Columnists

A salute to the Berenstain Bears books

By Liz Gordon-Hancock
I have been known to quote Mama Bear from the Berenstain Bears books.

Not only is she always calm, collected and right (sorry daddies), but she speaks some great pearls of wisdom. She also knows when NOT to speak or intervene, allowing her cubs (or Papa) to learn for themselves.

I quote Mama Bear when I’m instructing my children about tattletales: “Tattling is telling just to be mean” according to Mama Bear, and she goes on to explain that telling on someone because you’re worried about them is different from tattling.

The good, the bad, the hopes, the threats

By Fred Steiner 
An opinion

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A mother's musing

By Liz Gordon-Hancock
Bambino Mio, GroVia, Fill Your Pants, bumgenius, AppleCheeks, and Rumparooz - these are all brands of cloth diapers.

Cloth diapers have had a total revamp. I'm not talking about the big terrycloth squares that you perform a type of origami on, and then use giant safety pins to secure around your baby.

Cloth diapers nowadays come in dozens of different types, materials, shapes and colors: all-in-one, prefolds, envelope-style, pocket diaper with inserts, and choice of snaps or velcro closures and so on.

Why we read nursery rhymes to our children

By Liz Gordon-Hancock
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man. Bake me a cake as fast as you can...
Humpty dumpty sat on a wall; Humpty dumpty had a great fall...

I'm reading these Mother Goose rhymes to my two-year-old, as part of his bed-time stories.

Have you ever stopped to think about these nursery rhymes and what these stories or words mean?

So many of these rhymes just don't make sense: Hey diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle. The cow jumped over the what?

While a generation of Et Cetera Shop shoppers will remember Glennys Henry as a long-time volunteer, an earlier generation of Bluffton youth, now adults, will remember her as an elementary teacher.

She died Jan. 4, just shy of her 95th birthday. CLICK HERE for Glennys' obituary.

Glennys was passionate about helping those in need and giving of her time as often as possible, regardless of the cause.  

Diapers, sleep deprivation and dancing chickens

By Liz Gordon-Hancock
To everything, there is a season. And I'm not talking about the fall, winter, spring, summer... or even the Christmas season, but the seasons that come with motherhood. These seasons are typified by little things, like diapers or high chairs, soccer balls or pom poms.  

If you have a teenager, you may be in the season of door-slamming and hormones. If you have a growing boy, you may be in the season of monthly shoe-shopping, as you try to keep up with your son's ever-growing feet.

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