Excuse me, but with everyone’s lives so incredibly hurried and full, it’s often the little gestures and niceties that are sometimes neglected. Especially in this age of technology, it’s easy for one’s tone or style to seem less personable or to be more blunt…rude. For reasons like these, I spoke with Anna Post, the great, great grandaughter of Emily Post – the queen of social etiquette.

This week, I’ll present these in a 3 part series because PBS Parents and I wanted to share all of this applicable information with you. We discussed the real need for rules for both kids and parents, the great importance of modeling here and some major no-no’s. And in regard to our children, there’s a HUGE respect factor here that we should really be aware of. And to be honest, a fair amount of the faux-pas or concerns, addressed in these installments, I hadn’t even considered myself.

PBS Parents’ The Parent Show with Angela Santomero:

Pardon My Parenting: Episode 1

Pardon My Parenting: Episode 2

I just came across an incredible bunch of people who started a non-profit to better the lives of sick or sheltered children by truly rolling up their sleeves and getting involved in what it would take to make each individual child happy.

Their mission is simple: “to help children escape their everyday pain and allow them to be a kid again, even if it’s for a short period of time. We respond to the needs of the children and provide whatever we can to make their day a little brighter. We help put a smile back on the faces of children who need it most.”

They have chapters located in Florida, Philadelphia & North Carolina. Check them out HERE and if you’re able, lend a hand however you can!

Everyone needs a little smile.

Like a Boss: Honing Your Leadership Skills

On February 7th (9-10a) I will be speaking at the kids’ entertainment industry’s most important annual event, Kidscreen Summit. The session lets you sit down with some of our industry’s most experienced executives and unearth the secret ingredients of effective leadership. Join us and be inspired by the vision, wisdom and personal “growing pains” stories of the following:

Kate Ebner – Panelist – Founder & President: The Nebo Company
Donna Friedman Meir – Moderator – President: Lemonade Creative Consulting
Thomas Lynch  – Speaker – CEO & Executive Producer: Tom Lynch Company
Angela Santomero – Speaker Founding Partner & Executive Producer: Out of the Blue Enterprises

As mentioned in an earlier post, I’ll also be moderating the Channel Team Spotlight: PBS Kids Panel at 3p that day. I hope to see you there!

I’ve always been interested in the theatre. And I know that my girls got the bug as well. People are often leery when it comes to the acting business, especially when it involves their children.  I went to THE Annie & a veteran in the biz for PBS’ The Parent Show to get some questions answered about how to protect our kids in the business (while staying clear of becoming that “stage” Mom) and how we can best support our kids in their search to follow their dreams, while dealing with rejection & other serious matters, in a healthy manner.

First, I went to Marc Tumminelli who is the owner/director of Broadway Workshop, NYC’s top training program that gets the next generation of young actors to hone their craft while having fun with it. Next, I went to Aileen Quinn, who was chosen from 8,000 girls to play Annie in the original 1982 film version of Orphan Annie.

I could have stayed there all day asking Marc and Aileen questions. Check out the interview to see some of their responses that absolutely apply to basic parenting as well.

[Preview The Parent Show episode]

It’s interesting how different we all are. Even members of our own family…while we might have similar characteristics, I’m often a step away from needing to see papers that we’re actually blood related at times. Sure things get heated from time to time as a result of this. But at a family function two weeks ago, a line was crossed.

Our meatballs were judged!

Attack me. Attack my longer than typical suburban length hair. But stay out of an Italian’s cooking panache. At least, it was finally ALL out in the open: my wife’s cousin uses 3 types of meat, my sister-in-law uses far too many eggs than I would dare say and we…well, we…we use…ground oats instead of breadcrumbs (with a yeast allergy being so easily dismissed by all)!

What can a person do, but setup an old Sicilian Meatball Throwdown?! Oh, it’s happening at our house tomorrow alright!

Six Italians:1 Kitchen. Stay tuned for how we fared & we’ll give you the winner’s recipe for the finest meatball on Monday.