The “babies” tend to be on or near me, or crying, or both. I spend a fair amount of time trying to get William to sleep, to get Elliott to get involved in something that will actually keep him happy for a little while, or to get William to play on the floor for 10 minutes straight so that I can get something done. But, a lot of days, it seems like I'm not succeeding in any of those efforts.

    So, yesterday, a friend of mine posted a picture on Facebook. This particular friend has a baby who is about a month younger than William. The picture was of the baby, who had made his way across the floor to the toys housed along the side of the room. I just kept looking at that picture and thinking that if only William had some different toys to play with, perhaps he would stay occupied a bit longer at a stretch. But William seems so bored with all of his toys! And I am so ready for him to be ready to play. In order to find a way to make him playing longer, I kept looking at that picture. Suddenly, I realized my sons need to play closer to me.

    So I cleared off the cubby(围起来的)shelves in the playroom, and my husband and I moved it to the living room. We found all of the toys that would be safe for William and put them in the cubbies. Then, we pulled the play kitchen in.

    William was so interested in what I was doing that he sat there and played and chewed on his toys while we moved furniture. When we were done, I moved him over closer to the cubbies and he got so excited that he didn't disturb for an hour, while I made dinner and cleaned up! Even Elliott played happily for a few hours. It was a dream come true! And I got to know that my lack of happy children was because of my desire for a toy—free living room.

    Ask any kid, and you'll likely hear that time spent with friends is the coolest and most important part of the school day. Educators, as well, acknowledge that making friends is one of the most valuable things children do as they learn and grow. But many parents are perplexed by their children's social lives, wondering how to help their kids cope with the challenges, heartbreaks, and the joys of making friends, losing them, and making friends again.

    “Friendships help children gradually learn to be independent, contributing members of a community and it's just as important as their academic growth” notes Diane Levin, Ph.D., author of “Remote Control Childhood.” However, it's a slow process. There are many social skills to learn, which advance with age and experience, trial and error, and experiencing the satisfaction that comes from contributing to an ongoing friendship.”

    “Friendship starts as soon as children can crawl off their parents' laps over to another child,” adds Michael Thompson, Ph.D., co-author of her life with you to her life with her friends. but who their friends are, how they interact with them, and how popular they are, is something parents have only limited control over.”

    Experts on children's behavior say that problems like jealousies, breakups, bullying and teasing account for a big part of what parents, kids and teachers talk about, and what parents worry about.

    Get insights into how children's friendships develop and how parents can help, if needed, and find ways to determine if your child is at risk for serious social problems or simply suffering from real (but common) social challenges.

    I had a lot of teachers that I loved. However, the teacher that I remember most was Mrs Green from Marianna, Florida. She was my 5th grade teacher. Since I was a new student, not only in her class, but at the school, she made my time there much more pleasant. I immediately began to like her. She was really funny and I knew that she liked me. She made learning fun. I remember one day for Christmas holidays, she taught us how to make ornaments (装饰物) from eggs. My parents still have some of the ornaments I made.

    She made me leader for many group projects and that made me feel special. I think that would make any child feel special, especially when a child is in a new place with no friends. She made me want to be like that. Not to pick a "favourite" student, but to make every student feel that they are special. That year, I received the Presidential Academic Award (美国总统学术奖). I was really proud and so were my parents.

    Looking back at it, I think the reason why I did so well was that I felt important. Students do better when they feel like they are important or loved. Mrs Green always gets to know her students and forms personal relationships with them, which I will try to do some day. I just hope that there will be a student who finds me to their favourite teacher as I found her to be mine.

    Huawei Technologies Co. displayed its much-anticipated in-house operating system Harmony OS on Friday, marking what some call the Chinese tech giant's biggest push yet to build its own software ecosystem for the era of the internet of things.

    The move is also expected to weaken the influence of the United States government's restrictions on Huawei using Google's Android operating system in smartphones, analysts said.

    Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's consumer business group, speaking in Dongguan, Guangdong province, said it is difficult to deliver a smooth experience across different devices with the huge amount of codes involved in the Android and Linux operating systems. Linux is an open-source operating system widely used in personal computers and other hardware.

    "Harmony is a next-generation operating system designed to address the challenge," Yu said, adding that it will be able to support a wide range of application situations, including smart TVs, automobiles and wearables.

    The internet of things refers to a network of devices and other objects that can connect with each other and exchange data.

    Yu said the US government's restrictions have accelerated the company's marketing of the system, which now has about 4,000 employees working on it.

    The senior executive said Harmony can be used in its smartphones. But Android is still Huawei's preferred choice for handsets if the company is allowed to use it.

    "But when Android is not available, Harmony can be applied immediately to smartphones. Harmony is ready," Yu added.

    Jia Mo, an analyst at market research company Canalys, said even if Huawei does not use Harmony in its smartphones in the short term, its smartwatches and smart TVs can be equipped with Harmony to widen its use and accumulate more experience in building an ecosystem.

    "Also, more importantly, Huawei chose to build Harmony into an open-source operating system and allow it to be compatible with Android. Thus Harmony will be more accepted by current Android users. This will prevent Huawei from repeating the fate of Microsoft in promoting smartphone systems," Jia said. Microsoft failed to popularize the use of its Windows system in smartphones years ago.

    With all the recent concern about the environment, people want to see their money used to better the planet. Here are four well-known environmental organizations.

    World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

    The World Wildlife Fund is perhaps one of the best-known organizations for the protection of endangered species and their habitats around the world. They've been around for over 45 years. You can donate through their website worldwildlife.org, join their organization as a member, or adopt an animal through their online adoption center.

    National Geographic Society (NGS)

    National Geographic Society is well-known for their magazine and their specials on TV. The organization itself is one of the longest-running in the world—they've been around since 1888, focus on exploration and conservation of forests, oceans, habitats, species and societies. You chopse to donate through the website nationalgeographic.com，buy something at their online store, or order a magazine subscription.

    National Wildlife Federation (NWF)

Founded officially in 1937, the National Wildlife Federation tries to protect wildlife at all costs. In fact, they believe that having the public educated is the best way to help the environment—the more you know, the more you can protect the world we live in. Donations to the NWF can be made through their website nwf. org or through other options, like matching gifts, workplace giving, or memorial donations.

    Ecology Fund, com

    Set up in 1976，Ecology Fund, com is run on user clicks. Advertisers buy ad space on the site every time someone clicks. The money goes to buy endangered wilderness land to protect it from companies that would destroy it. So far, Ecology Fund, com has bought land in many areas. The best thing about this site is that you needn't donate any money—all you have to do is click.