April 2012

It was well before sunrise on a December morning in Orlando, Florida.We were at the front of the line at the gates of Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park, along with several hundred other early risers to be the day’s first visitors to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This…

Ever wonder what makes boys and girls so different? Beyond the obvious, of course. Just what makes boys tick? Jen, a local mom of three young children wonders, “How do boys’ brains work? I’d love to be a boy – just for a day – to try to understand.” Another…

My daughter is a third generation Girl Scout. Just like Annabelle, my mother and I made the Girl Scout pledge, promising to serve God and country, helping others at all times. While, as Girl Scouts, we share similar memories of earning badges and making friends, the reality is that the…

That’s okay, kids. Go ahead and laugh. I don’t mind. After all, it’s not every day you get to see your dad crawling across the wet lawn on his stomach, soaked and muddy, in full view of the neighbors. Don’t think I’m relaxing. I’m not here to enjoy the first…

In every issue of RFM, I have at least one laugh out loud moment as I read over the month’s content. This month’s LOL involves a Quaker mom and a breakfast table, and every time I reread it, I crack up laughing again. Of course, it’s so amusing to me…

It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact moment I decided our first grand-scale birthday party would be our last. It may have been when my four-year-old daughter, standing in front of a mountain of largesse taller than she was, opened her second gift. The My First Make-Up Kit included colorful plastic…

Coming up with creative ideas for a family meal can be a daunting task, especially with picky eaters in the house. Yes, you can go to the store, buy some ground beef, sour cream, and a taco kit with everything you need (seasoning, sauce, and shells) right in the box.…

Budget. Budget. Budget. There, I said it.The bottom line for success in your financial house is this: Know your monthly budget and the numbers that make it up. Now, I’m not talking about the easy figures, like the mortgage, power bill, car payment, and insurance. Those are things that recur…

Jacob Lawrence depicted the history of African Americans in his artwork. His series, The Legend of John Brown, is on display at VMFA through mid-June. Use these easy steps to depict your own history in a unique book all about you or something you’ve learned about.   What you need:
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It’s three o’clock in the morning and you are rudely awakened by the phone. Your heart lurches into overdrive, and you scramble to answer the call. It’s the police department in Spring Break Town or Beach Week City, USA, calling to inform you that your teen is in legal trouble.…

Q: When the Jerry Sandusky case and the sexual abuse of kids were constantly in the news, a good friend and i had very different approaches to handling the situation with our families.She changed the subject (and the channel) whenever it came up. My husband and i tried to talk to…

Parents spend lots of time and effort planning the perfect birthday for their kids, but can you imagine finding out on your child’s special day that she has cancer? That’s what happened to the Clemmer family in May 2004, when they received word of their daughter Hannah’s cancer diagnosis on…

Toe walking is a common pattern of early locomotion in healthy, young children and is almost always in both legs at the same time. However, toe walking after age three should be evaluated. In many cases, toe walking in older children is simply a habit resulting in tight heel cords…

When Kim Moncrief, Henrico wife, mother, and entrepreneur, recalls an annual exam with her gynecologist, she remembers an eerie conversation between physician and patient, and a recommendation that she now realizes probably saved her life. Even though, Kim, 38 at the time, hadn’t yet reached the age that doctors usually…

It can happen to the strongest among us.You go to lift something you’ve lifted a thousand times before and you feel a pop in your groin. Or you cough suddenly, or sneeze – especially relevant during allergy season – and you feel that same pop.After the pop, comes a bulge.…

Closing in on sixty-five, Claudia Alicea, RN, a nurse in ophthalmology for thirty years, remembers when she started questioning her own vision. Will I have to drive home at night? Boy, those headlights look like sparklers. What do you mean, changing my glasses won’t help my vision? I’m having trouble…

Doesn’t everyone know someone who took part in the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K last month? For many of us, walking Richmond’s celebrated route was a good option. There’s a mile event for kids, too, so even the youngest members of the family can take to the streets to welcome spring…

It’s recognized as the most prevalent, unmet health need among American children today. It’s five times more common than asthma. And what might be most shocking is that the condition is largely preventable.What is this chronic and rampant disease? The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) has identified cavities…

Ahhh, springtime! Warm, fragrant breezes surround us. As we all know, this means we must immediately dive into that ritual called spring-cleaning. Working in healthcare for nearly thirty years, I’ve managed to pick up a strategy or two, or in this case, seven, on getting your home to a healthy…

It’s a painful hand and arm condition and one of the most common problems faced today, but fortunately carpal tunnel syndrome can be treated. The name describes it perfectly. The carpal bones are the small wrist bones; the tunnel is formed by the carpal ligament, which stretches across them. This…