Parent Hacks

Best of Parent Hacks: Gardening with kids

Kids and gardening! There are so many reasons to get your kids growing things, digging in the yard, or even sprouting a few seeds in a pot on the front step. Here are our best "gardening with kids" tips to get you started.

Read more →

links for 2010-04-23

Flexible Dreams: Making Compassion Real It's one thing to talk about homelessness, and another altogether to involve the kids in doing something about it. Another great post from Amy. Trip Countdown Map Beautiful way to mark the time till a traveling parent comes home (so much more interesting than X's...

Read more →

Shoes too tight? Cut off the toe caps!

And now, for a LITERAL parent hack. Jessica's not afraid to let scissors help her squeeze a bit more life out of old Converse sneakers: What to do if your daughter finds out in the middle of a hike that her feet have "suddenly" grown and her Chucks hurt her...

Read more →

Amazon today only: FamilyFun magazine only $5 for 1 year

Today only, Amazon's offering a one-year subscription to FamilyFun magazine for $5! Yes! I have been a waiting-room appreciater of this magazine for years. Every issue is full of crafts, projects, activities, recipes...stuff that's clever, simple, fun, and often using materials you already have around the house. I have been...

Read more →

Mind in the Making: Winners!

Wow! Over 100 of you entered the Mind in the Making giveaway by sharing the life skill you've found most useful so far. Just reading the comments was inspiring (I encourage you to read them yourself)...and a good reminder about the skills our kids really need as they get older....

Read more →

links for 2010-04-22

Flexible Dreams: Organizing My Coupons With Magic The Magic Binder! So smart and simple. Thank you for pointing this out via Twitter, @armonroe!

Read more →

Amazon today only: 60% off Planet Earth series on DVD and Blu-Ray

It's Earth Day! It's more important to get outside than to buy stuff on Amazon, but I couldn't pass this one up as we've gotten so much out of this series over the years. Planet Earth is the remarkable series produced by the BBC that will have you gasping in...

Read more →

Turn old lingerie into comfort blankies and hankies

Sarah's sweet idea for reusing old (but still silky) slips and nighties works for any nicely-textured fabric you've got sitting around: Old slip? Don't trash it...wash it and then give it to your child as a comfort blankie. My son loves textures and especially likes the soft material to rub...

Read more →

Review: Mind in the Making

Ellen Galinsky's book, Mind in the Making, focuses on children and learning -- specifically, the kind of knowledge and skills they will need as they grow. And guess what: it's not pre-algebra.

Read more →

links for 2010-04-19

"Building Big" -- hands-on building activities for 5th-8th graders Look what I found based on a Google search for "straw string dome"! Great activities for the construction- and engineering-minded.

Read more →

Clean sweatband doubles as a no-slip toddler neckwarmer

These were the images that popped into my mind when I read Emily's hack. No matter! It's brilliant! We found this by accident the other day while my son was playing with his grandfather's sweatband/headband (luckily it was clean). He slid it around his neck and we instantly saw the...

Read more →

links for 2010-04-15

Dictionary For Dads A parenting resource just for fathers. Tons of stuff here. Mini Apple Pies (A Part of This Complete Breakfast) YUM. After the painted pancakes, we're making THESE. Thank you as always, Laura! Painting Pancakes: Modern Art You Can Eat Fun with color, and less syrup! Thanks, Rachel....

Read more →

Life Scoop: Tips for automating your finances

I'm up twice this week at the Intel-sponsored site Life Scoop. Today's the perfect day to talk about simplifying your finances. My latest project is automating as much of our system as I can. In this post, I gather pointers to the best tips I've found so far: Tips for...

Read more →

Turn department store clothes hangers into hat-and-mitten caddies

Joy has finally found a great use for those irritating hangers that come with two-piece outfits: Whenever the kids get new clothes, we're often left with a few of these awkward top-and-bottom plastic hangers. I'd like to share a great way to re-use them. In my family, during cold weather...

Read more →

Pets as social skills teachers, Part 1

Human behavior can be confusing to my son who has social skills challenges. But a dog? The best social skills teacher of them all.

Read more →