I was watching TV the other night and saw a commercial for a program about kids birthday parties. In less than 30 seconds I was absolutely disgusted! This program was about parents who were spending 10’s sometimes 100’s of 1000’s of dollars on their children's birthday parties. Not all of these people were very wealthy and most of the children were quite young, some children were having their first birthday!

The parties involved petting zoos and circus acts and various venues for rent. There

It’s yet another case of nature versus nurture. Are we born picky eaters or do we create picky eaters?

I have always said, only half jokingly that children have no taste buds! I know our taste buds change as we grow and get older, my have certainly changed. I also know that all of us are more sensitive to some tastes or flavors than others. But when kids are very young it can be very difficult to get them to try new foods. They almost always hate everything, they refuse most things and sweet

I think routines get a bad rap. We usually say it something like, I’m stuck in a rut. But I have found that routines are good for kids, good for mom and usually help us all have a more stress-less life.

You don’t have to be obsessed with having an exact routine, but if your kids, especially little ones have a general idea of what to expect when, they tend to be less frustrated and more happy.

So general guidelines; When we wake up in the morning we…….snuggle for a bit, or get dressed and

       “Billy, where is my assignment?”
       “What assignment, Sally?”
       “The one we have to turn in. I know I gave it to you, because I never keep my own work. I always lose my work, so I give it to other people to keep track of.”
       Seriously. This exact conversation (with the exception of name changes because I love my job and, more importantly, would like to be

My son is my oldest child, so the general rule is that is the experimental child, right? As a new parent you really have no clue what you are doing, you just slog through it and hopefully are willing to learn as you go.

He was colicky and allergic in his infancy, I did the best I could but really I had no clue. He was held and loved and rocked and we just kept moving forward. He had the greatest imagination from the time he could utter sounds. He became obsessed with cowboys and horses. He

I love my friends. They make me happy. They’re a lot of fun. Sometimes I think “my friends are great, I’ll always have them.” But I won’t. Not really.