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Photo Credit: SCA Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget

The back-to-school crunch isn’t just about new backpacks and flashy sneakers. For the 7 million American kids living with asthma, it means heading back into an environment that can be laden with allergens that may affect their ability to maintain control over their asthma. In fact, asthma accounts for nearly 11 million school absences every year.

People with asthma have inflammation or swelling in the airways of their lungs, and uncontrolled inflammation (swelling) makes the airways more sensitive to asthma triggers like pollen, dust, and smoke.

Last month I shared with you about my inept knife skills and how as a Chicago Cutlery Mom Ambassador I wanted to, at the very least, not be scared to use large sharp knives in my kitchen.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve confronted that fear, and have been using my Chicago Cutlery DesignPro 8” Chef Knife in the kitchen when prepping our food.

Our daughter has always been interested in video games and drawing. Over the years she has excelled at digital drawing using a Bamboo Tablet and Photoshop Elements. She also really enjoys the stories and lore of video game franchises, and writes her own parallel stories and comes up with ideas for quests and characters to go along with those games.

So it’s not surprising to us as parents that for the past couple of years she has shown interest in going to college for Video Game Design.

Help your child get back into the swing of school with a fun printable workbook. Just select your child’s grade and download!

Don’t just scratch the surface with a single worksheet, go in-depth with printable workbooks handpicked by teachers.

GDL is a three-step process designed to help teens gain experience and build skill while minimizing common risks such as the use of cell phones cell use, passenger distractions, and nighttime driving.

It’s a game-winning strategy for helping teens be safe behind the wheel.

Step 1: Permit

A teen may obtain a Permit first after successfully passing a written test and in some states after completing behind the wheel training.

Do you love the flavor of fresh caramel corn, but not making it? It’s easy to get the flavor of this fall inspired treat, by ordering some Caramel Corn Salt Water Taffy at Candy.com! Available in 5 pound bags, the taffy is soft, chewy and has an authentic flavor, AND you’ll be in caramel corn heaven with just one piece!

My husband works weekends, so it’s not often that we get to spend family time together on the weekends, but with the Labor Day holiday, he had some time off, and so we celebrated by having an indoor Family Game Night picnic.

Why indoor you ask? Well it was unseasonably warm the other day (over 100 degrees) and WINDY! So rather than chase after our Tyson Chicken Nuggets, we decided to do our picnic in the family room.

With back to school in our rearview mirror, we now have time to think about some home safety maintenance. There are things in our homes that should be checked periodically to keep our families and our homes safe. These are the things we do each fall to help protect our home and family:

We change the batteries in our smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms. Whether your detectors are “beeping” or not, change those batteries with new ones every year, so you can have peace of mind to know your family is safe.

If parents were aware of all the benefits of music lessons, they would be standing in lines at the doors of the best piano instructors in their areas. The benefits are not limited to pianists, but the piano and other keyboard instruments are more complicated and challenging than instruments that require the reading of one note at a time.

Imagine looking at chords of at least four notes. The brain must instantly interpret what the eye sees, and instantly decide which finger will strike which key. In addition, compositions often require that the pianist move his or her hands in opposite directions.

You may have noticed that here on Three Different Directions we like to feature easy, family friendly recipes. Just recently I had the opportunity to head to Walmart to do some shopping for Del Monte Fruit Cups and come up with some healthy lunch or snack options with them.

I brought the whole family along shopping and you can see our entire shopping trip in the Google+ Album, by clicking the picture below.