In honor of the Labor Day weekend and back-to-school and the beginning of September, we’ve got three stellar giveaways to bestow on a few lucky readers.

Business in the front: You have to be an e-news subscriber to win (the Giveaway Queen can tell), and emailing us (giveaway@parentmap.com) is the way to get our attention (we get sad when we see readers try to win by commenting here).

Party in the back:

1. Win one of 6 passes, each one good for two admissions, to Seattle Children’s Theatre’s sweet, smart and funny The Green Sheep (onstage through Sept. 12). Email us (giveaway@parentmap.com) and put “Sheep” in the subject line.

2. We have Saturday, Sunday and Monday passes to Bumbershoot! Email us (giveaway@parentmap.com) quick like a bunny so we can get them to you by Friday — we’d like to put them in the mail today! — and tell us (a) which day you’d like to go, (b) how many are in your party (limit 4 per winner) and (c) whether your party includes any kids ages 10 and younger (kids 10 and younger don’t need a ticket). Put “Bshoot” in the subject line.

3. We have a family 4-pack of passes to Northwest Trek to give away! Use them for the Get Out of the Rut event this weekend, or anytime before March 31, 2011. Email us (giveaway@parentmap.com) and put “Trek” in the subject line.

4. Finally, details on a great deal for PM readers: Get a $40 flex pass to see six StoryBook Theater shows in Kirkland, Renton or Seattle (tickets are usually $9 each).  To get your deal, call 425-820-1800 by Oct. 15 and mention code “PMFall.”

Good luck, and have a good Labor Day weekend!

If your child’s back in school, and, let’s face it, even if she’s not, you’re hearing this declaration echo through the house: “I’ll DO it! Later!” These very familiar words can apply to homework, chores, even brushing teeth or thanking Grandma for the nice new school shoes.

Call it whatever you like - being sassy, defiant, downright disrespectful or pre-adolescent - it all comes down to your child’s uber-efforts to put things off. In grown-up-speak, we call this “procrastination.”

Everyone does it. But when our kids do it, things get extra-frustrating. We worry they are developing bad study habits and a work ethic that will never cut it in today’s world - not to mention tomorrow’s.

So how can you teach your kids to “just do it?” I’ve outlined some tips in my book, Beyond Smart. Here’s a brief excerpt:

Tell your children it’s important to complete tasks and help them…

• Foster good work habits
• Create work routines
• Break projects down into smaller chunks
• Organize projects and tackle the least appealing step first
• Map out deadlines and set time limits for each step
• Set up a reward system for completing a  task
• If needed, get tutors, outside help - or contact your child’s school about the homework load

This just in  from the Washington State Department of Early Learning:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 1, 2010

Washington unveils statewide Early Learning Plan
‘Roadmap’ will guide early learning decisions in our state for next decade

OLYMPIA—After more than a year of planning and input from hundreds of Washington residents, the Washington State Early Learning Plan has been issued. The plan is online at www.del.wa.gov/plan.

The plan will guide early learning policy and funding decisions over the next decade, with the overall goal of building a statewide system that supports school readiness for children in Washington. It focuses on children ages birth through third grade.

(more…)

This time around, we’re giving away a Toy Story 3 game for the  XBox 360. To win, send us (giveaway@parentmap.com) your mailing address via email (don’t comment here, cuz commenters can’t win) and make sure you’re an e-news subscriber.

That is all! Good luck.

Excellent story in the Seattle Times this morning in the wake of a heartbreaking accident on Sunday. A 13-year-old boy was killed riding his motorcycle during a race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Raising the question: when are children old enough for extreme sports?

Sustained household stress can have long-lasting negative effects on kids.

Researchers are beginning to understand the connections between a child’s experience of stress and later health problems, but they still haven’t pinpointed how much stress is enough to produce the effect.

• Early stress in the home is significantly associated with later physical disease and early death. We’ll get into the specifics shortly, but the diseases in question run across a wide range, from cancer to heart and liver and lung disorders to reproductive health problems to higher rates of alcohol abuse and smoking.
• Extremes such as child abuse increase risk for these outcomes, but less extreme influences predict these outcomes as well. We’re talking about sustained conflict, a lack of emotional warmth in family relations, inadequate and inept parenting practices (e.g., heavy use of reprimands, punishments, shouting), and general chaos and disruption.
• For a harsh stressful environment, there is a dose-response relation: As stress rises higher, so do deleterious neuroendocrine changes in the child’s body that relate to susceptibility to disease.
• The real danger comes from chronic stress—the body’s adaptive reaction to stress that goes off and on as part of ordinary life does not seem to have undesirable consequences.
• Because not everyone responds the same way to chronic stress, we can say only that harsh environments increase risk, not that they invariably produce bad outcomes.

Two things kids need more of: time spent in nature, and technology skills. Enter CampInteractive, a charity that helps inner-city kids get more of both by taking the kids on cool trips, then helping them create a website about their experience. Why am I telling you this? Because a local friend-of-ParentMap is running the NYC Marathon to raise money for the group….which got me curious about the group…which got me enthusiastic about the group. Check it out!

Girls and boys who want to be onstage can audition this Sunday, Aug. 29, for a spot in The 5th Avenue’s holiday show, A Christmas Story: The Musical.

The 5th is looking for kids ages 10-13 (who still look like kids, not teens, they say) to fill children’s roles and the lead roles of Ralphie and Randy. From noon-1:30 p.m., Radio Disney will be at Westlake Center with games and dancing, and auditions will take place from 1:30-3 p.m.

Kids will need to prepare a song and make an appointment — details here.

The Not-Its! fans can catch the band for free, and be on the tee vee, on Monday, Aug. 30. The band will perform its signature song, “We Are The Not-Its!” on KING 5’s morning talk show, “New Day NW,” and you can be a member of the studio audience. Email newdaytickets@king5.com and they’ll get you set up with free tickets.

If you want to watch from home, the show airs at 11 a.m. on KING 5.

The fine print: You must be an e-news subscriber to win, and you can only win by emailing us (not by commenting on this post). OK - on to the swag!

1. Indoor playspace Dizzy’s Bus Stop is having its first-ever carnival on Saturday, Aug. 28, and Dizzy is giving away $25 worth of tickets to one lucky family! (Tickets are 50 cents each.) To enter, email us (giveaway@parentmap.com) your mailing address lickety-split and put “dizzy” in the subject line.

2. We’re also giving away one copy of a sweet Max & Ruby DVD, A Visit With Grandma. To enter, email us (giveaway@parentmap.com) your mailing address and put “Max” in the subject line.

Good luck!