Mom Writer Offers Ways to Beat the Back-to-School Blues for Toddlers

As parents ready their children for back-to-school, their younger, non-school age siblings often feel left behind. Parenting author Christine Louise Hohlbaum talks with NPR's The Parent's Journal to tell parents how to start a toddler playgroup to ease the transition from home to school.

Freising, Germany (PRWEB) August 25, 2004 -- 64.6 million school children are flooding the halls of schools across the United States this week. As a service for American families, author/writer Christine Louise Hohlbaum offers a word of wisdom to parents of school-aged children and toddlers in her NPR radio segment with Parents Journal host, Bobbi Conner, which runs September 1-7, 2004. Hohlbaum tells how parents can start toddler playgroups to ease the transition from home to school.

If your day is starting to feel longer than Rapunzels hair with a toddler in the house, consider joining a playgroup or starting one of your own," Hohlbaum advises. With the older kids out of the house, toddlers may feel a sense of let-down that their playmates have suddenly vanished after summer vacation. Giving them a sense of group belonging can help.

They learn invaluable skills in playgroups such as sharing, waiting their turn, songs, and more," Hohlbaum says.

Christine Louise Hohlbaum, Parenting Writer, Author and Expert, Available for Comment

Hohlbaum has authored several parenting books using personal examples about raising bilingual children, including Diary of a Mother: Parenting Stories and Other Stuff and SAHM I Am: Tales of a Stay-at-Home Mom (forthcoming). She currently writes serial fiction for AnotherChapter.com. American Housewife Abroad" reflects the challenges of raising children in a bicultural environment.

Hohlbaum has run numerous playgroups both in the United States and Europe. At this time, she teaches English to preschool children in the Munich area. She also runs intensive English training workshops for German business professionals for the language school LBT Languages.

Christine Louise Hohlbaum holds a B.A. from Smith College and a combined M.A. in International Relations, German and English Literature from the University of Konstanz, Germany. Hohlbaum is a sought-after radio guest, writes several regular parenting columns, and publishes her own weekly parenting ezine. Hohlbaum, a Virginia native, currently lives with her husband, Andreas, and two children, Sophia and Jackson, near Munich, Germany.

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