While you might now be a pro at traveling with kids for the holidays, remember that every year there are millions of new families making that trip with a toddler for the first time. So rather than scowl with derision at the parents trying to quiet their crying kid, let’s use this moment to share some tips that will help keep the young ones safe while protecting parents’ sanity. [More]
parenting
Attention Parents: The LEGO Store Is Not A Day Care Center
By 8.7.14
LEGO stores are fun and amazing places for children, collectors, and for human beings in general. However, there is one thing they are not: a child care service where parents can ditch their kids while they shop. A mother from Long Island learned this earlier this week after she was arrested when she returned to the store to pick up her 7-year-old son. [More]
LG Introduces House Arrest Wristbands For Small Children
By 7.10.14
We adults enjoy quantifying our every move with wearable technology like pedometer wristbands and other fitness-tracking gadgets, so why leave our kids out of the fun? Yesterday, LG announced that they’re introducing a wristband for kids that’s a hybrid of a tracking anklet used by the criminal justice system and your child’s first cell phone. [More]
Good News For Fans Of Deconstructed Strained Peas: Babies Still Allowed Inside Alinea
By 1.17.14
The recent fuss over the question of whether babies should be allowed inside Chicago restaurant Alinea struck a nerve online; some people were sympathetic, others baffled as to why someone would bring an 8-month-old along for a four-hour tasting menu. It turns out, though, that many readers and even media outlets made assumptions about the incident that aren’t true. [More]
Have You Ever Had To Choose Between Diapers And Food? We’d Like To Hear From You
By 7.29.13
Until babies are born learning to hold their bodily wastes — a development that seems unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future — there will be a need for diapers of some sort. But according to a new study, many American families are having troubles making ends meet and keep their kids in clean nappies. [More]
JCPenney Sales Staff Kicked Dad Helping Disabled Daughter Out Of Fitting Room
By 3.20.13
Here’s a consumer quandary for the ages, where both sides have compelling arguments. Robert was shopping at JCPenney with his daughter, who is a preteen and intellectually disabled. The problem is that store policy dictates that there are no men allowed in the women’s fitting rooms for privacy reasons and, as an employee explained, to keep out “sex offenders.” [More]
5 Best Stores For Having Playdates While You Shop
By 10.15.12
To all the parents of young children out there who are constantly wrangled into making playdates for your kid(s). Just because you’ve scheduled a playdate for your little one(s), it doesn’t mean you can’t also get in some all-important shopping while the youngsters amuse each other for a few hours. [More]
Why Do You Disapprove Of My Capitalist Kid’s Lemonade Stand?
By 7.27.12
Writer Helaine Olen has a young son, and he engaged in a classic American summer activity: he started a lemonade stand on his quiet suburban street. He earns some spending money and probably learns some important lessons about customer service and profit, and the neighbors who patronize his stand get a refreshing beverage. But, Olen writes, her son’s customers want more than that. They ask what charitable cause his lemonade stand is raising money for, and disapprove when they learn that his stand is a for-profit venture. What the heck? [More]
Which Is Worse: Using Your Daughter To Shoplift, Or Abandoning Her At The Police Station?
By 5.23.12
It’s bad enough to involve your 11-year-old daughter in a shoplifting scheme, but to then refuse to pick her up from the police station after you get away? That’s more than bad parenting. That’s just mean. [More]
Banish Boomerang Kids And Reclaim Your Home
By 4.6.12
Last week we talked about reasons twentysomethings don’t need to be afraid to live at home for a few years before they launch their careers. Now we’ll to look at the other side of the coin, at long-suffering parents who aren’t happy that their grown children still live with them. [More]
Parents, Do Everyone A Favor And Keep Your Toddlers Away From These Public Places
By 4.4.12
Some parents think its adorable for their tykes to scream their ABCs in public or use waiting room chairs as jungle gyms. Most others, though, are simply annoyed by the presence of unruly rugrats and would rather not be subjected to their antics while they try to take care of business. [More]
Study: Stairs Are Toddlers' Public Enemy Number One
By 3.13.12
Parents who think it’s adorable to let their toddlers wobbly amble up and down stairs are putting their kids at risk of severe injury. A study shows that stairs sent children under age 5 to the emergency room 931,000 times between 1998 and 2008. [More]
Huggies: Diapers So Good, Even Dads Can't Use Them Wrong?
By 3.8.12
For about one-third of babies and young children, their primary caregiver is their father. And most dads today pitch in with child care and have some working knowledge of how a diaper works. So it’s not hard to see why some parents are annoyed at the new “Dad Test” campaign for Huggies diapers. The concept: leaving babies alone with their dads for five days is somehow the “ultimate test” of the quality of diapers and wipes. [More]
If You've Got A Nanny, The IRS Has A Tax For You
By 3.6.12
You may not think of yourself as an employer just because you have someone drop by the house to watch your kids, but the Internal Revenue Service sees things differently. Many parents are taken by surprise by the “nanny tax,” which requires parents to pay FICA and FUTA taxes. [More]
An Argument For Cloth Diapers
By 1.12.12
Every time your baby heeds nature’s call, he’s costing you a quarter. Disposable diapers, which can cost 25 cents or so apiece, are among the first of the infinite ways in which kids siphon money from parents’ wallets, but they’re not a necessity. [More]
When To Cut Kids Off From Allowance
By 12.15.11
Allowance is an excellent tool to teach kids about money while cutting your own expenses. The idea is you’ll make them save up for their own stuff, which will keep you from spending as much money on them. The problem is sometimes allowance ends up being a crutch that continues well into adulthood and only teaches grown “kids” to rely on their parents for income. [More]
Things Kids Can Teach You About Money
By 12.13.11
Parenthood makes you take on more responsibilities in all facets of your life, and one of the most crucial of those areas is money. But even financial know-it-alls always have more to learn, and may find unlikely teachers in those who have no clue about finances. [More]
Presents For Your Kids That Are Really For You
By 12.12.11
If you buy your kids presents that you don’t feel the need to steal back for yourself, you’re doing it wrong. Clever toy manufacturers make their products just as enjoyable for parents, so avoid all the fluff and look for the good stuff. [More]
