Author: Wanda Venters

As we enter the “Hal-Thank-Mas” season life gets very busy! It is important to remember to actually listen to our children and not just herd them from event to event. Ask them what they remember liking from other holiday seasons. What would they most like to do next. Some of my children’s favorite memories are toasting pumpkin seeds–not carving the pumpkin.

Since Thanksgiving is a holiday centered around food I think it is important that every person contribute a dish–at least from the ages of 2 and up. Over the years some of the dishes have gotten really tasty and everyone has better memories of the holiday–especially the main chef!

Hallow Eve is upon us! Welcome all of our Imaginary Friends. Hallow Eve or Halloween happens the day before All Saints’ Day in the Catholic Church and many protestant denominations. In the US Halloween is a time for parties and candy.

There are different approaches to helping our children handle their sudden abundance of candy. Some parents carefully dole out the sweets. Others take a more laid back approach. I generally told my children that too much candy at one time could give them a stomachache and then let them decide what to do–only intervening when someone was clearly making themselves sick. I did stress careful brushing of their teeth during this time. I like to think of this as good time to learn about actions and consequences.

Whatever your approach, enjoy the day! As Garfield says–It is his favorite holiday!

Thirty years ago I finished my pediatric residency and had my first child. I started pediatrics and parenting at the same time. Since then I have had many opportunities to practice both skills and have learned many valuable lessons from the parents I’ve helped and the peers I have worked with.

In searching for a way to share this knowledge I thought about writing a parenting book. However as a parent, I found if really hard to find time to read parenting books. The concept for the unicorn books came to me in a dream—hard to turn that down!

Unicorn Stories

This land of unicorns is much like the world we live in but sometimes the unicorns can do magical things. Most of the time, the little unicorns are trying to figure out what the big unicorn are doing and the big unicorns are trying to figure out how to help the little unicorns grow up and be successful and happy. The lessons their stories teach us can help us in our world.

Exciting news! “Alec and the Sandman” and “Max Aprende Acerca de los Tiempos-Fuera” have joined “Mommy Has a Time Away” and “Max Learns About Time-Outs” on my author bookshelf and are now available as  paperbacks on Amazon.com with great illustrations by Dina Helmi and Matthew Benton! Check it out!