Mother Tongue

By Kristen Taylor

The Mother Tongue is a parenting column that Kristen (Juvie's owner) writes. It was published monthly in the Ventura County Star from 2004-2006, and now appears in the Los Feliz Ledger. Kristen's other publishing credits include the Christian Science Monitor, Because I Said So, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, and elsewhere.

July 28, 2010

Apparently, Helicopters Were Invented A Long Time Ago

I recently read a fascinating book about childhood that captured a sentiment that I think is common to parents today. In the book, titled, Where did you go? OUT. What did you do? NOTHING, Robert Paul Smith laments the loss of a child’s world of games, play and imagination, a private world, wholly separate from [...]

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July 28, 2010

Summer Conundrum

The American child-rearing schedule is a little odd. On the one hand, when the school year is in session we make the kids get up at dawn, work at school from 8 – 3, and spend the rest of the day occupied with homework, sports and lessons. It’s a harsh, Puritanical kind of calendar, suggesting [...]

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