Parent Hacks

Holiday craft ideas for kids?

My buddy Sarah at urbanMamas is soliciting peoples' favorite holiday craft ideas. There are already some nice suggestions in the comments on that post, including a pointer to one of my favorite sites, Kiddley. I also recently posted about Kids Craft Weekly as a source of good ideas. If you...

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How to roll over while sleeping with a body pillow? Talk amongst yourselves.

Heather (one of the Rookie Moms) is wrestling with her body pillow: I recently bought a fancy Snoogle body pillow (it came without a pillowcase -- grrrr) to help with my burgeoning pregnant figure. It's great to curl up to, and I appreciate the diagram of the different positions. But...

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Baby Toolkit: Geek parents write about baby gear

Adrienne and Jim -- the geek parents behind Baby Toolkit -- are frequent commenters on Parent Hacks. If you haven't yet dropped by their site, do!...you'll find good hacks and practical ideas, such as how to babyproof a bannister without breaking the bank. Tags: Baby gear, Babyproofing, Parenting

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Refilling bulk spices

I always buy my spices from the bulk containers at my favorite grocery store. Problem is, I squander much of the money I save by overshooting my spice jars as I try to refill them -- a decent percentage of the stuff ends up spilling on the counter. I finally...

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Tabblo: Digital photo sharing artistry

Liesel of Tabblo has been in touch to share the finer points of their incredible photo montage and sharing service. Have you seen it? Wonderful, easy artistry possible with digital photos. She even shared her hack: I took pictures of my son's kindergarten Halloween party as did some other parents....

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Carry mini-Yellow Pages in your car to save on 411 cell phone calls

Melinna's hack falls into the "Duhhhhh" category, as in, "Duhhhh. Why didn't I think of this myself?" To save myself the $1+ per 411 directory assistance call I make from the car, I've started carrying around the small version of the Yellow Pages from my city. It's small enough that...

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New Captain Bogg and Salty video

As you may already know, we're big fans of the Portland pirate band Captain Bogg and Salty. In fact, we love them so much, we've mentioned them here three separate times. I was fortunate enough to meet Captain Bogg this summer at the Portland Pirate Festival, and I found him...

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Transmit bedtime iPod music with the hotel's clock radio

Heather's get-the-baby-to-sleep-while-away hack: We recently took a weekend road trip with our 20 month-old son. His normal bedtime routine includes a bath, books, and some quiet classical music in the background. To make sure the routine was followed as well as possible, I loaded a few of his favorite CDs...

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Ann Douglas now on WebMD

In the ongoing Ann Douglas lovefest, I must point out that, in addition to her excellent books and blog, Ann is now a contributor to WebMD. She describes her new blog, Pregnant Pause, as "a motley mix of noteworthy pregnancy news, tips and pregnancy wisdom seen through the eyes of...

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Must-do prep before the baby arrives? Talk amongst yourselves.

From Amie: I have a little project I'm involved with now called "getting as much possible done BEFORE the baby comes." She's due 12/16 so I'm not just doing the normal household stuff, but everything holiday-related too. I mostly feel like I have a handle on it (I've done it...

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Quick meals with microwave-ready rice

From Stefania, who knows her food: GoGo organic rice makes my life easier. You can buy it from Amazon Grocery in a variety of flavors (I like plain and brown) and from Asian markets. It cooks in 90 seconds in the microwave and makes a quick, healthy meal. I like...

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Lead in Christmas lights?

In case you missed Maggie's comment on the post about lead in Halloween toys, I've decided to promote it to the front page. Thank you, Maggie, for letting us know about this. Unfortunately, there are many hidden lead dangers that parents should be aware of, especially parents of small children...

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Favorite laundry basket brand and laundry strategy? Talk amongst yourselves.

All of the talk about laundry baskets prompted Rookie Mom Heather to ask a two-parter: Part I: Laundry baskets -- this one is driving me nuts. I decided that I want to have 5 matching laundry baskets (one for each member of the family plus one) and decided that the...

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Use foaming hand soap in the bath

We recently extolled the virtues of foaming hand soap: fun, economical, easier than regular soap for kids to wash off. Sara uses it as body soap when bathing her daughter. Here's why: Foaming soap -- I think Kandoo makes a kid specific version, but I've just been using SoftSoap's --...

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DadTalk's "hacks"

AJ pointed me to DadTalk's Real-life solutions for everyday living, "some funny, some serious, some I hope he's being funny." Tags: Parenting

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