As the weather warms up, it is a wonderful time to encourage outside play. The natural world offers both physical and emotional benefits for our kids, helping them feel happier, healthier and calmer. Yet, it can sometimes be a challenge to compete with screen time....

  Given the fact that one in eight couples experiences infertility, if you haven’t been on the receiving end of insensitive comments, you’ve struggled to find the right words to say to a friend who has been trying to conceive for months or even years. There are,...

Teaching kids the value and rewards of hard work and earning their own money is an integral part of helping them develop into responsible adults. Through this, they gain self-esteem, learn the real value of a dollar, and develop better saving and spending habits. So,...

This Earth Month, plant the seeds for family climate action all year long. Three years ago I started a meetup for Austin parents around climate change. I was worried for my kid’s future – for all kids’ futures – and felt tired of watching helplessly from the...

Those darn birthdays–they keep coming around year after year. As the years go by, planning a birthday party for your child that is unique and different can be a challenge. Unless your kid is like one of mine who demands the same annual birthday event (I’m not gonna...

When we were kids, life was simpler. Many of us just hung around the house during the summer and played with neighborhood friends or maybe attended a local day camp sponsored by our school or city. Well, nowadays there are camps for everything you can imagine! It can...

. Did you have a Speak & Spell? I got one after seeing it in the movie “E.T.” and I was obsessed, especially with its version of hangman: Mystery Word! I showed a Speak & Spell to my Generation Alpha sons recently and you’d think I’d shown them an artifact...

Last year, I decided to do something a little different for the holidays. I asked everyone on my side of the family to give my children experiences instead of toys. At the time, we had our house listed for sale, and I could not handle the thought of more “stuff” to be...

Holiday Helpers: Volunteering as a Family Wish lists. Homemade cookies. Gift buying. Tree decorating. Party planning. The holidays are a busy time, filled with traditions. Why not make family volunteering one of them? As you celebrate the spirit of the season, you...

Rushing home from an exhausting day, the last thing on your mind is cooking a healthy dinner for your family. The kids are hungry, the baby is crying, it’s already 5:30 p.m. and you have nothing planned for dinner. Desperate for a quick solution, you use the...

  Whether you’re planning a nursery for a new baby, transitioning your toddler into a Big Kid Room, or redecorating a space for your tween or teen, the task can be daunting. You’ve studied HGTV, lost heaven-knows-how-many hours clicking through Houzz and made...

  I had to hound my teen daughter to take a shower or simply change her clothes. I thought she was acting lazy. But when her therapist admitted her to the hospital for suicide risk, I learned that personal hygiene had been too much to ask. All of her energy went...