Teddy Bear Clinic Eases Kids' Fears of Hospitals

Registration ends Friday for event that helps families be comfortable at Saint Barnabas Medical Center.

If being in a hospital is scary for adults, it can be terrifying for children. To lessen their anxieties about being in the hospital, Saint Barnabas Medical Center is inviting children ages 4 through 8 to bring their teddy bears or favorite stuffed animals to a Teddy Bear Clinic on July 20. (Registration ends July 15). The event will follow an open house format where children will learn about medical equipment and procedures to become comfortable with visiting a hospital. Together, children and their stuffed animal “patients” will visit a series of 16 interactive play stations so that kids will have a good time learning that they don’t have to fear a trip to the hospital.  “The Teddy Bear Clinic is designed to be similar to the experiences…

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Three of Hearts

When Life Throws You a Curve Ball

Talking with your children about a loved one's hospitalization

Be honest. Listen to their questions. Answer in terms they understand. That was the mantra I repeated to myself to prepare for one of my most dreaded conversations ever.  Last week I got the sudden call my father had a stroke. I rushed up to be with him. A few days later we had the very optimistic news he was on the road to recovery. I then headed home to tell my kids what happened and get them ready to visit grandpa. My boys are 6, 4 and 2. My 6-year-old is very perceptive. My 4-year-old does whatever his older brother does. Telling them both together, I was framing a conversation for a 6-year-old while making sure I catered to the difference in the emotional maturity of my 4-year-old. I was also anxious. For their benefit, I had to be …

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Early Intervention: Making the Right Call for your Child

Reaching the developmental milestones

No parent wants to admit there is a problem with their child; some developmental milestone they just aren't reaching. Our youngest of three recently turned 2 and he barely talks. He babbles and has a word here or there but gestures are the main way he gets his point across. From experience and from friends who have multiple kids, we found that sometimes the youngest in the family is just a late talker. His or her siblings do all the talking for them and they don't need to rely on their words. We thought this was the case with our son. We were wrong. At his recent annual examination our pediatrician thought it was time to give early intervention a call. Early Intervention is a state funded program that, in part, helps children reach their …

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Jennifer Tornopsky

8:40 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011

Thank you Loren! Hopefully someone who is debating the process or just doesn't know where to begin will find this helpful. The process can be daunting and left on your own to find the information can also be a little intimidating. I've been on the other end of the spectrum too with teachers expecting my three year old to have mastered his site words (an article for another day). I appreciate your…   more ›

Escaping Into Your Backyard

Starting your spring garden

It might not seem like it by looking outside but Spring is officially here. With the change in season, this past weekend brought warmer weather and the chance to play in the fresh air. Wanting to be outside and together, we took this as an excellent opportunity to start cleaning out our garden.  Playing in the dirt can be fun. We hauled out all our garden tools and set forth raking out leaves, rocks and other foreign objects from the winter debris. Each child had their own implement and set forth on their own little spot of land. They each also had a bucket to capture a garden assortment. It gave them an individual project within the group project. We raked and played making patterns in the dirt for well over an hour together. Once we were…

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Where Peace Lives

Simple as a Prayer for the Center for Champions

Church takes 'leap of faith'

All it took for the Center of Champions, 30 Ashwood Terrace, to become a registered nonprofit was a prayer on the bottom of the Bethany Church bulletin ... and patience. Six years of patience. OK. It also took a leap of faith of the 25 white parishioners on the West Orange church's search committee to offer the job to a black pastor nine years ago. The Bethany Church had it's roots in Orange on Cleveland Street back in the early 1900s. "It was 1936 or 1939, the Norwegian, English-speaking immigrants of the congregation decided to move to West Orange," according to Pastor Zack Guyton. "Two women, one 94 and the other 96 yeas old, are still parishioners and their husbands helped build the church with their own hands." Now, for the 25 white …

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Carol Selman

1:13 pm on Sunday, July 25, 2010

Rudy, Thank you for telling this inspirational and important story. Thank you from the bottom of my heart...Carol   more ›