Farmingdale Youth Services Department

Baking together is one Pinterest-inspired holiday fantasy that’s actually doable, thanks to our completely kid-friendly cookies from the author of the children’s cookbook  Baking Class . By Deanna F. Cook from  Parents Magazine Cozy Cookies Use our sugar cookie recipe or bake up a mix. Either way, the fun is in the decorating. What You'll Need:  Butter, granulated sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, powdered sugar, milk, food coloring, sweetened coconut, assorted sprinkles and sugars for decorating. Countdown to Christmas: Crafts, Food and DIY Gifts Active Time:   45 mins Total Time:   2 hrs (includes chilling time) Get the Recipe Sugar Cone Trees 'Tis the season to try a no-bake treat! Set out frosting, ice cream cokes, and sprinkles and let your little elves work their magic. What You'll Need:  Vanilla frosting or  recipe for Cozy Cookie Glaze , sugar ice cream cones, sprinkles, sugars, and/or sweetened flaked cocon

It is difficult to know what to do when your child becomes increasingly persistent about wanting to have more and more of an online presence. Here are some suggestions from  Kara Corridan, the health director at   Parents, as she keeps in mind her experience with her young children. 1. Children need a social-media mentor, someone in the know who can help them navigate the right way to behave online.  Ideally, that would be a teacher or a librarian. But as keynote speaker  Mega M. Subramaniam, Ph.D . , explained, teachers and librarians rarely have the opportunity to guide our kids in that way, because school and public computers automatically filter out all social media sites. Of course, there's a good reason for that. But I hadn't thought of the downside until Dr. Subramaniam pointed it out. She's the associate director of Information Policy and Access Center at the University of Maryland, and runs several social media literacy programs for tweens, and she suggests th