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Tips for preventing kids’ ‘summer slide’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:52 GMT

Waterslides and playground slides are part of summer’s fun. But there’s one slide to avoid when the weather gets warm: the “summer slide.” That’s the loss over the long summer break of new skills gained during the school year.Summer slide isn’t new, but it has worsened because of education setbacks brought on by the disruption of schooling during the pandemic.On average, students lose two months of reading skills and nearly three months of math skills during summer break. What that means is they have to relearn those skills before they can move on to new material in the next school year. The good news is that parents and other caregivers can help minimize the learning losses.While that doesn’t necessarily mean enrolling your kids in summer school, it does mean intentionally weaving learning and skills practice into everyday activities.Starting a summer routine of reading at least 20 minutes a day goes a long way. Let kids choose their own re...

How to manage migraines in the summer

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:52 GMT

Severe weather conditions are enough to give anyone a headache, but temperature fluctuations are even more problematic for migraine sufferers.Dr. Rashmi B. Halker Singh, a Mayo Clinic neurologist, says the weather can trigger some migraine patients.For some people, migraines are debilitating. The intense, throbbing head pain is often so severe that it feels like the head will explode.“When people have migraine, they typically do have pain, typically moderate or severe pain, but they have other symptoms that go along with that,” says Dr. Rashmi Halker Singh.What triggers migraines?A migraine is a neurologic disease that affects people differently. Some migraine sufferers experience sensitivity to light, sound and smells.“It can impact their quality of life. It can impact their day. They typically have attacks which can be unpredictable,” Dr. Halker Singh explains.Extreme weather can affect various changes in the brain and cause a migraine.“Many people sa...

Athletic Joziah wants to be a mechanic

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:52 GMT

Joziah is a kind, sensitive and loyal friend. He is athletic and enjoys being physically active.  Joziah likes to play basketball and other sports with his friends. He has participated in various community leagues, and would like to be able to continue to have this kind of community involvement.Joziah is very outgoing and likes to engage with staff and peers at school. Joziah also enjoys spending time with his friends outside of school.Joziah will benefit from a family of any constellation. He should be either the youngest child or the only child in the home. Joziah can take his time forming strong, trusting relationships, so a family should be patient and supportive during the transition. The right family for Joziah will be supportive of his relationship with his sister and two brothers.If you’re at least 18 years old, have a stable source of income, and room in your heart, you may be a perfect match to adopt a waiting child. Adoptive parents can be single, married, or partnered; e...

Michael Chiklis, Sean Patrick Small take the court for HBO’s “Winning Time” Season 2

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:52 GMT

HBO’s retro hit “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” returns for its second season Sunday night at 9 with Michael Chiklis and Sean Patrick Small reprising their roles as Boston basketball legends Red Auerbach and Larry Bird.With the responsibility that comes with stepping into these sizable shoes, how did they pitch themselves into that mindsight?“Very carefully. With joy,” Chiklis, 59, answered, in an interview prior to the current actors’ strike. “We’ve been talking about all the ways that you can get all caught up with the responsibility of it. If you just get in your head, it would all go wrong.“So first of all, you have to trust. The producers and the writers are top notch – as are all the departments. Then you have to come from a place of authenticity, Like, ‘Hey, I respect these people and what they represented.’ Not just to the city of Boston, but the game of basketball to the country. To their legacy.”“It’s definitely shoes to fill,” Small, who turns 3...

Senior cat has cataracts – now what?

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:52 GMT

Dear Dr. John,I am a senior citizen living with a senior cat who is almost 15. I was ill at the end of last year and I had someone care for my cat while I got better and eventually returned home. While I was apart from my cat, the kind person who cared for him had him get an annual checkup and vaccines. I was told that he was developing cataracts. My cat does not seem to be blind at this time and still gets around my small apartment. The eyes also do not appear cloudy but then again, my vision isn’t too good either. How can I tell if he needs to have the cataracts addressed and what is the treatment? Is this usually in one eye or both and how quickly do they progress? Is this common and what causes cataracts in cats? I want my cat to be comfortable and not in any kind of discomfort or pain. Thanks! C.A.Dear C.A.,Cataracts in cats are uncommon especially when compared to dogs and people. The causes in cats for development of cataracts are not always clear and include genetics, variou...

Better communication key with children

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:52 GMT

Q. After four years of helping to raise my bonusdaughter, today was the first time I heard the words, “You’re not my mother!” I was appalled. I know I’m not her mother, but I really wasn’t prepared for how hurt it would make me when she said it. I need a good comeback! What’s good ex-etiquette?A. A comeback implies you are looking for the kind of response that will stop her in her tracks, and I think that may be missing the point.Her words are a symptom, not the problem itself. Better communication and consistency will be more effective than a snappy reply.The adults — and I mean all of them: mom, dad, and their partners — may be creating a problem without knowing it. It’s a classic communication breakdown, and the child is right in the middle.Most of the time, “You’re not my parent!’ is a signal that:1. The bonusparent’s approach is too direct, or it’s too soon for the bonusparent to demonstrate authority.2. The child’s parent and bonusparent do not consistently uphold their house ...

Zooey Deschanel can’t save final season of ‘Physical’ from fatigue

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:52 GMT

When “Physical” premiered in 2021, it had a lot of clever takes on the 1980s fitness movement, seen through the blood, sweat and tears of Sheila Rubin (Rose Byrne), a troubled housewife who gets her second wind by teaching aerobics.But the show slowly shed its sense of humor. In this third and final season, now streaming on Apple Plus TV, Rubin has become a basket case and has more in common with Natalie Portman’s ballerina in “Black Swan” than a leotard-clad Jane Fonda.The only person who seems to be having any fun is Zooey Deschanel. The “New Girl” star hasn’t done much acting in recent years, which may explain why she’s so eager to camp it up in her role as a rival instructor. She’s straight out of a Tennessee Williams play, always depending on the kindness of strangers — and perfectly toned abs.Her performance doesn’t really fit in, but at least it lifts your spirits, a goal the rest of the series gave up some tim...

Dear Abby: Son wants family to apologize for abuse

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:52 GMT

Dear Abby: My son is demanding that I tell his father and brother to call him to apologize for past behaviors and attitudes that hurt him. He says if I don’t, he will no longer come home for any visits. He lives in the East; we are in the Midwest. I have traveled alone to visit him, but it’s getting harder as my car and I age.His father had alcohol issues as well as mental health issues and was abusive, but has been sober for several years now. I have been in Al-Anon for more than 25 years and still attend meetings. I don’t know how to respond to my son’s demands. What’s your advice? — Mediating Mom in IowaDear Mom: I don’t blame your son for avoiding people who cause him pain. Tell him that an apology that is coerced is no apology at all. Part of addiction recovery is the requirement to make amends to those the addict has wronged or hurt. Your husband has not done that, nor has your son’s brother. Continue to visit your son as long as...

Philippine military condemns Chinese coast guard’s use of water cannon on its boat in disputed sea

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:52 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine military on Sunday condemned a Chinese coast guard ship’s “excessive and offensive” use of a water cannon to block a Filipino supply boat from delivering new troops, food, water and fuel to a Philippine-occupied shoal in the disputed South China Sea.The tense confrontation on Saturday at the Second Thomas Shoal was the latest flare-up in the long-seething territorial conflicts involving China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.The disputes in the South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest sea lanes, have long been regarded as an Asian flashpoint and a delicate fault line in the rivalry between the United States and China in the region.Philippine navy personnel on board two chartered supply boats were cruising toward Second Thomas, escorted by Philippine coast guard ships, when a Chinese coast guard ship approached and used a powerful water cannon to block the Filipinos from the shoal that China also claims, a...

Ukrainians move to North Dakota for oil field jobs to help families facing war back home

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:52 GMT

DICKINSON, N.D. (AP) — Maksym Bunchukov remembers hearing rockets explode in Zaporizhzhia as the war in Ukraine began.“It was terrible,” he said. He and his wife sent their adult daughter west to Lviv for safety and joined her later with their pets.Now, about 18 months after the war broke out, Bunchukov is in North Dakota, like thousands of Ukrainians who came over a century ago.He is one of 16 new arrivals who are part of a trade group’s pilot effort through the Uniting for Ukraine humanitarian program to recruit refugees and migrants during a workforce shortage. Twelve more Ukrainians are scheduled to arrive by Aug. 15 as part of the North Dakota Petroleum Council’s Bakken Global Recruitment of Oilfield Workers program.Some workers want to bring their families to North Dakota while others hope to return to Ukraine.“I will try to invite my wife, invite my daughter, invite my cat and invite my dog,” Bunchukov told The Associated Press a week after his arrival.The Bakken progra...