Interview with Kristina Fleischer

Kristina Fleischer is a thirty-year-old only child who has successfully dealt with challenges that most people her age have not had to face. Her mother is hearing impaired and most recently won a bout with an aggressive breast cancer. She is now healthy, and her recovery is largely a result of Kristina’s devotion and care. A darkly beautiful girl, Kristina holds a high–level position as a web and game producer for a well-known international corporation. Kristina’s personality is multi-faceted, and she is a bit of everything. One moment she can be mysteriously shy and earnest. The next she may be ebullient and dramatic. She can be both self-effacing and proud. The same young woman who can sit for hours in front of a computer is also riotously finny on stage when she plays guitar and bass with the Ramonas, a Ramones cover band. Over the past few years Kristina has truly come into her own and learned what a strong woman she is.

Beware the Hovercraft!!!!

Helicopter Parenting in the 21st Century.

Look up and you’ll see them, as ubiquitous as crows or pigeons and even more annoying. They have been with us for years and won’t seem to go away, and there isn’t anywhere to hide from them. Remember Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds? Well in the 21st Century they come in the form of helicopter parents who have morphed into hovercraft that seem to be a permanent part of the landscape. Instead of sitting on the telephone wires, they are sitting in their SUV’s or on the soccer field. They suck up their children’s oxygen and prey on their independence. They can’t let go and can’t move on. Parents of only children have long been accused of hovering and smothering, but they have lots of company… with parents of siblings. Of course, with only one child to think about there is more time to “helicopter.”

Only Child Profile: Jessica Bendinger

Hollywood powerhouse screenwriter/director/producer—and only child—Jessica Bendinger (Stick It, Bring It On) recently added another title to her credits: author. Her young adult novel The Seven Rays—a paranormal coming-of-age story that delves into love, friendship, family, and the supernatural. Jessica has what she calls a “coming of consciousness” theme in most of her work.

Why Beginning Adolescence is Hard for the Only Child

One of the great benefits of having an only child is the strength of emotional and social attachment that develops between a child and parents. They have only each other as nuclear family without additional children to dilute or distract from their focus on each other. This attachment is not simply mediated by love, but by paying exclusive attention to each other, by an intimate knowing of each other, by a rewarding companionship with each other, and by coming to rely on each other in supportive and caring ways.

Digital Intelligence in the Classroom

Traditional teaching with textbooks, libraries, and note taking seems almost obsolete in the age of “digital intelligence,” an actual term coined by researchers of the Library of Congress. Today, when students work on an assignment, they often surf the Internet to gather the necessary information, and then present it in the final work. But to what extent is learning really happening through this process?

Dear Only Child

Only child answers your e-mails and offers advice.

TO SUBSCRIBE ~ Just Click Here.