A story in the Wall Street Journal today takes a look at the latest data on SAT scores, which is already being picked apart by analysts, parents, educators, students and former test takers like a tough sentence completion question.

The SAT is the most well-known of the alphabet soup of standardized test. For many, they’re the gateway to the LSAT, GRE, GMAT or MCAT. For others, they’re merely a continuation of years of standardized testing in schools and intensive test preparation. New York City alone will spend $80 million in five years testing kids as young as third grade, the New York Times reports.

Most of us are well aware that these test results do not equal intelligence. But with all the hullabaloo over scores, it’s hard not to get momentarily brainwashed by their potential impact. We gloat if the numbers are high and stress if they’re low. Test takers and their families spend hundreds, sometimes even thousands of dollars to increase their scores, even though, as the article notes, “studies have reached conflicting conclusions about the value of professional coaching, with the College Board saying its research shows it has only a small effect.” The pressure for exam success even inspired The Perfect Score, a 2004 teen comedy about high school seniors breaking in and stealing SAT answers.

How important are standardized tests to your child’s future? Where do you draw the line between preparation and obsession? No need for a number 2 pencil to answer this one.

Economic woes, exacerbated by higher gas prices and food costs, are affecting families in all sorts of ways (many of which we’ve already discussed on this blog). Apparently it’s also putting a damper on the foreign student exchange program.

An story in the Dallas Morning News says soaring expenses are partly to blame for a sharp decline in the number of host families for foreign students. “Some families from the past have told us that they can’t afford it anymore,” says Marie-Claude Dijoud, director of the Educational Merit Foundation in Garland, Texas.

The article says that families generally have students for three months to a year, paying for their room and board, and often incur additional costs by bringing students to cultural events or other outings. One family hosted three exchange students over the summer, taking them to see soccer star David Beckham play as well as the New York Yankees. Another family said hosting a student “added hundreds of dollars to food bills.”

We’ve often talked about how difficult it can be for working parents to get enough time with family, so adding a foreign exchange student to the mix is likely to make things even more hectic. But it also seems like the benefits — exposing the family to another culture and possibly making a lifelong friend — could make the sacrifices well worth it.

Readers, have you or do you hope to to work an exchange student into your family’s juggle? Did hosting the student have a significant financial impact?

How often do you play with your child? According to a new survey by toy maker HearthSong, the vast majority of parents engage in “active play” with their kids for six or less hours a week, and 16% report playing with them only 10 minutes a day.

Why aren’t we playing with our kids more? Time constraints are a likely reason, especially for Jugglers. But perhaps there’s the boredom factor, too, as one reader wrote in response to a post last week about taking your BlackBerry to the playground: “Why are we so disengaged with our kids’ activities that we find them boring? Because they’re pretty boring! Look! My son is skating around with a puck at hockey practice! Now a teammate is! Now another teammate is! Yet another! And this only happens 2 or 3 times a week, 7 months a year!”

I know what this reader means. I adore playing with my son, but after an of hour pushing cars around the floor or helping him build sand castles in the park, I’m ready to move on. If I have the time, I usually stick it out longer, on the assumption that the adult interaction is providing my child with intellectual stimulation. But it’s hard to know how much he really needs. After all, as my mother has pointed out, parents in previous generations rarely played with their kids. When my mom was young, mothers and fathers were expected to provide food, shelter and discipline, not fun; children’s play was left to children. Besides, if kids come to rely on constant adult attention, will they lose their ability to grow their own imaginations and invent their own solutions?

Readers, how much time do you spend playing with your children each week? Do you think it’s enough? If you didn’t have a Juggle, would your playtime hours increase?

Although families are more geographically spread out than ever, communication has become easier, thanks to cell phones and email. But given that my grandma isn’t going to hop on AOL Instant Messenger anytime soon, our weekly landline call is likely here to stay.

As a child, my parents forced me to dial the phone and scribe letters to relatives near and far. I’ve kept up the habit voluntarily and enjoy my weekly chats with my grandma, and make a point to send her old-fashioned letters now and then as well. But even if I didn’t like it, I would feel a moral obligation to keep in touch with her. If it wasn’t for grandparents, none of us would be here. Then again, when grandma calls first thing on a Sunday morning at 7 a.m., I understand the need for some limits.

I’ve come to realize, though, that for many of my peers, regular phone calls with grandparents are a thing of the past. While a few of my friends call their grandparents daily, some only do so when other family members prod them, and others never.

Schedules can be hectic, but for grandparents, the days aren’t often as jam-packed. In fact, they can be lonely and lead to depression. More than 15 percent of suicides were by men and women older than 65, a group that represents just 12.4 percent of the population, according to data recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Readers, how often do you talk to your grandparents? And if you don’t live near your own parents, how frequently do you think your children should be obligated to call or write to them?

We’ve posted before about feeling pressured to send your child to preschool. But could it actually be bad for them? An opinion piece on the Journal’s op-ed page last Friday argues that may be the case for most children.

The authors, Shikha Dalmia and Lisa Snell of the libertarian Reason Foundation, argue that despite claims of broad-based benefits to children who go to preschool, research shows that such benefits accrue only to disadvantaged youngsters.

“If anything, preschool may do lasting damage to many children,” Ms. Dalmia and Ms. Snell write. “A 2005 analysis by researchers at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, found that kindergartners with 15 or more hours of preschool every week were less motivated and more aggressive in class. Likewise, Canada’s C.D. Howe Institute found a higher incidence of anxiety, hyperactivity and poor social skills among kids in Quebec after universal preschool.”

The authors acknowledge that scientific understanding of the long-term effects of preschool is “very much in its infancy. But one inescapable conclusion from the existing research is that it is not for everyone. Kids with loving and attentive parents—the vast majority—might well be better off spending more time at home than away in their formative years. The last thing that public policy should do is spend vast new sums of taxpayer dollars to incentivize a premature separation between toddlers and parents.”

My son, turning 4 this fall, starts next month in a pre-kindergarten program at the same public school where his almost-7-year-old sister is entering second grade. My wife and I feel like both kids have seen great benefits from their preschool days (our son attended a private nursery school for two years, as did our daughter). While we have no way of knowing whether preschool will lead to lasting gains for them, we feel like the peer socialization and acclimation to school-like environments they received made their 2- and 3-year-old years more worthwhile and enjoyable than they might otherwise have been. And as we both work outside the home, we wouldn’t have been in a position to oversee preschool-like programs at our house for them.

Are those of you with young children concerned about whether preschool is right for them, or have you already chosen not to enroll them? Parents of older kids: Do you think preschool helped or harmed them?

The big news of the weekend was Sen. Barack Obama’s selection of Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware as the presumptive Democratic nominee for vice president. While Mr. Obama would be the nation’s juggler in chief if elected, Mr. Biden would be in a similar spotlight as second juggler. So what kind of work-and-family experience has he had, both in his personal life and as a policy maker? (We’ll take a similar look at the Republican vice-presidential candidate when Sen. John McCain announces his choice; we looked at a past Democratic veep candidate, former Sen. John Edwards, for very different reasons a couple of weeks ago.)

Newly elected to the Senate in 1972 but not yet sworn in, the then-30-year-old Mr. Biden faced a family tragedy: His wife and infant daughter were killed in a car accident, which also left his two sons badly injured. Mr. Biden reportedly considered withdrawing from public life but was persuaded to continue, and he was sworn in beside his sons’ hospital beds. To care for them, he commuted daily by train between Wilmington, Del., and Washington, never securing a Washington residence. He remarried in 1977, and he and his wife, Jill, also have a daughter.

In a New York Times profile during his run for president late last year, Mr. Biden said of campaign appearances, “Someone will stand up and say, ‘Well, I’ve lost this and I’ve lost that, and you guys don’t understand.’ And I say: ‘Look, I was a single parent for five years, and I understand what it’s like. I don’t understand your situation, but I’m not devoid of an understanding of the problems ordinary people face.’ ”

As a senator, Mr. Biden is perhaps best known for his focus on foreign policy, but he has had a hand in legislation targeting work-and-family issues. According to a cached version of his senatorial campaign Web site (which since this weekend has automatically referred visitors to the Obama-Biden campaign site), Mr. Biden is a co-sponsor of the Healthy Families Act, which would require employers with more than 15 employees to offer seven paid sick days a year. In the 1990s, he was the primary sponsor of the Violence Against Women Act and supported the Family and Medical Leave Act, which guarantees workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a family member.

Readers, share your thoughts on Mr. Biden. Does a politicians’ track record on work-family issues have any bearing on how you cast your vote this year?

The Tooth Fairy has been busy at our house lately. Our 11-year-old daughter is coming out of a dry spell following the loss and renewal of her front teeth, and is now sporting a mouth full of gaping holes where her molars used to be.

Some things have changed since she was a credulous 7-year-old tucking her first tiny tooth under her pillow. Back then, she would write earnest notes to the Tooth Fairy to explain the absence of a tooth that was swallowed, and eagerly scramble for her prizes in the morning.

Now, she matter-of-factly informs us that she’s just lost “another one.” And if we dare say anything about the Tooth Fairy, she just shoots us a cool look that says: “Oh, sure.” She leaves the tooth near the head of her bed, not actually under her pillow.

But one thing hasn’t changed for her and her brother over the years. Ole Tooth Fairy still brings the same prize: a single, golden $1 Sacagawea coin. It’s real money; it’s pretty and collectible; and it’s not extravagant.

In some families, I know, the Tooth Fairy brings more. And sometimes the award is pro-rated by tooth size—more for a molar than, say, an incisor. Kids will inevitably compare notes at school, and it can be hard to explain the differences to a child. Some cultures have different traditions surrounding baby teeth, though many also involve leaving money, a la the Tooth Fairy, according to “Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions from Around the World,” by Selby B. Beeler.

Readers, take our quick survey on how much to give. And do you have any advice for families who must explain why the Tooth Fairy brings a quarter at their house, when their friends get $10 or more?

None: We don’t have the Tooth Fairy at our house

$1 or less: It should be just a token amount for fun.

Up to $5: Enough to go buy a treat

$6 - $10: A little larger amount offers an opportunity to teach about saving and spending

Over $10: It’s a big deal at our house, and we like to do it right.

Do we know what our kids are doing online? New research from the Rochester Institute of Technology suggests that we don’t—not really. The study, which looked at the habits of 40,000 kids in K-12th grade, outlines a number of surprising trends.

One of the biggest misconceptions, according to lead researcher Sam McQuade, of the RIT’s Center for Multidisciplinary Studies in Rochester, N.Y., is that the main risk to kids is adult sexual predators lurking in chat rooms. In reality, he says, the majority of “cyber offenses” are perpetrated by the kids’ peers. “Today’s paradigm is kids exploiting kids online,” said Dr. McQuade at a panel discussion this week in New York.

The study found that 48% of K-1st grade children interact with people online, and that so-called “cyberbullying” (where kids are mean to one another via instant messaging, email and such) starts as early as the 2nd grade. It might be hard to imagine how kids that young get exposed to that kind of interaction, but if they are playing Webkinz or other games on a parent’s or older sibling’s computer, the possibility exists.

Dr. McQuade says the research—which was funded in part by Symantec Corp., maker of Norton computer-security products—shows that parents cannot just “rely on technological fixes,” such as porn-blocking software, to police kids’ online activities. The growth of mobile technology such as Web-enabled cellphones means that children can get online anywhere (with a friend’s device, if they don’t have one of their own).

Vanessa Van Petten, a young woman on the panel who authored a book and writes a blog about teen-parent relationships, says that simply banning computers isn’t practical, and advises parents to teach kids skills to handle the online world. It’s “just as important as the sex talk,” she said.

On the Cyber Safety and Ethics Initiative’s website, a number of organizations offer resources for parents to learn about the Web and keep kids safe at any age. What do you think are the best ways to protect your kids in a world where the walls between online and offline are coming down?

The heat is on for new moms to get back to work after maternity leave.

As corporate staffs get leaner, employers increasingly worry about whether new parents will return to work as scheduled after childbirth. Some 55% of clients polled recently by ComPsych, Chicago, a provider of employee-assistance services for 11,000 clients, said they were very concerned about employees’ trying to extend their parental leaves.

In a novel twist, employee-assistance providers are stepping up programs to aid new mothers’ return to work. ComPsych has increased confidential counseling and support groups to expectant and new mothers, to help them resolve inner conflicts and anxiety and clarify their own goals, says CEO Rich Chaifetz; counselors help parents see that it’s normal to feel sad and apprehensive.

Also in response to employer requests, LifeCare, a Shelton, Conn., provider of employee assistance and work-life services, is launching a pilot program called “Maternity Connection.” Counselors coach mothers before and after childbirth, to help them resolve “separation and guilt issues” and to foster “a sense of connectedness” to their employers, says Marianne Stook, managing director.

Looking back at my own return to work from maternity leaves, I remember feeling bereft, guilty and depressed; I, for one, would have benefited from some counseling. Even though employers foot the bill for the services, employee-assistance providers say they’re confidential and unbiased. “We try to help people sort out their feelings; we don’t make the decisions for them,” says Dr. Chaifetz, a neuropsychologist. On the other hand, some parents might not be comfortable with employer-sponsored counseling during such a tender time.

Do you see such programs easing postpartum depression and isolation? Or should employers keep their distance and let new mothers handle these sensitive issues on their own?

Clinical psychologist Dr. Henry Cloud is on a mission. In a recent Q&A on WSJ.com, Cloud discusses his new book, “The One Life Solution,” which aims to help people reclaim their personal lives and still achieve success at work. Wouldn’t we all like to find that elusive place?

Dr. Cloud addresses a key piece of the work-life balance equation: boundaries between a person’s work and personal life. To me, this is one of the biggest sticking points in my daily juggle. One example he cites hit home: “(Wives and husbands) go to the kids’ soccer game, but they’re emailing the office.” I confess, this is me.

I find it quite easy to focus while at the office. I know the distractions of worrying about what the plan is for dinner or what time my husband is picking our son will throw me off track, so I almost never email or call my husband during the day. In other words, I have set clear boundaries for my life entering my work.

The same cannot be said for my work entering my life. The BlackBerry is usually by my side and I know I am not the only mom feverishly answering emails or checking in from the playground at 6:00pm on a Wednesday or on the weekend. I find it much harder to maintain the same type of boundaries that I have set up while at work, although lately I’ve redoubled my efforts to disconnect and be present for my family on weekends.

Dr. Cloud argues that technology has destroyed time and space boundaries–and frankly, it’s hard to disagree with that point. And he says people need to put those boundaries back in place and reclaim their lives. Sounds great, but I think putting it into practice is significantly harder than saying it should be so.

Readers, how do you maintain boundaries? Where do you struggle most to set up those checks and balances between your work and personal lives?