Florida residents that did not use all the voluntary prekindergarten hours during the regular school year can send their pre-kindergarten child to summer school to use those 300 hours. The operative word is “voluntary”. This is not a mandatory thing, but if you feel that your child can benefit from the program during the year you are more than welcome to use those free hours this summer. According to a Tampa Tribune report, “Hillsborough County is gearing up for six weeks of 10 1/2 -hour school days beginning June 1. That includes a half-hour nap. Pinellas is ready with a plan that includes seven-hour, 40-minute days, including a rest period, starting May 23.”

• Hillsborough County Voluntary Pre-K information
• Pinellas County Voluntary Pre-K information
• Pasco and Hernando County Voluntary Pre-K information
• Polk County Voluntary Pr-K information

Due to some pressure and concern of parents about the “Gay Straight Alliance” club in Hillsborough county, a task force on school clubs has adopted new requirements for students to be able to participate in any school affiliated club or organization.One of these requirements is that the parent will have to give written persmission before his/her child can participate in any club. As, a parent I welcome the addition of this clause. No matter what the activity is, I would like to know what my child is doing.

According to the Tampa Tribune the The New Tampa Community Council want to include Wesley Chapel in their New Tampa community. For those that do not know, traveling on Bruce B. Downs East will lead you through New Tampa and then Wesley Chapel. The same person, Frank Margarella, that coined the name “New Tampa” 15 years ago is pushing for the inclusion of Wesley Chapel in New Tampa.

• New Tampa Community Council Web site
• Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce

A science fair experiment done by a 12-year-old middle school girl at Benito Middle School showed that ice from several restaurants had more bacteria than the toilet water of those same restaurants. Now things that hmmm…. ewww…. and uhh…..!! I said many times that the drink taste like___, but I did not know how right I was.Well, I have to salute her on that Science experiment. I don’t think I ever made that much of an effort on my science projects. Which liquid freezes fastest is as far as I went.  So you do your thing Jasmine Roberts, show them that sistas are doing it for themselves,yeah.  All those that grew-up in the 80s sing the song or hum the tune.  You know you remember the song.
You can read the article yourself.

Girl’s Science Project May Make You Rethink That Drink Order

Have you heard of infant potty training? I first came across the concept after watching a news piece about it on a local Tampa Bay station. Apparently people begin to potty train their children while they are still infants. One site, Infant Potty Training Webring, describes the whole concept of what they do. It has worked for some moms.

Another web site describes the, Infant Potty Training and Elimination Communication. It’s worth a try for you new moms out there with infant children. If you can have this become part of their everyday life now, you won’t have the trouble of potty training a tantrum filled 2 year-old.

Years ago I was told by my mother never to wear black to a wedding. However, in late 2004 I went to a wedding and the bridemaids were all wearing black dresses. What is the proper thing to do? If I can wear black I will. Most women have that black dress that make the rolls not so rolly and the pudge not so pudgey. After having the kids I need whatever I can to make me look a little slimmer here, there and everywhere. According to a about.com expert it depend on the time of day, and location. Well, I still am unsure.

Apparently the “Mommy Wars” are when moms draw lines in the sand and fight about whether it is better to stay at home with the kids or workoutside of the home. What mom has not fallen victom to the “Mommy Wars.” There is no mercy for the innocent bystanders, even they become casualties in this never ending battle. It seems that women are always fighting fo equality and wanting to be seen as equal to men. But the problem is that we[ women,XX-chromosome carriers] do not treat each other equally.We need to learn to respect each other and not look down on each other. We should be working together so that we can learn from each other and become better people; people that we want are children to respect and be proud of . STOP the “Mommy Wars”