birthday, it’s time to look at your lifestyle habits, says Grossman. For new mom Ilise Kesslin, her nemesis was deprivation dieting. “I realized that when I restricted the food I could eat, I binged later in the day on snacks,” says Kesslin, who now eats whatever she wants, just in smaller portions. As a result, she says, “I’m skinnier than I was before my pregnancy.”