Parenting Advice

I’ll admit it: I’m the worst when it comes to having a very, very specific idea of what my holiday decor/gift wrap/dessert is going to look like, and going after it full-force. But while I might have visions of white and silver wintery woodland cookies dancing in my head, if the 7-year-old gets his heart set on making Christmas squid, moths, and carrots, who am I to argue?

It can be tough to get everyone outside in the winter, what with the windchill factor, freezing rain, and infinite amount of layers required…but it’s so worth it! I’ve gathered a handful of sweet and low-stress outdoor activities that might be perfect for this winter, and many winters to come. Sparklers In The Snow What better way to welcome the new year than with ultra-festive sparklers?

This is my son, age 5, practicing cello by Lake Michigan, a few blocks from our home. What I love about this picture is not that it looks like he’s got some mad skills (full disclosure: he’s playing “Hot Cross Buns”, not Bach, and he’s not about to fall into the lake, though it kind of looks that way). This picture reminds me how invigorating this experience was for him, and to keep thinking outside the box when it comes to engaging in learning and practicing.

It’s a magical sight, right? All those perfectly wrapped, brand new presents under the Christmas tree, just waiting to be opened? I’ve been there: receiving new toys in the mail from some crazy online shopping spree, my eyes a-twinkle when I open those boxes and how nice they look, how much my kids will love them in their packaging. But then I remember places like this… …and I find myself completely overwhelmed by the amount of stuff on the Earth already.

“He broke another vase,” my friend lamented to me on the phone a few weeks back. I had to think – why do you keep buying them? And displaying them? When you have the loveliest, sweetest, well-meaning, but absolute klutz of a kid living in your house? I know we love pretty things, but sometimes our pretty things have got to coexist with crazy kids. If you have a klutz in your house, here are some options to keep the pretty decor, but stop having so much broken, already! 1.

It’s happened: my five-month-old has started rocking on her hands and knees and I’m well aware of the next logical step — crawling. It’s just about time to start baby-proofing the house. I’ve done it before so it shouldn’t be too difficult, but the one place that we were never able to stylishly address was the fireplace.

When you ask parents what not to buy for a nursery, a changing table rises to the top of the list. “Official” changing tables don’t repurpose well into non-baby furniture so many parents choose alternatives to traditional changing tables, primarily dressers or desks that are at a comfortable height and deep enough to accommodate a changing pad.

It’s easy to get over-excited when decorating a kids’ room, right? I mean, planning a room full of fun items, colorful things, cute things – I know from experience – makes it really hard to keep that cash in your pocket. And yet, as a parent I also know that overwhelming pressure to keep costs down for the family. So today we’re broaching the un-fun but essential topic of how to make that nursery creation or room-redo budget work.

It seems so long since I had so much time in my apartment alone to myself. Actually, it’s been over 3 and half years. Which means all those things I used to do with hours of time seems to have vanished from my mind.Still, I am taking advice from a friend who said, “Make the most of the time you’ve got! Write down everything you want to do and cross it off, even if it’s tiny things like sleeping in one morning or taking a long shower.

Baby on the way? Need a little name inspiration? We’ve scoured our nursery tours and kids’ rooms posts to make this list of what could very well be the coolest baby name list on the web! Here is a list of all the names of the girls and boys who inhabit the rooms we have featured in the last 6 months. See a favorite? Have an amazing baby name suggestion you don’t see here? Don’t forget to say so in the comments!

I know we don’t like to talk about it. But when I was in the early days of deciding whether or not I would take that leap off the edge of the world and start trying to get pregnant, there were only a few things that turned me off having kids. And at the top of this list was this: is my house going to smell like dirty diapers? How can I make sure it doesn’t? Three years later, here’s how we manage it.First of all, we have friends, really good friends, be honest with us.

I have a friend who has more kids than me, whose husband works longer hours than mine, who cooks and bakes more than I do, and yet her house is tidier than mine, always tidier than mine. What gives? I decided that this week, it was time to get to the bottom of it: what are the dirty little secrets of those tidy families? I have been watching all my tidy friends and taking notes. Here’s what I have observed that is common to them all. 1. Their whole family has less stuff.

She was a tad late, but spring is finally in full swing down in Charleston, and we are taking advantage of every opportunity to enjoy it outdoors. The sandbox has become a favorite hangout for my daughter, and I’ve learned a few tricks to make our sandy experiences a bit more enjoyable. Keeping three simple items nearby is the key to smart sand play.The water hose is something we don’t often think of when playing in the sand.

Uh-oh. Has that baby of mine really worked out how to get in the refrigerator? Already? And the cabinets? Time to baby proof our rental. But how, when there is so little we can change? Here are a few of the challenges we renters face when baby-proofing, and the simple steps we can take to overcome them. If you can, start at the very beginning. When looking at a property, speak to the landlord about any safety concerns you have about the space.

Jumping on the bed, pillow fights, watching Mom and Dad’s TV, eating crackers on the duvet. Sometimes I feel like my bedroom is less of a retreat for us grown-ups and more like a fast-food restaurant playground. But what can I really do about it? Could I seriously make my bedroom off-limits to the kids when we live in such a small space?Thinking back to my parents, and then my grandparents, their bedrooms were all off-limits to us as kids.

“Move to a ground floor!” is what I said to my pregnant friend who lived in the top floor apartment of a three story non-elevator building with those strange outside stairs we have here in Montreal (um, it gets cold and snowy here, hello!). But she preferred to stay put and appreciate all that great top-floor light. Here’s how she dealt with it while going through first kid, pregnancy and second kid:1. Keep the diaper bag very basic.

I sat down with one of our maintenance guys this week to talk about rental damage left by kids. He let me in on the dark secrets of our 211-apartment complex. Here are the top kinds of damage they have to deal with from the families in our block, and a few tips of my own as to how to avoid them.Number 1: Kitchen doors and towel racks torn off.

I love the way our world is changing. Gone are the days where you were either a work-outside-the-home mom or a stay-at-home mom, when rare was the woman who didn’t fit into one of those categories exclusively. With the integration of technology and innovation into our work and home lives, there are so many possible combinations of working environments for moms (and dads!).

We are taking our first big family vacation this fall (off-season prices rock!) and already I am hearing choruses of “how many more days until we go to the beach?” Whether it’s a vacation, school break, holiday, or some other special occasion, help your kids keep up with the countdown and visualize the time left with one of these creative calendars.1. Here’s an easy one that takes only minutes and requires no special supplies — a paper chain!

Now that I’m an adult, I can look back at the number of times we moved when I was a kid (a total of twelve or thirteen), and reflect fondly about how each place we lived shaped my character as I was growing up. Having been an Air Force brat, I was privileged to live in countries that most kids had never even heard of, and visit even more.

One of the enduring debates among our readers is whether to transition a child from their crib to a toddler-size bed or go straight to a twin bed (or bigger). It’s a decision most parents will make at one time or another, and there is a multitude of competing factors to consider. This debate has come up time and again on Apartment Therapy, with hundreds of comments on the topic.

“Do not leave child unattended.” We’ve seen it stamped on every piece of baby gear we own. We know that it makes sense, but is it realistic? If so, how on earth does a new mom ever get a shower?This is an issue I’ve thought about since baby #1, and I still don’t have a straightforward answer. I can’t always wait until my husband is home, especially since he has a rotten work schedule.

Confession is good for the soul, right? Many years ago I was a sound engineer for children’s noisy books. Now that I have three kids of my own I finally get why parents weren’t so excited when I showed up with freebies for their kids. I understand, really. In the interest of redemption, I am sharing a method for safely and permanently bringing down the volume on these devices.In yesterday’s post about electronic toys many of you explained that your biggest beef was the noise.

It’s a widely held belief that children who help prepare food are also, natch, more likely to eat it. As if this gift were not enough, the folks over at the website Kids Cooking Activities have compiled a lengthy list of all the tangible skills – from math to history – waiting to be picked up in the kitchen.

Little legs don’t always reach the ground and even though they’re smaller, it doesn’t mean the chair doesn’t pull against the back of their legs as their feet dangle down. Try this quick chair hack to make a footrest for any height!Over at Instructables, we found this super-fabulous tutorial for making your own table footrest.

When my niece lost her first tooth, my brother, like so many generations of parents before him, suggested that she put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy, who would take the tooth and leave her some money. “What’s the tooth fairy’s name?,” my curious niece asked. My brother, quick on his feet, said he didn’t know but suggested that she write a note to the fairy.