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...

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many parents and tweens did not have a normal transition into middle school during 2020 and 2021. So, this fall maybe your child’s first real, in-person middle school experience, and that can feel overwhelming for both of you. As your...

Austin, as we all know and love, has an energy and spirit different from anywhere else in the world. Here are some one-of-a-kind ways to get out and celebrate awesome Austin – from A to Z – in the summer days ahead!   Arcades Bring your Pac-Man and Skee-ball...

My children love to collect everything from rocks to stickers. They bring my kids joy and entertainment, but they also seem to take up space and collect dust. I must admit that I have wondered: are there benefits to encouraging kids to collect items? While these...

When your electronic gadgets break, does your tween fix them? Do you have a child that builds elaborate housing for pets and dolls out of scraps of craft materials and cardboard boxes? Maybe you’re raising entrepreneurial teens with ideas that could make them the next...

Austin Family is celebrating its 30th birthday! Looking back, I wondered what experiences our kids are having as they grow up in Austin that their parents or grandparents had. What things have changed? To find out, I asked three generations of native Austinites....