Blog Posts by Parentables

This post was written by Ryan Johnson.

Radio stations have been holding contests for their listeners for about as long as they've been on the air. And scandals surrounding those contests are just about as old. In 2007, a 28-year-old California woman died from water intoxication after competing to win a Wii gaming system, and way back in 1938, a radio station broadcast an adaptation of the novel, War of the Worlds, which caused panic and hysteria among its listeners.

The latest contest added to the controversial list comes out of Ottawa, Canada. CNN is reporting that Hot 89.9 hosted a contest for couples to try to "Win a Baby!" Here's how it worked: Couples wrote essays on why they think they should be chosen to win. From those entries, the stations chose five couples to compete. On Tuesday, the winner was announced, and all five couples were awarded the grand prize of three IVF treatments each.

While the title of the contest seems a little sensationalistic (and maybe

This post was written by Susan Wagner.

My sons wear uniforms to school: navy shorts or pants, white polo shirts, school sweatshirt. On Thursdays they trade the polo for a dress shirt and they add a tie. They would give up the tie if they could, but we all love the uniform -- no worrying about what to wear, no arguing, no disappointment because some favorite shirt is in the laundry. The uniform makes our life one million times easier (no exaggeration).

A Mom Uniform can do the same for your life, whether you're going to an office every day or staying home with the kids. When you have the right pieces, getting dressed in the morning is easy, and a uniform requires no thought or planning -- just put it on and go.

A successful Mom Uniform does two things: it makes you look great, and it makes your life easy. This leaves out yoga pants and track suits, in case you were hoping to make either of those your uniform. What's the alternative? Here are three options.

Read

This post was written by Alia Hoyt.

Most people with babies on the brain have a mental image of what their family will look like once it's up and running. A lot of the time, though, our kids come out nothing like we expected, from their interests to their appearances (and everything in between).

This mental image even extends to the gender of your kids, of course -- although what you end up with isn't always what you imagined. Dads that long to cultivate tiny quarterbacks sometimes end up with delicate princesses more prone to tea parties than touchdowns (Note: I'm not classifying all little girls as "delicate" -- plenty of lil' ladies are athletes or downright tough in their own right). So what's a parent to do when their family looks different than expected? Sit in a corner and pout? Demand a refund?

More from Parentables: Americans Would Rather Have Sons Than Daughters

I recently found out that I am carrying my third boy, and although my husband and I are

This post was written by Sami Grover.

The first rule of parenting may well be "judge not", but c'mon - we all do it. For me, personally, I've always withheld the most suspicion/judgement of those parents (we all know them) who claim that their children are "everything" to them.

Really? Everything?!

Don't get me wrong. I love my daughter (and my impending new arrival) more than I could possibly have imagined. Every day brings new adventures, new experiences, and fascinating insights into what it means to be human. From her amazed wonder at the tiniest little bug, to her squeals of delight at a simple game of tickle monster. She's taught me a lot about enjoying life and seeing the world around me.

But she's not my everything.

Read More: Make the Most of Your "Me Time"

I still love my wife. I still love reading books. I still love arguing politics. And I still love going out for beers and forgetting all about diapers and nap times and feeding schedules and

This post was written by Kelly Rossiter.

I have a confession to make. My son was a slacker at school, and I didn't worry about it much. My husband, on the other hand, was insane about it. He comes from a family where a mark of 97% elicited the response, "What happened to the other 3%?" whereas my family would say "97%? That's nice, dear."

I can't begin to tell you the number of times we were told that my son wasn't working to his potential, that he had gone as far as he could on "native intelligence" as one teacher put it. He always did his homework, but to the bare minimum. In Grade 3 when asked how long a diary entry should be, the teacher replied "oh, about 3/4 of a page". Hugh carefully measured out 3/4 of the page, drew a line across and stopped mid-sentence when he came to the end of that line. He got a good mark for it, too.

Read more: I Don't Care if My Kids Go to College

There is so much pressure in our current climate to get children into

This post was written by Marisa Belger.

W and I have a morning routine: I turn on NPR and make some French press coffee. He eats a waffle while pretending to be Batman or Captain America. After four minutes are up, he uses his superhero powers to push the press on my coffee.

It's a good routine, but lately there's been a snag in the program. Usually W is so immersed in saving the good guys from the bad guys, that he doesn't click into the stream of current events - sometimes negative, often scary -- pouring from our kitchen radio. Yet for the past few weeks, he's been interrupting his own stream of consciousness role playing to ask me a question about something he heard on the news. Questions like: "Mama, why did she say 'kill?'" and "What did President Obama do?"

So far, I've been navigating my three-year old's questions by tuning the radio to an all music station, explaining that the news is for grown ups and reminding him that no, killing is not good and that

This post was written by Michelle Duggar.

I think many of us throughout our lives have a need to seek counsel; it's just part of life. At times you're going to come up against a hard situation, tough decisions, and you may need counsel, and that's just the way it is.

But those who are seeking and learning and growing as they're going along, many times they'll be getting counsel and they don't even realize they're getting it. It could be listening to a great radio message while driving to the grocery store.

Often I tell my kids, "Listen, while you're riding in the car, if you're headed to work or going on an errand, fill your mind with good preaching messages." You can find counsel in so many ways - going to church, watching movies, reading books.

More from Michelle: Respect Doesn't Take a Vacation

Scripture says that there's wisdom in many counselors, and whoever and whatever we have around us -- whether it be good books, good messages that we're listening

This post was written by Sarah Fernandez. Photo Credit: Heleen Sitter/Getty Images

When my son was born, I was determined to keep him away from the television for as long as possible. I made it until he was almost two years old before we introduced Curious George and Sesame Street, and he officially became a television watcher. And while there have been times when he watched way too much of it, at five years old now we have found a nice balance of about an hour a day. But my daughter who is two and a half will not watch television, and I never thought I'd say this, but it drives me nuts!

The thing about television is that it has its benefits. As most parents who have television watchers know, it can be easy to let your child watch lots of television because they become all consumed in it and you know that they are going to sit safely in that chair with their eyes aimed at the wall while you finish up that last bit of work, make a phone call, or get dinner made. I'm not