Make Your Summer Road Trip a Breeze With Audio Books! #tryaudiobooks

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An audio book is the perfect way to get your kids reading and keep them entertained.

I love summer vacation and planning a road trip adventure, but sometimes traveling with young children can be exhausting. It can be tough to keep them entertained. One way to make your summer road trip easier, and get your kids off their handheld video games, is to play an audiobook the entire family can enjoy. Random House Audio and Listening Library have put together an amazing website called tryaudiobooks.com that offers suggestions for audiobook material based on the activity you’ll be ... Continue Reading

When in San Fran: Top Seven Activities To Do With Kids

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Heading to San Francisco this summer? Here are the top seven to-dos when visiting San Fran with kids.

San Francisco is an iconic American city, and one of the most popular U.S. tourist destinations. It’s the perfect city to visit if your family craves action, diversity, good food and fun. Here are the top seven to-dos when visiting San Fran with kids. Hike Over and Under the Golden Gate Bridge Celebrate the 75th birthday of the Golden Gate Bridge by taking Golden Gate Transit across to the Marin Side and hiking the Bay Trail. Follow the route that leads directly under the bridge. For ... Continue Reading

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Party On: Fun Party Ideas For Your Tween

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European party ideas for your tween – transitioning from kid party to something a little more sophisticated.

Planning a birthday party for a toddler is pretty easy to do. Choose a theme, send out tine invites, buy some snacks, and let them play. But what do you do though when your tween wants to have a party, and understandably does not want a kid party? Start out by talking to your daughter or son and ask them what they would like the party to be like, what kind of things they'd like to do, and the types of food they want to serve. You can still include a theme - try one of these European options ... Continue Reading

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Eco-Friendly Crafts for Moms and Kids

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Eco-friendly crafts take on at least one green aspect with the goal of reducing our impact as much as possible. Here are some key considerations.

Spring is one of the best times to get out into nature with your kids again and get crafting. Eco-friendly crafts take on at least one green aspect with the goal of reducing our impact as much as possible. Key Considerations and Ideas For Eco-Friendly Crafts Reused. Reusing an object that might otherwise go to waste is a great lesson for kids. Whether or not an item has multiple uses helps when thinking about buying something in the first place. Use old containers to show off freshly cut ... Continue Reading

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How to Commute by Bicycle with Kids in Tow

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Four different ways to commute by bicycle with your baby or toddler.

Commuting by bike is a wonderful way to get active, keep green, and enjoy the great outdoors.  If you live in an area where the weather is acceptable, commuting by bike can be incredibly liberating.  The best types of bikes for commuting are an upscaled version of a beach cruiser with gears. All you need is a pair of bloomers (that can be worn under your street clothes), a stylish cup holder, and a basket. That's it  As long as the bike commute is under 10 miles each way, you should be good ... Continue Reading

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Embrace the Rain: Weather Related Crafts Usher in Spring

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Three fun weather-related crafts and activities for kids of all ages.

Spring has sprung. As the cold, winter days make way for April showers and flowers, take a moment to talk about the changing weather with your children. Weather is a good excuse to introduce some science basics in a down-to-earth way that even the youngest children can understand. Encourage your children to think about the weather in new ways: ask them to predict the weather, to guess the outside temperature, or explain the shapes of different type of clouds. Let your children explore the ... Continue Reading

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What You Can Learn From Homeschooling

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Learn from the homeschooling approach and incorporate it into traditional schooling for your child.

Studies show that homeschooling can be more effective in developing a child’s intelligence, compared with traditional schooling, says the HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association). Children who are homeschooled are found to outperform their peers on standardized tests, and their ACT and SAT scores are higher than those of public school students. It would seem that a homeschooling education delivers benefits that traditional schooling does not. But not every parent is capable of ... Continue Reading

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No More Yawns: Getting Kids to Sleep at Night

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Tips on how to help kids get to sleep at night without fuss.

It's tough as a parent to get your child to fall asleep and stay in bed all night. They need a glass of water, want a tissue, have to go potty, want another kiss, or are afraid of something under the bed. The excuses can go on and on. As a parent who experienced this, here are some tips we tried during our quest to get our child to sleep through the night. Hopefully one or more will resonate with you. Determine Nighttime Needs When I learned that my daughter wanted more night lights in her ... Continue Reading

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Teaching Children about Stranger Danger

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Learn the do’s and don’ts of teaching stranger danger to children.

It’s blatantly horrifying. Seven-year-old Brittney Baxter was standing in the toy aisle of Wal*mart when she was scooped up by (allegedly) Thomas Woods, who covered her mouth and attempted to take her. While we can wage a debate as to whether she should have been alone in the toy aisle of Wal*mart in the first place, the one thing that can be conceded is her parents prepared her well for such a moment. "They [Brittney’s parents] always tell me to scream, kick, and then get away and go ... Continue Reading

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How to Get Your Kids to fall in Love with Reading

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Tips for fostering a life-long love of reading in your child.

As a parent, you are aware how crucial reading is to your child’s future. It helps them develop speech and language skills, build vocabulary, stimulates their creativity, and sets them up for later academic success. With all this riding on you, what can you do to foster a life-long love of reading in your child, especially when they have little interest in it? Here are some tips on how you can get your child to fall in love with reading. Read to Your Kids The first and most obvious tip is ... Continue Reading

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