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All Work and No Play: Why Your Kids Are More Anxious, Depressed - Esther Entin - Life - The Atlantic

"An article in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Play details not only how much children's play time has declined, but how this lack of play affects emotional development, leading to the rise of anxiety, depression, and problems of attention and self control.

"'Since about 1955 ... children's free play has been continually declining, at least partly because adults have exerted ever-increasing control over children's activities,' says the author Peter Gray, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology (emeritus) at Boston College. Gray defines 'free play' as play a child undertakes him- or her-self and which is self-directed and an end in itself, rather than part of some organized activity.

"Gray describes this kind of unstructured, freely-chosen play as a testing ground for life. It provides critical life experiences without which young children cannot develop into confident and competent adults. Gray's article is meant to serve as a wake-up call regarding the effects of lost play, and he believes that lack of childhood free play time is a huge loss that must be addressed for the sake of our children and society."

Pioneer Woman: This is what homeschooling looks like.

"But as my preschooler draws various dinosaurs from his favorite board book, correcting my pronunciations of words a boy his age should not know how to say and my now 2nd-grader hands me last year's history book, apparently finished during her late night bedtime reading sessions just for fun, I'm realizing that school has already started.

"In fact, it probably never really ended last May."

snopes.com: Delayed Drowning Deaths

Sometimes erroneously called "dry drowning," these are cases where water in the lungs prevents oxygen intake, but the effects are delayed, sometimes as much as a day. Symptoms are extreme fatigue, changes in behavior, and difficulty breathing. Click the link to learn more. Anyone involved in a near-drowning incident should be closely monitored for at least 24 hours.

Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning

Parents, especially, you need to click that link and read the article.

"The Instinctive Drowning Response - so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it does not look like most people expect. There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind. To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) - of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening (source: CDC)."

World's Eeriest Abandoned Places - Lehigh Acres, Florida

My wife's parents owned a vacation home here for a time.

Welcome - Haus Germana Kapeller

I think this is the Privatzimmer where my wife and I stayed while visiting Salzburg in September 1990. It is one of several B&Bs on Kasern Berg, north of the city, up a hill from the Salzburg Maria Plain station. The home page mentions that they show Sound of Music in the breakfast room in the evenings and another page mentions being able to catch the Sound of Music tour bus. Let's Go Austria and Switzerland describes the hostess as "lively, gregarious," which fits my recollection.

Open Mic at the iMonk Cafe: What Might Boys Read? | internetmonk.com

Many, many good suggestions, beyond Harry Potter and Narnia.

YouTube - Aerosmith Guitar Hero Opening Act - KMOD Tulsa - Sweet Emotion

Please click through to YouTube and watch my nephew's video! He's in third place and gaining ground!

Op-Ed Columnist - The Best Kids' Books Ever - NYTimes.com

Nicholas Kristof's recommendations include The Hardy Boys series, Anne of Green Gables, The Wind in the Willows, The Prince and the Pauper, and the Harry Potter books, plus a bunch you may never have heard of. In a blog entry, the Kristof children offer their own book recommendations.

Lenore Skenazy: Why I'm Raising Free-Range Kids

Skenazy writes that DVDs of the first five seasons of Sesame Street (1969-1974) are labeled adults-only, because they show kids playing on their own: "'These early Sesame Street episodes are intended for grown-ups.'... The wimps at PBS refuse to sanction any notion that kids can play on their own anymore. So now it's modeling the NEW norm: Constant parental supervision."