Jessica Pan

It’s beginning to look a lot like winter! – and if you and your family are spending the holidays in Beijing and don’t know where to buy a Christmas tree, find holiday decorations, or skate on the best ice rinks (and lakes!), flip to our Holiday Guide for ten must-know essentials this holiday season.

Chilly temperatures and a break from school mean the kids will be spending time indoors – make easy Christmas crafts with Rebecca Kanthor. And tis the season for giving – we spotlight Beijing-based charities that need your help – giving back can be as simple as filling a backpack with items, donating household supplies or volunteering on the weekends.

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Get out the sweaters, scarves, boots and….the tissue! It’s officially autumn and, unfortunately, flu season, but the November issue of beijingkids answers your H1N1 questions. Doctors from Beijing United and SOS give tips on how to avoid catching the virus and what to expect if you do. If you’ve ever wondered about alternative medicine, check out Melissa Rodriguez’s comparison of traditional Chinese medicine and naturopathic medicine with Western medicine – and get tips for easing the symptoms of the common cold. 

Looking for the right healthcare in Beijing can be tricky but Kaatje Schreurs Harrison gives the lowdown on what to expect from local and foreign hospitals (and where to buy children’s medicine). Donna Scaramastra Gorman investigates the options for children with learning disabilities. Elsewhere in the issue, an expat mom in Beijing shares her story and advice on adopting from China. 

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September brings the hint of fall, the start of school, and as the ninth month of the year, the beijingkids pregnancy issue. Kaatje Schreurs Harrison, a mother of two, writes about the ins and outs of giving birth in Beijing, Imogen Kandel gets expert advice on how to get bodies back to pre-pregnancy fitness, and our month by month pregnancy calendar outlines where and when to find birthing, nursing and prenatal yoga classes in Beijing. Find stylish and practical maternity clothes – our Goodie Bag section features international brands sold in local shops. Also, get the scoop on where to find prenatal nutrition essentials and what the Chinese traditionally eat to promote a healthy pregnancy.
 

 

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 It’s the last month of summer, and most likely you’ve just returned from a summer holiday, have hosted many guests in Beijing, or maybe you and your family are new in the capital – either way, it’s time enjoy those last few days before the kids head back to school. If your child is beginning school for the first time, find out what to expect and how to ease young ones into the classroom. Searching for the right school is one of the most challenging and important obstacles families face – we’ve got the guide to finding the perfect school for your kids. Considering home-schooling? Ian Cook interviews two home-schooling families in Beijing to find out about their experiences.

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With 100 lazy, hazy days of summer ahead, beijingkids has found something for every day of summer to keep the kids occupied, happy, fed, learning and moving. From where to buy swimsuits to the best kids’ cooking classes, from to parks to explore and picnic in, aquariums to fish through, and semi-extreme sports for fearless kids – we’ve got it all (and much more) in our double feature summer survival guide – your guide to everything fun under the sun.

If older kids are searching for a new author, Eveline Chao has an in depth interview with young-adult book writer, Justina Chen Headley, a former China expat who writes about multicultural kids, as well as a guide for where to buy kids books, brush up on Mandarin, and stimulate young minds.

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This May, beijingkids has moms on the brain. Looking for the perfect way to spend Mother’s Day on May 10? Find ways to indulge mothers in the beijingkids guide to scrumptious brunches, spa treatments, and ideas for a great night out in this month’s issue. Also, six extraordinary mothers from different walks of life share their stories and lessons from motherhood – meet a single adoptive mother, a woman who recently gave birth, a savvy grandmother and more.

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If you’ve been feeding your dog Optima dry dog food, stop immediately and get your pet checked out by a veterinarian. At least 20 dogs in four cities had died from aflatoxin poisoning after eating the contaminated dog food. Chinese representatives for Optima (优格狗粮 or you1 ge2 gou3 liang2 in Chinese) claim the dog food, imported from Australia, became contaminated with the naturally occurring toxin at a custom’s location in Guangzhou due to increased government regulations during the Olympics. Aflatoxin, a toxic and carcinogenic substance that causes liver failure in animals, thrived in the hot and humid summer weather in Guangzhou, tainting the dog food.

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In this age of technology, it seems that teens navigating hormones and sexual orientation have found a way to avoid those awkward parent-teen conversations by communicating with parents via the internet. Check out this expat teen in Shanghai who used Skype to come out to his mom and shared his coming out experience with the rest of the world on youtube.com.

Homosexuality has only been legal for 11 years in China, and while it's still a taboo topic for most Chinese people, it seems there is growing tolerance for homosexuality in China with the number of homosexuals in China exceeding five million. In 2001, China removed homosexuality from the list of psychiatric disorders. 

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In the U.S., I spent my summer vacations being pretty lazy; I spent June through August going to the pool, catching up with friends, sleeping late, or traveling with my family. For some reason, I imagined children and adolescents all over the world spending these months the exact same way, but I’ve now realized two things: not all countries have the same months for summer vacation and other kids out of school attended summer camp (6 million kids in America each year), try to make extra cash at a summer jobs or study at summer school (yikes).

While in the U.S., most schools allow a summer vacation of about three months, the summer holidays in England usually begin near the end of July and last until the first week of September for approximately 6 weeks of unadulterated bliss. 

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In my household, my father never received an elaborate Father’s Day celebration. We’d usually hunt for the latest gadget to get him, and we often failed. My brothers and I usually ended up giving my father a stunning new tie, but he didn’t seem to really mind. We focused most of our attention on Mother’s Day – showering my mom with flowers and pitching in with household chores. However, ever since my siblings and I left the nest, our gifts to my father have gotten better over the years—but your family doesn’t have to be as uncreative as mine was! beijing-kids has compiled a few activities, gift ideas, and imaginative ways to show dads you really care on Sunday, June 15. 

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