Blog Posts by Babble.com

5 Ways to Save For Your Kids' College FundsIn our relationship, my husband is the fiscally responsible one. He pays the monthly bills because he knows I have a fluid relationship with due dates. I often like to think of them as suggestions, and thankfully my husband takes the more rational, responsible definition. And so it's no great surprise that he's also the one who suggested that we start saving for Elijah's college fund now.

What I didn't know was that when he made that suggestion, he had already managed to tuck away over a thousand dollars. My first thought upon hearing this sum was that he had robbed someone because we are decent at saving, but that much money in 5 months is kind of amazing, and then he shared his method. And suddenly I'm feeling a lot better about my son's ability to afford a higher education some day.

Here's how to save:

1. Designate an account
Set up a separate savings account that you will not be tempted to access. We are the current owners of three savings accounts. The first is one we're

Get Fit Without a Diet!

You can't turn on your computer these days without seeing headlines like these: Get Rid of Belly Fat!, Lose Those Pregnancy Pounds!, Starve Yourself Into That Bridesmaids Dress! I'm not 25 anymore and those diets don't work for me or for anyone I know. That's why when Celebrity Dietician Ashley Koff RD reached out to my business partner and I with an innovative health plan, we jumped at it.

We're not going on a crash diet and we're not doing extreme exercise. Instead, we are undergoing a 9-month Make Better Challenge. It's called a Make Better because it's so much more than a traditional makeover. Ashley is teaching us how to make better food choices and she's enlisted the help of Fitness Expert Holly Perkins to help us integrate exercise into our daily lives. My MomsLA.com partner, Sarah Auerswald, and I are different ages and different fitness levels, but we both were at a point where we felt we had to make a change for our health. We started in September and the challenge

Some people say they're afraid to have girls. They're afraid of the eventual teenage moodiness, or the possible princess obsession, among other things. But girls are so much more than meets the eye, whether they like princesses or prefer to play with the boys. Here are 10 reasons why I'm happy my kids have a sister. - By Kacy Faulconer

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What's so Bad About Having Shy Kids?What's so Bad About Having Shy Kids?
I recently wrote about having shy children. Then today I woke up, and BOOM - there they were - still shy.

And you know what? I actually think it's OK to be shy. At any rate, I better get behind it, because it's not as if I have a choice in the matter.

Of course I didn't want it for my children, but who am I to say that life is hard for someone of moderate shyness; look at me, I was shy, and I turned out OK. I still cry at parties sometimes, but I do that in the privacy of a locked stall in a ladies restroom, not in front of everybody. I mean, if I went to the party, that is. Which I probably didn't. One time, I screamed at a party, inadvertently, from nervousness. My husband thinks I am crazy. He no longer offers to take me to parties. I like farmers markets.

But I digress.

As a child there was nothing that made me retreat further into shyness than having someone tell me I was shy. Nothing made me cry harder or grow quieter than being

With some very cool and rainy days ahead this fall and winter, your pet is bound to be exposed to the elements when out for your daily walk. Well luckily pet raincoats aren't all that hard to find! Why not protect your pet from the rain and have them walk in style. Whether you would choose to put your pet in a raincoat or not, you can't argue with how precious these pets look in their raincoats! - By Cecily Kellogg

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We live in a society with a wealth of food choices that is probably unparalleled in history. While our great grandparents were mostly limited to the food that could be grown close to where they lived, we can buy a banana from Central America, a cup of coffee from Ethiopia, and a host of other foods our ancestors couldn't have dreamed of, all for extremely low prices. The downside to this abundance is that it's hard to know where our food comes from and what's gone into it. But the truth is, one reason so many foods are so cheap is that they're produced with methods that most of us would object to if we were aware of them - from slavery to clear-cutting forests. Luckily we also have a lot of alternatives that allow us to eat a diet that takes full advantage of the world's bounty without taking ethical shortcuts. Here are 5 common foods with unsavory origins and 5 alternatives you can feel good about! - By Elizabeth Stark & Brian Campbell

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When I think about my sons dating, I feel like I want to hurl. Not only because of the obvious dangers of casual teenage sex, but because teenage boys are stupid. I also worry about their tender hearts. I know, total hurl. I'd like to think that rules for dating are in order. If there are to be household rules on everything from borrowing mom's car to where they go and with whom, shouldn't there be rules associated with something as important as dating? Without further ado, allow me to present my sons' 7 rules for dating - may they be better men for them. - By Lori Garcia

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If your childhood was anything like mine, you were raised hearing Halloween tales of razor blades in apples and poisoned candy. Since I've never quite recovered from my mom's insistence on carefully inspecting all candy on the brightly lit kitchen table before I could eat a single Laffy Taffy, I've made it my mission to expose all the scary Halloween stories as hoaxes. Which myths made your spine tingle as a child? Chances are it's one of these seven - and chances are it never happened. - By Jacinda Boneau

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