If you or someone you know is able to host, please sign up now. In 2010, The Fresh Air Fund’s Volunteer Host Family program, called Friendly Town, gave close to 5,000 New York City boys and girls, ages six to 18, free summer experiences in the country and the suburbs. Volunteer host families shared their friendship and homes up to two weeks or more in 13 Northeastern states from Virginia to Maine and Canada.

Thanks to host families who open up their homes for a few weeks each summer, children growing up in New York City’s toughest neighborhoods have experienced the joys of Fresh Air experiences. More than 65% of all children are reinvited to stay with their host family, year after year.

Barbara Kane founded HearthSong in 1983 because of a growing conviction that, “…too often, in our culture, children are pushed to grow up too fast. I started HearthSong to make a statement reinforcing what parents themselves know is true, right and healthy–that childhood is a very special time.” Children need time to be children.

A catalyst for Kane was a major national news magazine’s cover story on “superbabies.” This article, and her own observations, made her more aware of how our society pressures parents to teach their children more and more facts, at earlier and earlier ages. In Kane’s view, “Earlier is not necessarily better. It’s important that children learn basic skills, but at the right developmental age. Most of all, children need time for creative, imaginative play. In fact, it is through play that children learn most readily.”

Did you know that your hands are more likely to tell your age than your face?

Well, it’s true, unfortunately. Your hands often begin to show signs of damage years before your face. That skin is thinner and has less fatty cushion (plumpness) than the face, so it’s more susceptible to damage and dehydration. If you think about your mother or your grandmother, the veins on the backs of their hands probably looked more prominent with bulged tendons and numerous brown spots. Because today’s plastic surgeons cannot change the way hands are showing age, you can give your hands the careful attention they deserve with age-defying results.