Lessons in Parenting

How to Write a Memorable Thank You Note (and Why It Matters!)

Writing a memorable thank you note is an important life skill everyone should learn. This foolproof formula makes writing thank you notes easy.

Does your child know how to write a thank you note? Writing a thank you note may seem like an outdated skill. But sending a thanks message never goes out of style, and sending a thank you message for a gift is a basic common courtesy every child (and grownup!) should master. Writing a thank you note or a heartfelt

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How to Choose a Pediatrician: Your Essential Checklist

Choosing the right doctor can be overwhelming, but it's critical to find your kid's provider BEFORE they're sick. This checklist will help.

Looking for a pediatrician? Not sure if a pediatrician is even the right doctor for your child? If you’re a new parent – or moving to a new area – there’s a lot to consider. You want the best care for your child, but you don’t have endless amounts of time to devote to the

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Dealing with Chickenpox (The Parent’s Survival Guide)

Dealing with chickenpox is never fun. But parents can ease their kids' suffering with these home remedies for chickenpox.

Dealing with Chickenpox: What to do if my child has chickenpox? Between the recent global chaos caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and all the disruption to daily life it caused, many of us have gotten off schedule with our basic preventive health care. One of the unfortunate side effects of this is a decline in

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Want the Best Education For Your Child? 10 Tried-and-True Steps

Want to know how to get the best education for your child? It all starts with YOU; here are the steps to take, from birth onward, to make it happen.

How Can Parents Support Learning At Home? 10 Proven Ways Parents Can Help Educate A Child: Most parents want the best for their kids in life. We worry about what they eat, how they spend their free time, and improving school performance.  But educating a child, or hearing that parents make the best teacher, can

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Why All Parents Need Earplugs (In Bulk!)

The irony of parenthood is that our littles often can't hear us, when we can hear them all too well. Hence why all parents need earplugs. In bulk.

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re a parent. And chances are good you’ve already acquired some earplugs. I’m talking the maximum-decibal-blocking kind. If not, you need some. ASAP. I’m typing this post as I work from my temporary home office in the living room, because my regular home office is currently full of stuff

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The Parents’ Winter Car Emergency Kit Checklist (Free Printable!)

Parents: is your family car ready for winter driving? It's never too late to prepare your winter car emergency kit; this checklist will help.

How To Make the Ultimate Family Winter Emergency Car Survival Kit: You’ve got the summer car essentials down pat – but what about winter preparedness? Especially for emergencies? It’s never too late to prepare your family’s winter car emergency kit – unless, of course, you’re facing an emergency situation and realize you FORGOT to prepare.

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Easy Ways to Teach Your Child Gratitude (All Year Long!)

Raising a thankful child is easier than you'd guess. These tips to teach your child gratitude will help you raise a happier, healthier kid.

Wondering How To Raise A Grateful Child? Read These Tips: Teaching kids to be thankful is a lifelong project that works best as a year-round activity, not just something to practice in the days or weeks around Thanksgiving. But for many of us, raising a grateful child may not be as second nature as we’d like. Raising

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Raising Healthy Children: Everyday Tips for Parents

Every parent could use a few good tips for keeping your kids healthy. Experts agree: these tips for raising healthy children WORK!

Wondering How to Raise Healthy Children? These Tips WORK! Every parent wants their child to be as healthy and happy as possible. With chronic health issues on the rise, from asthma to allergies, doing everything we can on this front as parents is critical. But raising healthy children often feels like an uphill battle: As our

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17 Tips (That Truly Work!) To Raise Strong Girls

Raising a strong daughter starts early. Help your daughter learn how to be confident with these proven tips for raising strong girls.

You’re dreaming about girl names, shopping for girl clothes – congratulations! You’re the proud parents-to-be of a girl! As a #girlmom for over a decade now, I’ve learned a lot about how to raise strong daughters who are ready for anything life has to throw at them. Here are some of the techniques we’ve used

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Our Sample Homeschool Schedule (3rd Grade/5th Grade)

Is your family trying to learn how to homeschool on the fly, like we are? I'm sharing our sample homeschool schedule to help others get started.

Homeschooling On The Fly: Learning At Home When Schools Are Closed Indefinitely I never wanted to be a homeschool teacher. My kiddos have unique needs that I thought might better be served by pros with actual background in how best to teach them. But thanks to our current global health crisis, we – like so

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Bucket-Filling Mom Hacks for Self Care

Exhausted parents, it's time to give yourself some grace. These bucket-filling mom hacks for self care will help you regain your balance when life is tough.

To Exhausted Parents: Give Yourself Some Grace! I am exhausted. The fatigue I’ve been feeling lately has only been getting worse, not better, as parts of the country slowly start to lift their stay-at-home restrictions. And I know a lot of my friends are also feeling like exhausted parents right now: Supervising virtual school has

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Positive Parenting Crash Course (The Stuck-At-Home Edition)

Have you tried positive parenting before? It's really helped our kids cope while stuck at home. If not, here's your positive parenting crash course.

Your Positive Parenting Crash Course for Stuck-At-Home Life: What the heck is positive parenting? And how can a positive parenting crash course make life cooped up at home easier? As parents, it can be hard to focus on praising our kids’ positive actions, rather than correcting undesirable behaviors. It’s easier to tell kids what they

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How to Protect Your Kids From Tick Bites: What Works Best?

Summer is just around the corner. Are you ready to protect your kids from tick bites? Here's what I've learned about the best way to prevent tick bites.

How To Avoid Tick Bites This Summer: Your Best Bet for Preventing Tick Bites (Originally published May 20, 2017; last updated May 2020) Summer is just around the corner in the Northern Hemisphere. Are you ready to protect your kids from tick bites? Since at least 2017, it seems that each spring brings fresh warnings

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(Virtual) Family Schedule Organization Tips & Hacks

Having a hard time keeping track of everyone's virtual appointments and online meeting links? Download my virtual family schedule planner (FREE templates)!

Help for Managing Your Virtual Family Schedule: Keeping track of a packed family schedule was hard enough for a busy parent before the world shut down. Things seem ten times harder since we all switched our face-to-face interactions to virtual living: You’re now your kids’ virtual tech support, as you troubleshoot online class meetings, assignments,

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Working From Home: Tips For Success (Even With Kids Around!)

Trying to work from home while homeschooling your kids? These productivity tips for working from home with kids around will help you survive AND succeed.

From Home Office Setup to Working From Home Productivity: Parents everywhere are in a brave new world: working from home while trying to homeschool our kiddos. Sometimes with guidance from their teachers, other times, not so much. For those of us fortunate enough to still have jobs we can do remotely, working from home can

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Coronavirus And Your Family: Discussing COVID-19 With Your Kids

Have you figured out how to talk about COVID-19 with your family? If you haven't discussed the new coronavirus with your kids yet, these tips will help.

How To Talk About COVID-19 With Your Children: It looks as if the leprechaun traps are back on for St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow. My girls have been obsessed with building them since preschool, even though that was over half a lifetime ago for them now. They’d planned to skip the ritual this year, because we

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How (Not) To Have The Talk With Your Child

Having the birds and the bees talk with your child is so last-century. Forget The Talk; there's a better way to discuss sex with your kids.

A Better Way To Have The Birds And The Bees Talk: Being a parent is anything but easy. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by day-to-day life, let alone finding time to sit down and talk to your kids about the really important stuff. And if you’re a parent, sooner or later you’re going to need

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The Ultimate Self-Care Checklist for Overwhelmed Moms (Free Printable!)

Are you an exhausted parent who's overwhelmed by to-do's? This self-care checklist for overwhelmed moms is the only self-care worksheet you need.

Overwhelmed by Parenting? Practical Self-Care Tips To Stop Being An Exhausted Mom: Have you ever had one of those weeks that just throws you for a loop? When you look at your to-do list for the day and think, “How the heck did things get so out-of-control?” Honestly, that’s been my life ever since January

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Toddler Tantrums In Public: What To Do

Ever mortified by toddler tantrums in public? As a mama who's been around the block a few times, here's how to end them for good.

Recently someone asked me what to do about toddler tantrums – specifically, toddler tantrums in public places. You know, like when your toddler throws a tantrum in a store. Toddler tantrums in grocery stores are by far the worst, and can be SO embarrassing if you’re That Parent. So what to do when your toddler

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