Homework vs. Activities?
The minute the kids step off the bus, do you usher them into your minivan at light-year speed? Is that same van stocked with more pretzels and Gatorade than a 7-Eleven? After soccer practice, you jet over to cello lessons.…
Is It Time for Music Lessons?
After dinner, it’s music time in my house. Sometimes we move the furniture and dance crazily, sometimes the hand drums get played, sometimes we sing together, and sometimes we play the piano. And sometimes, let’s be real, we forget. As…
8 Parenting Tips – Busted!
I used to be a parenting expert. Then I had children. Back when I knew everything, I swore that my children would never touch anything containing Yellow No. 5 or high-fructose corn syrup. They would never slurp their fruit directly…
Totally Grand Gifts!
What are the two easiest gifts in the world to give grandparents? A super-sweet and lovely-to-look-at edible, or a book. Take it from a grandmother: This time, don’t go there! Gifts that please grands the most and last the longest…
The Kitchen is Where It’s At!
Our 13-year-old son has a career plan: Zack’s going to open a pie restaurant, where both the main dish of pizzas and the desserts that follow will arrive on diners’ tables in that classic round shape. While he’s not getting…
“When Your Child Is Different…”
About seven years ago, we headed to our 20-week ultrasound, eager to find out if we were having a boy or a girl. The pregnancy had been so smooth – easy even – and it felt like nothing could possibly…
So You’re Choosing Childcare?
For the first sixteen months of her life, my daughter Jayda, who at ten is already two inches taller than me, stayed with my mother or her father during the day while I worked. As she grew older, I knew…
38 Fun-Fueled Ideas for Families!
Have you ever felt stuck in a rut and tired of doing the same old summer activities? I know we feel that way sometimes. Each summer, my kids choose a few camps they really want to do, but the rest…
Raising Readers?
Summer reading. Two words that virtually guarantee eye-rolling from my two stubborn boys. When that final bell rings on the last day of school this month, all Brady and Eli want to think about is pool time, hanging out with…
The Big Apple and Your Family
Bad parent confession: We have never visited New York City as a family. Full disclosure: This bothers me more than it does my husband. With three children separated in age by six years, top to bottom, taking a bite out…
