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By TIMES STAFF
Published January 8, 2007

Getting a grip on your schedule

Want to lead a more organized life this year? Here's advice from Stephanie Vozza, owner and creator of theorganizedparent.com:

- Have a calendar or planner, online or not, with at least a daily and weekly schedule. Review the next day's calendar every evening; preview the week ahead every Sunday.

- Use a filing system. Create your own or buy one. Then you'll have a place for the tops of permission slips and papers you need to review and sign by a particular date.

- Plan meals by the week so each evening you know what you're preparing and you have all the items needed without having to make frequent trips to the store.

- Develop a good network of friends and family with whom you can share responsibilities, such as babysitting and carpooling.

- Ask for help. Too many parents think they can and should do everything. Share housecleaning chores with everyone who lives in the house.

- Make a date night, or just-for-you night. If money's tight or babysitters few and far between, work out a deal with other parents to trade off on the sitting. Everyone benefits.

Better than Play-Doh because you can eat it

Kids love to help in the kitchen, but doesn't it always seem like they're begging to when you're exhausted after a long day at work? Some weekend, try out this simple, cheap (and easy to clean up) pretzel recipe from the kids chefs at Newsday. Youngsters can do most of the heavy lifting, except for the boiling water part, of course.

Soft Pretzels

2 (16-ounce) loaves frozen bread dough, thawed

1 egg white

1 teaspoon water

Coarse kosher salt

- Separate dough into 24 (1-inch) balls. Roll each ball into a long rope and shape into pretzels, circles or other designs, such as letters or numbers.

- Place pretzels 1 inch apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Let stand 20 minutes. In a small bowl, beat egg white and water with a fork. Lightly brush on pretzels. Sprinkle with kosher salt.

- Place a 9- by 13-inch baking pan on bottom rack of oven. Fill pan with about 2 inches of boiling water. (The steam created makes the pretzels much better.) Place baking sheet with pretzels on top oven rack.

- Bake pretzels in a preheated, 350-degree oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes 24.

Harry Potter: 386,582 minutes and counting

The Mark-My-Time digital bookmark counts the minutes of your child's reading. Parents can choose to set a countdown timer with alarm that alerts children when they have completed their required reading time without them having to ask every two minutes, "Am I done yet?" Or, perhaps more constructive, a cumulative timer, ideal for multisession reading. The digital bookmark could also time music practice sessions, math fact activities, meetings or homework study sessions. It's available in neon green, neon blue and neon purple for a suggested price of $8.95 at bookstores, some discount drug chains and online at mark-my-time.com.

Compiled by Times staff writer Mimi Andelman from staff reports, the Detroit Free Press, the Washington Post and McClatchy-Tribune Newspapers.

Thinking about preschool?

Wondering what age is right to send your child to preschool? There's all that buzz that if you don't get your kid into preschool now that she'll be at a disadvantage - developmentally, intellectually and socially - later. "The research does not support that sort of apocalyptic thinking. Everything else being equal, by the second or third grade (at the outset) children who attend preschool are indistinguishable from those who did not," says family psychologist John Rosemond (www.rosemond.com). "The so-called 'jump start' doesn't seem to last more than a couple of years. It looks as if the most valid reason for putting a child in a preschool program may be 'I need some time away from him, and I think he needs time away from me.' "

John and Mary need not apply

The parenting Web site BabyCenter.com compiles an annual list of top children's names from more than 350,000 members. It combines names with the same pronunciation but different spellings, such as No. 1, Aiden/Aidan, to give what it says is a more accurate view of popularity. Here's what we came up with in 2006:

Top girls' names

1 Emma 1

2 Madison 3

3 Ava 10

4 Emily 2

5 Isabella 6

6 Kaitlyn 4

7 Sophia 5

8 Olivia 7

9 Abigail 11

10 Hailey 13

Top boys' names

1 Aiden 1

2 Jacob 2

3 Ethan 3

4 Ryan 6

5 Matthew 5

6 Jack 8

7 Noah 16

8 Nicholas 4

9 Joshua 9

10 Logan 19

The Social Security administration also has a fun site to look up the most popular baby names by year, state and other breakdowns. Go to www.ssa.gov and search "baby names."

[Last modified January 8, 2007, 06:28:51]