Today, your kids might be asking you about Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned for seven decades. Highlights Magazine published this article about the longest reigning monarch in British history in 2013.

Each year, thousands of kids write to Highlights magazine to share their creativity, make suggestions for a new feature or puzzle or seek guidance on a problem they are experiencing.

The air is full of colorless gas. So what makes a sunny sky so blue?

On a beautiful summer day, puffy white clouds drift in a sky that’s very blue. It looks like an ocean you could dive into. 

For many parents, a child talking back or being rude is met with immediate anger or sternness—perhaps an instinctual response from their own upbringing or beliefs about respecting our elders.

A curious child is one who loves to learn and relishes the chance to expand their horizons. Here are 11 ways to imbue your child with curiosity.

It may be hard to fathom, but children as young as age 8 can have suicidal thoughts, and many parents don’t know when their children are in crisis. In this week’s “Dear Highlights” podcast, our host Christine French Cully, talks with Dr.

In this episode of the "Dear Highlights" podcast, Christine French Cully, Editor-in-Chief, and Hillary Bates, Director of Purpose and Impact, are joined by Highlights CEO Kent Johnson.

Every parent has experienced it. The anticipation of catching up with your child after a long week, the mental planning of questions to keep dialogue going. You begin the conversation with an easy ask, hoping to grease the wheels for a long discussion: “How was school today?” 

Everyone feels upset at times. It’s OK and natural for your child to feel angry, scared or sad. But those emotions don’t have to rule your child's mood. 

This Dear Highlights podcast discusses navigating friendships, both the fun and the challenging. Highlights receives more mail about friendship, a vital part of a kid’s social-emotional development, than any other subject. 

Small talk is a big deal. Although we usually dismiss small talk as chatter about topics that seem unimportant, kids need to know how to strike up, and hold, a conversation with you, friends, family and teachers, as well as bosses and colleagues down the road. 

The word on the street for many parents of school-aged kids is that kindergarten is the new first grade. It’s no secret that kindergarten today is much more academically rigorous than kindergarten used to be, with less play and longer hours.

Kids are exceptionally active thinkers. From an early age, they’re flexing and stretching their mental muscles in order to learn and explore. It’s important to support and challenge them to grow their intellect and to follow their curiosity.

Even if you, as a child, weren’t taught to “look for the helpers” in times of trouble, you probably have encouraged your own children to do so. 

It's important for adults to nurture children’s creativity, respect and identify it, listen to it and encourage it. Here's an age-by-age guide for how to support your innately creative child. 

While homework in elementary school is usually minimal, your child has many years of studying ahead of them. Teaching study skills to kids now – in age-appropriate ways – can pay dividends later as they progress through middle and high school.

As kids grow, they acquire new skills that need to be practiced. Puzzles provide enjoyable ways for kids to build their emerging skills. With puzzles, the goal is clear and the feedback is immediate–a puzzle piece either fits or doesn't.

At Highlights, we receive thousands of messages from kids each year. Some are silly. Some are heartbreaking. All are real. And every single one matters.   

Christine French Cully, Highlights Editor-in-Chief, and Hillary Bates, Director of Purpose and Impact, sit down with Dr. Emily Oster, an economist at Brown University, to discuss how to understand data to improve decision making for parents.  

True or false: Teaching good manners should begin when your children are babies. 

True. The ways parents and babies relate to each other, such as by playing games and eating together, lead to developmentally appropriate group behavior, also known as good manners. 

In this “Dear Highlights” podcast Editor-in-Chief Christine French Cully and her guest, educational psychologist Michele Borba, EdD, discuss how the pandemic has affected children as thei

When experts talk about executive function, they’re referring to the set of mental abilities that are essential to kids learning at home and in school. Children aren’t born with these mental abilities, but they are pre-wired to develop them. 

In this “Dear Highlights” episode, Christine French Cully, Editor-in-Chief, and Hillary Bates, Director of Purpose and Impact, talk with Nelba Marquez-Greene, founder of the

In this “Dear Highlights” podcast, as the war in Ukraine is at the front of many kids’ minds, Editor-in-Chief Christine French Cully and Hillary Bates, Director of Purpose and Impact, talk with Amanda Morgan from Save the Children. 

Few parents have heard the term “school refusal,” but many families are experiencing it. In fact, since the pandemic, it’s a big problem. Missing a lot of school causes cognitive–academic, social and behavioral deficits for students.

Reading is a crucial skill that opens up a world of learning. But not everybody reads: The Literacy Project estimates that only 35% of all public school fourth graders in the United States are proficient readers.

In this “Dear Highlights” episode, Christine French Cully, Highlight’s Editor in Chief, and Hillary Bates, Director of Purpose and Impact, welcome back parenting educator Jennifer Miller to talk about social aggressi

For 75 years, Highlights magazine has received thousands of letters and email from kids every year, and we answer every single one. “Dear Highlights” has always served as a way to help ease children’s concerns and help encourage them to become their best selves.

Here are simple ways to boost kids’ interest in food, desire for adventure and appreciation for what goes on in the kitchen.

From homework to open houses and everything in between, keeping up with your child’s school year can often feel like a full-time job. 

There is no perfect formula or kindergarten readiness checklist to follow, but understanding what kids learn in kindergarten, what they do during their day, and how early childhood learning happens can help parents decide if it is the right time to enroll.

As soon as young adults step foot on a college campus, they’re flooded with credit card offers. Many sign up for them and immediately max them out. Others might sign up for one and barely use it — avoiding spending money they don’t have. 

These 5 tips will help you feel at ease when cooking with kids, while also helping your child feel at ease shopping for and chopping veggies, measuring ingredients and helping you cook and serve dinner. 

As children grow, it’s normal for them to experience ups and downs day-to-day, depending on what’s happening at school and with friends and family.

As November approaches and election conversations surround us, conversations about politics can be intense. Children are not immune.

In this Dear Highlights podcast, Christine French Cully, Highlights Editor-in-Chief, and Hillary Bates, Director of Purpose and Impact, talk with Dr.

There are few things more adorable than a stack of colorful and engaging board books waiting at home for your baby.

But board books are much more than a design accessory.

Children gain confidence and a sense of meaning when they’re responsible for walking a dog, setting the table, cooking dinner and other daily jobs. When children help with the work of the household, they develop a belief in themselves as capable and effective.