Everyday Tips

While there still isn’t a parenting handbook, there are a lot of tips and strategies you can use to make the job a whole lot easier and more rewarding. Here you’ll find support for accepting yourself as a parent, finding a parenting support group that works for you, and most importantly, how to gain the confidence and knowledge to make the right choices for you and your family.

The Importance of Knowing What is Developmentally Appropriate

Every few weeks, during sessions with parents or children, I say something that has a parent reacting: “Wow! Really?”  Typically, I’m not saying something I think is shocking or unusual.  But there is so much information, advice, parent peer pressure, and “the-right-way-to-do-it” messaging out there, that parents are surprised when they hear something different.  Here Read More

Converting Your Small Space for Baby #2

Is baby #2 on the way? Here are some tips for creating functional sibling spaces. New York City is an amazing place to raise kids, but any city parent will tell you that space becomes a concern at one point or another. One of the most common concerns I hear as a consultant and city mommy of Read More

Disney Tips 2013

Parenting strategies for successful family outings. I sit here Monday evening, after a weekend at Walt Disney World, equally happy and exhausted to tears.   There’s a wide variety of families, children, and ages that visit Disney each year.  Most people have a “plan of attack” that works for their brood.  Below find the tips Read More

Restaurant Sanity Savers

Dana’s tips for teaching appropriate restaurant behavior. Having a child shouldn’t mean you can’t go out for dinner without hiring a babysitter.  Taking your young child to a restaurant holds the possibility of a wonderful experience in a new place with new foods, as well as an enjoyable time for you and your partner.  It can Read More

Three Ways Kids Can Learn Good Recycling Habits

As parents and teachers, we are often concerned with the future world our children will inherit. As more packaging waste is generated and left to slowly decompose in landfills, the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling dramatically increases. The act of practice good recycling habits by “being green” helps to ensure that today’s kids and Read More

Beat the Morning Blues!

Keep your baby’s travel kit organized and be ready to go at any time. Having a hard time getting out of the house in the morning? Here are some tips to keep your baby’s travel kit organized. Keep a “kit” in the bottom of your stroller with snacks, an empty cup, diapers, wipes, change of Read More

Guest Post: The Creator’s Workshop: Save That Box

 From the moment they are born children are creative; they experiment and create with their minds, bodies and voices.  As children grow, and develop physically and emotionally, their creativity expands and extends to expressions in play, on paper, with play-dough, etc.  The avenues are endless. Encouraging and fostering a child’s innate creativity has many benefits, Read More

The Two Spoon Rule

Anyone who’s ever fed a baby knows that getting the spoon to their mouth before they grab it can be a challenge….and a mess.  I have a solution.  Follow the two spoon rule.  Give your child a spoon of his or her own to hold while you are feeding them.  Every now and then, dip Read More

A Follow Up To “Restaurant Sanity Savers”

A parent recently had a great response after reading “Restaurant Sanity Savers.”  This mother of three, whose eldest has special needs, created similar “kits” for her middle child when he accompanied his older brother to activities and therapy sessions.  The eldest had a kit for when the middle child needed to be fed as an Read More