Blog Posts by Redbook

By Charlotte Hilton Anderson, REDBOOK
girl scout cookies

"Excuse me? Would you like to buy a box of Girl Scout Cookies?"

If you've ever been in a public place during the past several weeks, you too have likely been approached by green-clad pixies waving boxes of Thin Mints. The question didn't surprise me. The questioner did. Looking up from my grocery list, I saw the hand holding the cookies belonged to a middle-aged woman-and there were no Girl Scouts in sight.

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"Oh, our daughters are taking a break," the woman said vaguely.

This recent experience popped into my mind when Paddy Hirsch, senior producer of NPR's Marketplace Money, decreed in this week's show that Girl Scouts are mere "puppets", saying, "I'm told that this Girl Scout cookie experience is supposed to be educational in terms of business and economics. But I just don't see it."

Back when I was participating in the Great Cookie Sale, I remember going door-to-door with

By Jessica Smith, REDBOOK

Want to get more active? Whether you're a gym newbie or a seasoned athlete, here are 10 easy ways to get on track.

1. Check With Your Doctor

Make sure you consult your doctor before starting any new exercise program. Why? Your doctor can tell you what types of exercise are best for you based on your personal health history or possible disease risk factors. Plus, they'll definitely applaud your efforts-and who doesn't like a cheering section?

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2. Every Little Bit Counts

There's no need to spend hours at the gym training like a professional athlete. Michele Olson, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist and professor of exercise science at Auburn University, recommends, "Start out with just 10 minutes of some type of physical activity-walking, gardening or riding your bike around the neighborhood, and build up to three 10-minute bouts of activity a day." Splitting up your activity into three, 10-minute

By Jessica Press, REDBOOK

Stop feeling guilty about the environment-and honor Earth Day on April 22-by taking a few ideas from this list. They're all simple, easy moves with major eco-impact.

1. Quiz yourself by taking the fast, free "How green am I?" test at practicallygreen.com, a site started by mompreneur Susan Hunt Stevens, 41. It will give you an overall view of how you stack up - levels include "sorta kinda green" and "wicked green" (yes, Susan is from Boston!) - and generates an individualized to-do list of simple switches you can make. Susan was motivated to green-over her own life after her son was diagnosed with a number of food and environmental allergies. "I started by making really small and easy changes, and it inspired me to help others do the same," she says. Bonus: Practically Green offers feel-good rewards such as virtual merit badges and free product samples as you adopt eco-friendly habits.

2. Drive a bit less and walk, carpool, or ride your bike to

By Wendy Manwarren, REDBOOK

Experts, readers, and REDBOOK staffers share their best stay-organized secrets. Your sock drawer will never be the same again. (And that's a good thing.)

Do One Small Organizational Task

1. Maximize wall space in an entryway with cut-to-fit lattice from your local home-improvement store or garden center. Thread S-hooks through the slats to hang baskets filled with scarves, hats, and Rover's leash. Lattice, $18; Lowe's stores. Green "Carrie" baskets, $39 each; unicahome.com.

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2. Do one small organizational task daily, no matter how small. Clean out one drawer or the top tier of the spice rack. Just think: After a month, you'll have checked 30 things off your to-do list.

3. Open the mail over the shredder or recycling bin, and get rid of the junk immediately. This forces you to make quick and definitive decisions so nothing piles up in your hallway or anywhere else.

Make Quick Organizing

By Lauren Le Vine, REDBOOK

Olivia, 27, and Alex, 34, have been married for three years and have a 2-year-old and a newborn. Now that their older daughter is talking, she's always asking to watch TV. Olivia doesn't think television consumption should have strict limitations, but Alex wishes their children wouldn't watch TV at all. Who's right?

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She says: "My parents put extremely strict limitations on my TV time when I was growing up, which it made it feel even more forbidden and alluring. Now, I have trouble turning the television off, and I blame it on those parental limitations that I'm still subconsciously trying to rebel against. If you don't make a big deal out of watching TV, I think kids will develop a 'take it or leave it' attitude towards it. As in, it's there if you want to watch, but it's not a metaphor for parental approval and rules. If the kids start watching too much TV, I'll suggest other activities that sound more

By Charlotte Hilton Andersen, REDBOOK

A line drawn in crayon is, nevertheless, a line. And that line was crossed this week on the popular reality TV show Dance Moms when dance teacher Abby Lee Miller put her troupe of 8 to 12 year old girls in nude bras and pink fans for an "innocent burlesque routine."

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The level of sensationalism has gone up over the past few years but nowhere is this more apparent than how kids are portrayed on "reality" TV shows. Last season it was considered so shocking when Miller tarted her girls up in hooker costumes with thigh-high fishnets that they made it on the Today show. (Pretty severe punishment, eh?) Apparently public excoriation is just a few dollar signs away from public adulation and so Miller upped the ante.

In case anyone is wondering if the girls understood the meaning of burlesque, Abby makes sure to teach them telling them it's "all about crotch and boobs" and telling the girls to

By Sarah Kennedy, REDBOOK

Halfway through a loud bout of shared laughter with Janey, a mom friend, I caught the sad stare of my 8-year-old son over her shoulder. He was passing through the kitchen as Janey and I, deep in conversation at the table, got to the bit where X-a new mother at school-turned up at our class parent cocktail mixer in an evening dress. With a plunging neckline and killer heels, X had horribly misjudged the casual vibe of the school regulars.

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"Why are you laughing at Dan's mom?" my boy asked. "I thought she was your friend." Guilt is such a pure feeling. Ping! It stings before the clever part of your brain can get an excuse out. I had tried to make Dan's mom feel welcome at our school, I swear: I'd invited her to join me for coffee and teamed up with her at the book fair. And my comment wasn't meant to be cruel-just catty female bonding. Yet here I was, laughing at her, something my son's brain had

By REDBOOK

Loving couples: In a world where 40 percent of marriages end in divorce, you can't help but notice them. There they are, finishing each other's sentences or laughing in some dusky corner of a Chinese restaurant. They seem so wonderfully in sync, and they make the work of being a couple seem effortless. Of course, no intimate relationship ever is, especially once you factor in life's built-in pressures, like work deadlines, laundry and your daughter's orthodontist appointments.

But, says Jane Greer, Ph.D., Redbook Online's resident sex-and-relationships expert, there are certain core values that make some marriages more intimate and resilient than others. You could probably predict the list: trust, mutual respect, commitment and a strong sense of "we" in the relationship. What is surprising, experts point out, is that when you ask loving husbands and wives about the key to their devotion, over and over you'll hear the same things, specific habits that mirror