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Though the school year is coming to an end, NPN playdates will continue through the summer! Join us at Horner Park playground for a casual Sunday morning gathering. We'll set up 🫧 bubbles, 🎨 crafts, and 🧃juice boxes for the kids. Not an NPN member? No problem! Bring a neighbor, friend from school, relative, or anyone you know who might be interested in connecting with other parents of young children. Directions and Parking The playground is on the northeast corner of the park by the field house, along California Ave, between Cullom and Montrose. Free parking is generally available in the attached parking lot and on California Ave. Look for a picnic table covered in an NPN tablecloth or other NPN signage, Yoona in an NPN t-shirt, or just a blanket on the ground with craft projects on top! NPN Summer Playdates at Horner Park 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM - Sunday, July 12 & Sunday, August 9 RSVPs not required, but encouraged for planning purposes. Tell us you're coming by clicking the green button on the right. (Mobile users scroll down.) Have questions? Email yoona@npnparents.org Cover image credit: Ivan Mudruk -
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Though the school year has come to an end, NPN playdates will continue through the summer! Join us at Horner Park playground for a casual Sunday morning gathering. We'll set up 🫧 bubbles, 🎨 crafts, and 🧃juice boxes for the kids. Not an NPN member? No problem! Bring a neighbor, friend from school, relative, or anyone you know who might be interested in connecting with other parents of young children. ⭐ Stop by and check in with Yoona and earn up to six months of free membership! ⭐ Directions and Parking The playground is on the northeast corner of the park by the field house, along California Ave, between Cullom and Montrose. Free parking is generally available in the attached parking lot and on California Ave. Look for a picnic table covered in an NPN tablecloth or other NPN signage, Yoona in an NPN t-shirt, or just a blanket on the ground with craft projects on top! NPN Summer Playdates at Horner Park 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM Sunday, June 14 - rescheduled due to rain Sunday, June 28 - new date! Sunday, July 12 Sunday, August 9 RSVPs not required, but encouraged for planning purposes. Tell us you're coming by clicking the green button on the right. (Mobile users scroll down.) Have questions? Email yoona@npnparents.org Cover image credit: Ivan Mudruk -
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Rain Check! This morning's playdate has been rescheduled for Sunday, June 28th. See you then! Though the school year has come to an end, NPN playdates will continue through the summer! Join us at Horner Park playground for a casual Sunday morning gathering. We'll set up 🫧 bubbles, 🎨 crafts, and 🧃juice boxes for the kids. Not an NPN member? No problem! Bring a neighbor, friend from school, relative, or anyone you know who might be interested in connecting with other parents of young children. ⭐ Stop by and check in with Yoona and earn up to six months of free membership! ⭐ Directions and Parking The playground is on the northeast corner of the park by the field house, along California Ave, between Cullom and Montrose. Free parking is generally available in the attached parking lot and on California Ave. Look for a picnic table covered in an NPN tablecloth or other NPN signage, Yoona in an NPN t-shirt, or just a blanket on the ground with craft projects on top! NPN Summer Playdates at Horner Park 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM Sunday, June 14 Sunday, July 12 Sunday, August 9 RSVPs not required, but encouraged for planning purposes. Tell us you're coming by clicking the green button on the right. (Mobile users scroll down.) Have questions? Email yoona@npnparents.org Cover image credit: Ivan Mudruk -
In today's digital age, many parents find themselves struggling to keep up with the technology their children use daily. One pressing question is: How can we guide our kids to form healthy relationships with social media and technology? In this episode, we'll explore the insights from Jane Kim, founder of KindEd, a social media literacy program aimed at empowering children with the skills to navigate the digital world. This matters not only for their immediate social interactions but also for their long-term development and well-being. This was originally recorded on 4/10/26 for NPN's podcast, Chicago Style Parenting. -
It’s the email every Chicago parent dreads. You’re navigating the morning rush, trying to get the kids out the door to school, when the notification pops up: “A case of head lice has been reported in your child’s classroom.” Immediately, your head starts itching and panic sets it. If you just got "the email,” or you’re dreading receiving it, take a few deep breaths and take comfort in knowing that for many families this is a rite of passage, and not a reflection of your parenting or cleanliness. Treatment can be swift and relatively painless, and know that you’re not alone in this experience. When you’re not in the thick of this stressful experience, you can also take several preventative steps to protect your family. Keep these tips in mind throughout the year. The "Selfie" Rule: In the age of smartphones, kids love crowding together for photos. Teach your children to avoid head-to-head contact. Lice don’t jump or fly; they crawl from hair strand to hair strand Keep it Up and Contained: If your child has long hair, school days are braid days. High buns, ponytails, and braids drastically reduce the "surface area" available for a stray louse to grab onto. The Coat Hook Compromise: Chicago winter gear is a prime real estate market for lice. Teach your kids to tuck their hats and scarves directly into their own jacket sleeves rather than stuffing them into shared cubbies or piling them on top of classmates' coats. Natural Repellents: I used regularly a Peppermint infused shampoo for my children. It added up a layer of protection without having me do anything extra. Lice track their next home by scent. They happen to absolutely hate the smell of peppermint, rosemary, and tea tree oils. We made it a habit to spritz a natural mint leave-in spray on the kids' hair every single morning before school, and adding infused lice repellent hair ties. The Weekly Weekly Check: Don’t wait for an itchy scalp. Make a quick, two-minute check under a bright light part of your Sunday night routine. Catching a single stray bug early prevents a full-blown household outbreak. While these tips can make a difference in prevention, if your family experiences a lice outbreak, don’t fret. Lice are a nuisance, absolutely—but with a little daily diligence, they don't have to rule your school year. Helpful Resources Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Lice Guidelines Hair Butterflies Lice and Nit Removal Clinic Kelly Tare is a long-time Chicago Suburbs parent, NPN member, and the owner of Hair Butterflies Lice and Nit Removal, with locations in Oak Park, Lincoln Park , Oak Brook, and a House Call Center in Chicago. She specializes in helping local families navigate and eliminate lice safely, professionally, and stress-free in Clinics and sending traveling teams to homes. -
Parenting IRL “Does your school do personal gifts for teachers at the end of the school year, or do you collect money and buy a gift from the class/grade? What kind of gifts are appropriate/appreciated? I’m doing this for the first time, and I need ideas please!” Both approaches are fairly common, and both can land well depending on your school’s culture and how organized the parent community is. Class/grade collections tend to work better for bigger gifts (a spa gift card, a restaurant certificate, a contribution to a classroom wish list), while personal gifts are a nice option if your kid has a close relationship with a specific teacher. A handwritten note from your student — even a short one — is almost universally appreciated and often more memorable than the gift itself. As for what teachers actually want: gift cards to Amazon, Target, or local restaurants are reliable. Teachers routinely spend their own money on classroom supplies, so anything that offsets that tends to be genuinely useful. Things like nice candles, chocolates, or a bottle of wine are safe bets if you know the teacher’s vibe. What to avoid: mugs, apple-themed anything, and generic lotion sets — most teachers have enough of those to last a lifetime. Do you have other thoughts? Keep the conversation going! But seriously... Keep It Cool for Your Kid Kids can drive us crazy — that’s nothing new. But the more you react strongly (yelling, scolding, or physical discipline), the worse they are at handling stress in their own lives. Researchers at Penn State University measured something called respiratory sinus arrhythmia, a non-invasive indicator of how the heart and breathing respond to stress, in 30-second intervals during a challenging task. In a nutshell, they found a mother’s physiological state in one interval directly predicted her child’s in the next. So in lower-risk households, the parental influence naturally decreased as preschoolers aged from three to four — the healthy sign of a child learning to self-regulate. But in households with harsh parenting, the pattern reversed entirely. Those children grew more dependent on external regulation over time, not less, and their stress responses became more rigid: once triggered, their elevated state took significantly longer to return to baseline. The lead researcher’s practical takeaway is worth posting on the refrigerator: ‘If you take a moment to regulate yourself — maybe even just pausing and taking a few deep breaths before responding to your child — there’s an important benefit in your child learning how to regulate themselves.’ So, bottom line: Take a deep breath before reacting. It’s good for everyone. Take It Slow on Fast Fashion There’s an excellent SNL skit about how people will wear fast fashion even if they know it’s bad for them. That subject became a little less funny in light of recent research, which found that the fabric in some fast-fashion kids clothes contains lead (that’s bad). Researchers at Marian University tested 11 shirts from four fast-fashion and discount retailers, and found that every single one exceeded the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s 100 parts-per-million lead limit. That’s right: all of them. Brightly colored fabrics — reds and yellows especially — showed the highest concentrations, likely because manufacturers use lead-based compounds as a cheaper way to make dyes stick and stay vibrant. The presence of lead is bad enough, but consider how often kids chew on their sleeves. The researchers actually modeled this, simulating stomach digestion to estimate how much lead a child could absorb through normal mouthing behavior — sucking, holding, chewing on fabric, etc. Their estimates suggest that even brief exposure could push kids past the FDA’s daily lead ingestion limit. So here’s what that means: favor muted colors over bright reds and yellows, wash new clothes before wearing them, and maybe skip the $8 neon tee. Note: This research was presented at the American Chemical Society’s spring meeting in March and has not yet been through formal peer review. So the work is continuing, but keep an eye on this story. FYI: Your Kid’s Feed Is Full of Tanfluencers Dermatologists are sounding the alarm about a surprisingly stubborn trend: tanning is getting more popular among the young. Only 25 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds surveyed by the American Academy of Dermatology said they were concerned about developing skin cancer, compared to 39 percent of the general population, according to a recent New York Times piece. One in five said getting a tan was more important than preventing it. Sure, your middle schooler isn’t in that survey, but they’re in the same social media ecosystem where ‘tanfluencers’ are posting about ‘tanmaxxing.’ Viral TikToks are pushing the claim that sunscreen causes cancer (it doesn’t). A 19-year-old with 71,000 views posted from inside a tanning bed with the caption: “The lioness does not concern herself with ‘skin cancer.’” Umm, the lioness should. The actual guidance from dermatologists remains straightforward: SPF 30 or higher daily, limit direct sun between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., get an annual skin check. The problem, as one doctor put it, is that “those recommendations are not what’s going viral.” Might be worth a low-key conversation before summer gets going in earnest. TIP: Subscribe to NPN Weekly to get more parenting news, trends, and tips straight to your inbox! -
In this episode, we talk with Amy Liss of Campus Integrity Group about her work in preventing and investigating sexual misconduct. She explains the small, innocuous way that sexual misconduct often begins, and walks us through the warning signs we might see in a child who is being groomed. Amy provides concrete tips that parents can put into practice today to help keep their children safe, and shares one important detail she wishes more parents understood about grooming. With a personal drive to inform and educate without spreading fear, Amy explains how she maintains that balance as a mom herself. This session was originally recorded on 5/28/26 for NPN's podcast, Chicago Style Parenting. -
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Though the school year is coming to an end, NPN playdates will continue through the summer! Join us at Horner Park playground for a casual Sunday morning gathering. We'll set up 🫧 bubbles, 🎨 crafts, and 🧃juice boxes for the kids. Not an NPN member? No problem! Bring a neighbor, friend from school, relative, or anyone you know who might be interested in connecting with other parents of young children. Directions and Parking The playground is on the northeast corner of the park by the field house, along California Ave, between Cullom and Montrose. Free parking is generally available in the attached parking lot and on California Ave. Look for a picnic table covered in an NPN tablecloth or other NPN signage, Yoona in an NPN t-shirt, or just a blanket on the ground with craft projects on top! NPN Summer Playdates at Horner Park 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM Sunday, June 14 Sunday, July 12 Sunday, August 9 RSVPs not required, but encouraged for planning purposes. Tell us you're coming by clicking the green button on the right. (Mobile users scroll down.) Have questions? Email yoona@npnparents.org Cover image credit: Ivan Mudruk -
Parenting IRL “Does anyone know of an elementary school where parents have successfully reduced students’ exposure to screens and ed tech? I’ve been surprised by how much time my kids and my friends’ kids are on Chromebooks at school. For the most part, it doesn’t seem like the hardware and software they’re using adds any value or efficiency. Would love to hear stories where ed tech has been proven — in an unbiased way — to improve student and teacher outcomes, or the converse.” Screen time at school is one of those issues that sounds like it should have a clear answer by now — and yet here we are, still debating it. One NPN parent is noticing a lot of Chromebook time for her kids and not seeing much to show for it. So here’s the question: has anyone actually pushed back successfully? And is there solid evidence either way on whether this stuff works? It’s a question worth taking seriously — ed tech has been adopted fast and evaluated slowly, and parents are often the last to get a straight answer. We’d love to hear from anyone who’s navigated this issue. Let us know your thoughts on the Forum! But seriously... Why Your Teen Is Like This (Hint: It’s Their Brain) Teenagers are, by definition, chaotic. But here’s some science that might make you a little more patient with yours. It turns out the teen brain is in the middle of a massive, active construction project — not just trimming away old connections, but building dense new clusters of synapses in specific areas, according to one study. These clusters emerge only during adolescence and appear to be the foundation for higher-level thinking, including planning, reasoning, and decision-making. In other words, the chaos isn’t a bug — it’s a feature. Your teen’s brain is being rewired for complexity in real time, and that process is messy, nonlinear… and absolutely essential. The takeaway: the teenage years are a critical window. Give them real decisions to make. Let them problem-solve. Let them fail a little. The circuits being built right now are the ones they’ll use for the rest of their lives. TIP: Subscribe to NPN Weekly to get more parenting news, trends, and tips straight to your inbox! -
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High schoolers live much of their social and academic lives online. Join us for a thoughtful conversation about gaming, screen time, and digital balance in the teen years. We’ll explore how to support healthy technology habits, recognize when extra guidance may be helpful, and set realistic boundaries that respect teens’ growing independence. This evening will be led by Dr. Jason Hacker, a licensed psychologist in Chicago who works with teens and families around anxiety, gaming, and digital media use. This is a free online event, but RSVP is required. Please go here to register and receive your Zoom link. This is an external partner event. Please contact the organization directly with any questions or concerns: kklein1@fusionacademy.com. -
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This event has been cancelled. We apologize for the inconvenience. Join LEEP Forward and NPN for August Adventures! This sensory-friendly, inclusive event is designed for all children, ages 2-5, with siblings of all ages welcome to join in the fun! Embrace the end of summer with a variety of engaging activities that promote exploration and creativity! ☀️ Children can dive into our Sensory Bin filled with a variety of items and textures. 🖌️ We’ll have a painting station where little artists can create with non-toxic, washable paint, and a playdough station for creative molding and shaping. 📚 For imaginative play, kids can dress up and relax in our Summer Story Corner with cozy blankets and captivating stories. 🌻 Plus, don’t miss our guided Nature Walk, where everyone can collect natural treasures! 🎪We will also have a bounce house for our little adventurers seeking more movement activities. 🎈Our event will also include a ball pit and sensory tables for more hands-on exploration. 😋 Finally, we’ll provide healthy, allergy-friendly snacks to keep everyone energized, and 🎉 Every family will be entered into a raffle for a night of respite or babysitting! Join us for a morning of sensory exploration, connection, and end-of-summer fun in an inclusive environment. We can’t wait to see you there! Location: 1447 W Montrose Questions? Email amy@npnparents.org. NPN is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. You help us keep these playdates free with your paid membership or donation. Thank you for supporting NPN! -
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It’s every parent’s daily puzzle: you ask, “How was school today?” and your child answers with the dreaded one word response, “good.” While short responses are totally normal, they don’t always give you the full picture of how your child is really doing - socially, emotionally, or academically. The truth is, kids often need a little help opening up. By asking thoughtful, specific questions, you can create space for them to share their experiences and feelings in a safe way. Here are 10 questions that go beyond the surface and help you check in on your child’s well-being at school. 1. Who did you play with (or hang out with) today? This simple question gets them naming names. If your child regularly says “no one,” it could signal they’re struggling to make connections. 2. Who do you sit with at lunch? What do you all usually talk about? Lunch is social prime time! This reveals whether your child feels included and has friends to spend time with during the most social part of the day. 3. If you had to invite one friend from school over, who would it be? Asking about a potential playdate or hangout shows you who they trust and genuinely enjoy spending time with. 4. Did anyone make you feel really happy (or really upset) today? This opens the door to both the positive and the negative. Helping kids feel comfortable sharing the highs and the lows. 5. Who do you think is the funniest kid in your class? A fun, lighthearted way to learn who your child gravitates toward or admires. Sometimes laughter is the glue that bonds friendships. 6. Has anyone ever said something mean or teased you? What did you do? Kids may bring up teasing before admitting to bullying. This question lets them process tough interactions without feeling pressured or like they're tattling. 7. Is there anyone at school you don’t really like being around? Why? It gives kids a safe space to talk about uncomfortable or tricky situations without labeling it as conflict or drama. 8. If I asked your teacher who your best friend is, what would they say? This helps you see if your child’s “friendship reality” matches how others might perceive it and it’s a good way to check in on how connected they feel. 9. When you’re working in groups, who do you usually end up with? Academic and social dynamics overlap here. Group work can highlight whether your child feels included or left out by peers. 10. If you saw another kid getting picked on, what would you do? This not only reveals your child’s perspective on bullying, but can also hint at whether they’ve experienced it themselves. These questions aren’t meant to be an interrogation. The goal is to sprinkle one or two of them naturally into your daily routines - on the walk home, during dinner, or at bedtime, so conversations feel easy and open. Over time, these check-ins build trust and give your child the confidence to share more about their world at school. And let's be realistic, your child probably won't ope up right away. Don’t be discouraged. Keep asking, keep listening, and keep showing up.
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