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As kids start filing back to class and families decompress from the holidays, there's nothing better than having a lazy Saturday. If you're looking for ideas on what to do during the rest of the weekend, the beijingkids Top Picks newsletter (February 2-5) can help. Published every Wednesday, the newsletter rounds up the best events from every week.

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In a thought-provoking piece for The New York Times, columnist KJ Dell’Antonia wonders what effect her and her partner’s choice to move to the countryside may have had on their children’s independence. She quotes Dr. Richard Jackson, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of California: “Children who grow up in suburbia can’t meet their life needs without getting a ride somewhere.” For many expat families living in Beijing, this sentiment is likely to hit home. 

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I have a pre-tween daughter, Leah, who is exercising her independence these days. She tests me with her words, and she certainly challenges authority. She's still a little girl, yet she knows that bigger things are just around the corner. To provide her with some much-requested liberation, I don't meet her at the bus stop anymore, and she doesn't have a great desire to hang out with me if there are other -- better -- options around.

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Protecting and maintaining children’s health and well-being is the number one priority on every parent’s list. Childhood immunization is one weapon that helps prevent our children from getting devastating diseases like meningitis, pneumonia and polio. However, navigating the immunization process while living in another country or moving between countries can seem like a daunting process.

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Coming back from CNY holiday, my girls and I took a walk around Pinnacle Plaza to see what was new. Things we noticed were mostly in area restaurants…we must have been hungry! Here’s what we saw:

*Coming soon is a new Mexican grill called Avocado Tree! It is located right next to Johnson’s Computers, but doesn’t appear to be open yet (and there was no closed-for-CNY sign on the door like at many other establishments). It’s not a large place, but I’m personally hoping that it’s good, as Mexican options are much needed around here. It is pretty close to Mexican Kitchen, but then again, everything is close to one another in this area.

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In Beijing, we discuss food safety with the zeal of hardened sports fans. Every week seems to bring some fresh scandal about the things we eat and the products we use. But what about the dangers that lurk in our homes? One of the biggest culprits is the kitchen. For example, did you know that kitchen sinks are dirtier than public bathrooms? With that in mind, here’s how to thwart eight common food-borne illnesses.   

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Numerous times in the last four years that we’ve lived here, questions about the authenticity of jug bottled water has been a topic of debate. Those of us expats with water coolers in our homes – most of us -- generally use the reliable Nestle or Watson’s brands of water. Occasionally, a person might question the taste of the water, or simply the look of the bottle that has been delivered. Is it real? Is it fake? What are we really drinking?

Because we’ve had no problems or concerns in our household, I haven’t really been too concerned with proving that what we have is real. That is, until I saw the water bottles pictured above behind our neighborhood Jenny Wang’s. My head wanted to justify what these were all doing there, but I couldn’t come up with anything. So I started to go back to those information posts I had previously ignored. I wanted to know.

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As a nutritionist, one of the questions I get asked the most around this time of year is how to lose those few extra pounds (or, in some cases, kilograms) put on over the holidays. And this year, as with every year, the perpetual discussion about fad diets and quick weight loss programs is back in full force. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had friends ask me about the cabbage soup diet, the South Beach diet, the HCG diet, and the Hollywood diet. Some of these are simply strange and unsustainable – no one can (or should) eat just cabbage soup for any prolonged period of time – while others, like the HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin hormone) diet are unproven and even quite possibly dangerous.

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