For many families the return of a school routine brings with it a gap of time when kids will be home alone on weekdays. Recent statistics show that nearly five million kids, ages 14 and under, are injured in the home each year. The vast majority of those injuries occur when children are most likely to be out of school and unsupervised, so the time to create a safe “home alone” environment is right now.

Special needs come in all shapes, sizes and ages. There are plenty of Metro children in need of a mentor. Someone to look up to, someone to call when they have problems or questions, someone to help them with life. My 26-year-old niece Lindsey McGee found out what a difference one person can make in the life of a child.

Skyrocketing fuel costs are causing many families to cut back on their summer vacation plans. The high price of gas actually provides a great opportunity to discover (or rediscover) one of Oklahoma’s greatest natural resources—the 50 state parks which reflect the diversity of our Sooner State.

I’ve always wondered how working moms in the TV news business balance the juggling act of career and motherhood. There are few positions in a newsroom where you can establish a set schedule for home life.

With apologies to Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon, it’s the stuff dreams, and some of life’s best memories, are made of. We’re talking about summer camp, of course. Be it a day, a week, or a month, summer camp experiences are among the easiest to retrieve even as we age (and oh boy, do we age!).

Are you hearing some of these questions from your kids: “Dad, what’s a Democrat? What’s a Republican? How are they different?”

It’s one of the rites of growing up. Children sitting cross-legged on their driveway or sidewalk, fingers covered with chalky rainbow colors as they let their imaginations run wild against the rough gray palette.

It seems reading is becoming a lost art among our children. When I was a kid I loved to read—I still do! Of course when I was younger we didn’t have cable TV, iPods, cell phones for text messaging, PlayStation, and Xbox. Maybe if we had I wouldn’t have spent much time peering into books. It makes me glad to be a child of the 60s and 70s, without all those distraction. I learned so much by reading.

It’s an unforgettable moment from Frank Capra’s movie It’s a Wonderful Life. George Bailey is running through the streets of Bedford Falls shouting “Merry Christmas!” to people, buildings, and anything else within range of his rediscovered love for life. As I grow older, I find myself drawn more and more not to George, but to Clarence, the angel who, at first glance, just can’t seem to do anything right.

If you’re the parent of a teenager reading this article right now and your teen is with you...stop reading...and put your teen in front of the screen. This month my column is about ways teens can handle the stress of being a teenager in the 21st century. Stress at school, with friends, with tragedy, with life.

Where is the most likely place your son or daughter could experiment with drugs? According to a new study, it’s not in some dark alley or at a wild party. It’s in your own home with prescriptions they find in your medicine cabinet.

June, 2007 -- Tiger Woods is a household name. Even non-golfers know who he is. Companies love his marketability and use him to sell products that have nothing to do with the game of golf. Golfers love his game skills and his focused intensity on the course. Last summer an emotional Tiger Woods drama unfolded on the Royal Liverpool Golf Club in England.

So much of American society seems obsessed with perfection, especially physical perfection. Men’s and women’s magazine covers are graced with beautiful people. They have perfect, white teeth, rippling abdominal muscles, and fit, toned legs. Accustomed to such a narrow view of beauty, many people don’t know how to respond to or act around “imperfect” representations of humanity.