Yeah, I got the scoop!

Once, long ago, I was a new mom, but now I am an old, weary mom. Well, OK, not that old; my kids are tweens. Tweens who sleep through the night (yes, it does happen)!

Anyhoo, in the blink of an eye, they’re grown up and borrowing my Uggs, and all the baby gizmos and whatnots have all changed. So we here at PM World Headquarters want to know: What do new moms LOVE these days? Where do they go? What do they covet?

If you’d care to dish, here’s a short little survey. Thank you for your time. We know it’s precious!

Little cuties and budding scientists will love our giveaways this week - for Passport subscribers only!

1. The fascinating “Bodies: The Exhibition” leaves Seattle at the end of this month…and we’ve got a few family 4-packs of tickets to give away! To enter, email (giveaway@parentmap.com) us your name and phone number.

2. Bedtime for Frances on DVD! Jim Henson’s team brings the beloved baby badger to life with cool CGI animation in this sweet disc. To enter, email (giveaway@parentmap.com) us your mailing address.

Good luck! And remember, no e-news, no e-news prizes for you! So sign up already - it’s fun and it’s free!

It’s the ultimate anatomy class! This week’s Hall Pass giveaway is a family 4-pack of tickets to see Bodies: The Exhibition before it leaves Seattle at the end of this month. Take curious kids to see more than 200 real human bodies, preserved and displayed, for an inside look at how bodies work.

To enter: Email us (giveaway@parentmap.com) your name and phone number and be sure to put “bodies” in the subject line.

Must be a Hall Pass subscriber to win! Sign up here - it’s fast and it’s free!

Arts writer Christine Johnson-Duell, who has written about opera for us in the past, has a great article up on the PM site about Seattle Opera’s Falstaff Family Day (tix for kids are $15, and the opera is planning a host of activities for families during intermissions). She takes down the arguments as to why kids shouldn’t be exposed to the opera one by one, and most persuasively.

This past summer, my daughter was a Niebelung in one of the Ring operas, and I took my son to a dress rehearsal to watch her perform. He — a teen whose iPod, if he had one, would be stuffed with the likes of Paramore and Airborne Toxic Event — was blown away by the beauty of the experience. Those sets! That music! Rhinemaidens suspended in mid-air as if they were swimming in the Rhine!

Don’t underestimate the kiddos when it comes to their ability to appreciate an art form they’re not familiar with.

Giveaway #1: What do you get when you take decades of education journalism…add world-class learning experts and cutting-edge research…and toss a cute baby on top?

Why, you get ParentMap’s newest bouncing baby book, Beyond Smart: Boosting Your Child’s Social, Emotional, and Academic Potential, written and edited by your pals here at PM.

Just went on sale last week! We have copies to give away.

To enter: email us (giveaway@parentmap.com) your mailing address and put “Smart” in the subject line.

Giveaway #2: Northwest Puppet Center’s latest offering, “The Secret Life of Bugs,” is a blacklight bug fantasia that combines the talents of Spyglass Theatre and an entomologist from the Woodland Park Zoo.  It opens March 6, and we have a family 4-pack to give away!

To enter: email us (giveaway@parentmap.com) your mailing address, and be sure to put “Bugs” in the subject line.

Must be a Passport subscriber to win. Good luck!

This week, Passport subscribers can enter to win two great prizes! (If you’re not a subscriber, sign up to get in on the fun. It’s free!)

Prize #1: Ni hao, Wii! The preschool fave becomes a game for Nintendo Wii. “Super Game Day” features 10 fun-filled mini games, including butterfly catching, kite flying, dragon boat racing, bubble popping, badminton and soccer challenge. We have copies to give away!

To enter: Email us your mailing address.

Prize #2: An evening of calm, cool and collected parenting strategies from Her Coolness, Dr. Laura Kastner, author of three books, talker on national television, and highly sough after all-around parenting genius! Dr. Kastner’s lecture on March 16 at the Bear Creek School in Redmond will be a night of laughter and insight you won’t soon forget. We have free tickets to give away!

To enter: Email us your name and phone number.

Good luck!

Dr. Laura Kastner knows from tweens and teens! Her insights into life with teens — and how you all can cope (and even thrive! ) during this time — are essential tools for parents whose kids are entering those wild and wonderful years.

Dr. Kastner is at The Bear Creek School in Redmond on March 16 to talk about “Kids, Emotions and Active Problem-Solving in Families.” We’ve got tickets to give away! Email us (giveaway@parentmap.com) and be sure to put “Kastner” in the subject line.

(Pssst…you can’t win by making a comment on this blog. Really! Email us!)

Northenders can shop at their very own Izilla Toys now — the most excellent Capitol Hill toy store is celebrating the reopening of its Wallingford location today.

Head over to the new joint from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. for Trophy cupcakes, a raffle, face painting, a bouncy toy, and a Caspar Babypants show at 11 a.m. (Hurry!)

It’s all free (unless you end up buying a toy or two — which you probably will — although everything’s 20 percent off today).

Wallingford Center, 1815 N. 45th St., Seattle, 206-547-5204.

checked your list?

by Laura Kastner, Ph.D.

I was preparing a keynote speech for the 180th North Pacific Pediatric Society today and it occurred to me that I should share the highpoints directly with parents. Have you read about the research which shows how much medical care can be improved in intensive care units when checklists are followed? With the complex and emotional realities of home lives, why should we expect raising rascals to be any less mentally taxing than the average surgery?

Research has documented that most teens will experience more moodiness, emotional reactivity and risk-taking, all of which can be very challenging for parents. Tweens and teens can drive their parents crazy with the way they argue for the sake of arguing, lapse into illogical thinking and dramatic interpretations of their plights, have meltdowns over what seem like small inconveniences, find fault with everything (especially their parents), and become maddeningly self-centered. Power struggles and arguments mushroom on the home-front, and parents wonder where their sweet child disappeared to.

I want to provide parents with a checklist of parenting strengths (of which there is an expanded version in my co-authored book, Getting to Calm) which is associated with academic, social and emotional competence in maturing teens. My hope is that parents of 4th and 5th graders can institute as many of these practices as possible as they ready themselves for the “molting age.” (more…)