Blog Posts by Parentables

K. Stew & R. PatDid you hear that? I'm talking about the collective gasp from young girls all across the Internet when it was revealed that actress Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame admitted to cheating on her boyfriend of three years, Robert Pattinson (who's also her co-star in the series). The man she cheated with is Rupert Sanders, the 41-year-old married-with-kids director of her latest film, Snow White and the Huntsman. The reaction was swift, with fans like this young woman taking to YouTube and asking why Stewart would do such a thing.

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I find this whole thing very interesting and think there are a three "teachable moments" in it for our kids.

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The first is about the culture of celebrity and whether we should be holding famous people to a higher standard. I think this is one of those times that we can take our kids aside and explain the difference

I gotta pee!For more than a year our 3-and-a-half-year old daughter has been cruising around in the daytime, confidently sporting underwear. But when night falls, like a super-hero in reverse, she downgrades her powers, takes her Dora the Explorer cotton bloomers off and yanks her scratchy pull up on. Four days ago she told my husband and me enough was enough. She was ready to pee in a toilet at night.

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We get it: Soggy diapers are a relic of her babyhood. She wants more out of life, and joining the slumbering bladder-full as they make their way down the hall in the semi-dark is a start. It's just one more way she can distinguish herself from her (not-so) distant past as a baby, or from her perspective: a slobbering, co-dependent googly-eye creature.

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The awful truth is that my husband and I aren't excited about this development. And it's coming from a selfish place of sleep,

Too cool for something.When you brought that baby home from the hospital, all you could think of was how great it would be if they slept more than two hours a night, right? Come on, you can tell me; I know because I felt the same way. Fast forward 14 years and the story is different. Very, very different.

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I have a couple of really great kids; they stay out of trouble (I mean at other people's homes), get along with one another (for the most part), get good grades and are on their way to becoming upstanding citizens of the world. However, you might not get that impression if you were to pay a visit to my house this summer. With my kids sleeping past noon and paper wrappers and dishes everywhere, you might actually mistake my piece of suburban real estate for a frat house. That is precisely what prompted my husband to draw up a contract, detailing the following "rules" for the next several weeks of summer.

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Not THAT kind of birds and bees.Around the age of 11, when our kids begin going through puberty, we take one-on-one time with them to discuss what they're going through. Usually I'll talk with the girls and make it a special time out with mom -- we may go for lunch at their favorite place -- and I'll explain to the girls about this new season of life and how exciting this is, because they're entering womanhood.

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We talk about how their bodies change and their menstrual cycle, what it's all is about and what it means, and how as time goes on it will get more regular for them. I tell them that they'll feel more at ease with it, but at first it's a new experience.

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We also talk about the boy/girl feelings that come along with this season of life and how that is a special time and you want to guard your heart to make sure that you are keeping your affections where they need to be and not

Good morning! Nom nom nom.The cereal isle in the grocery store can be overwhelming. There are so many choices, how do you choose a healthy box for your family? Many cereal boxes scream unhealthy by the picture of marshmallows, chocolate, or blue colored bites on the front. Many cereals make bold claims like "high fiber", "low-calorie", or "whole grains". Often these claims are misleading and untrue. By reading the nutrition fact label on the side of the box, you can quickly narrow the choices down.

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The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity created a score system for a number of cereals based on total calories and ingredients like sugar, fiber, and sodium. Here are some of the cereals from their list that ranked the healthiest. They tend to be more adult focused, but simply add some fresh berries and nuts and your kids will love them too.

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City farmhouseWe commissioned a history of the house we'll raise our children in. Photo: Amy Suardi/Frugal Mama

When pretty objects can easily be had at any department store, discount warehouse, or grocery store, what really stands out in a gift is thought and effort. Of course there are plenty of heartfelt gifts that can be made with little or no money, but I like these ideas for when you want to make a splash on a special occasion, like a milestone birthday, a golden anniversary, or a house-warming.

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Intangible, helpful, or utterly personal, these gifts will surely make a difference in someone's life.

1. A House History

Did you know that you could hire an architectural historian to research the history of a house, just as you might to find out a family's genealogical roots? You can, and I know, because I am the happy recipient of a history of our one-and-only house. House

Bathing beauties who are actually clothed, and probably really hot.I almost titled this post "The More Feminist Approach to Teach Young Girls About Beauty" but it's such a loaded topic - feminism and beauty. We've been instructed that discussing appearance with girls at all is destructive. However, by not mentioning appearance (when it's true that girls are judged by their looks, whether we like it or not) we can unwittingly give them the idea that they don't measure up in that area. As I've written before, standing in the checkout line of the grocery store could convince anyone that appearance is the most important news to hit the stands for the past century.

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I do call my daughter cute because I can't help it! She's cute! But I admit that I've been wondering, after reading Lisa Bloom's article "How to Talk to Little Girls", if I'm doing my daughter a disservice by acknowledging her appearance.

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Teach a kid to fish...Some of our older kids have been exploring different areas of interest, either through online college courses or through volunteer work, like becoming certified First Responders. Jim Bob and I also encourage our children to apprentice with people who are professionals in their field. We think this allows them to find things they're interested in and learn about more about them.

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A lot of the kids have really enjoyed learning from our film crew (they're so sweet and are like family to us). The kids ask them questions and the crew tells them about their equipment, which is really fascinating to some of the children. It's been great because our crew has a wealth of knowledge and wisdom in their fields, and the kids get to ask themselves, "Is that something I really want to do?" -- whether it's photography, videography or sound.

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