Blog Posts by Parentables

This post was written by Sarah Fernandez. Photo Credit: Drew Fernandez

Yesterday I looked at my alarm clock and thought how nice it would be to actually need it. Then I got to thinking about the other things I once had or enjoyed prior to having children five years ago and here's what I came up with as the things I long to have once again.

1. My Alarm Clock

I'm not a morning person so it never occurred to me that I would ever miss my alarm clock, but I do. That's because I don't need it anymore due to the fact that I have two small children who make sure that I am up well before I actually need to be to get us out the door in time for school and work in the morning. I can't wait until I need that alarm clock again.

2. Money

It's not as though we ever had a lot of cash to spare, but there's nothing like paying a couple hundred plus dollars a week in daycare costs to realize just how good you had it. We are finally feeling some reprieve now that we've got one

This post was written by Ryan Johnson. Photo: Noel Vasquez/Contributor/Getty Images Entertainment.

When the most recent cast of Dancing With the Stars was announced on August 29, there were the usual characters: reality stars (Kristin Cavallari and Rob Kardashian), athletes (Ron Artest and Hope Solo), and celebrities hoping for some kind of comeback (David Arquette, Chynna Phillips, and Ricki Lake). Pretty standard fare compared with seasons past.

But this fall, the dancing reality competition added one contestant to its lineup who is causing a bit of controversy: Chaz Bono, the only child of Cher and the late Sonny Bono. The drama stems from the fact that Chaz is transgender and -- gasp! -- will be dancing with a woman.

Although Chaz was born a female (Chastity), he has gone through gender reassignment surgery and is living his life as a man. Even the courts recognize the gender change with a judge granting Chaz's petition for a gender and name change in May 2010.

As we say goodbye to the Gosselins tonight on the last episode of Kate+8, the Parentables team took a look back at the show's run -- and at the many lessons we learned from Kate herself. From motherhood and fitness to education and hairstyles, here are ten teachings that we'll remember long after the credits roll.

1. Take Control: Order is possible in the midst of chaos. Kate's keen sense of organization makes daily adventures with her eight kids a reality.

2. Get Organized: Organize as much of the chaos that you can, and just roll with the rest. I've always admired how she could mobilize eight kids in under a half hour when it takes me 20 minutes to get my little urchin out the door.

3. Hit the Road: Education doesn't have to happen in school. Kate takes education where ever they go...she is a closet homeschooler!

4. Teach Your Children Well: Kate makes education fun, and she incorporates it into everything they do -- even vacations. The kids learn in hands-on environments, giving

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This post was written by Marla Garfield. Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage.

Beyoncé Knowles and I have sooo much in common. For instance, we've both ridden on airplanes. Both of our mothers' names end in a. She is married to Jay-Z; I am married to J.B. Clearly, we are kindred spirits. So it stands to reason that I am more than qualified to introduce the singer to motherhood and give her some of my best advice.

1. After you have your baby, you'll still be expected to run your fashion line, because a working mother's day job doesn't hit the brakes simply because she's given birth. This is a perfect opportunity to launch the clothing trend we all need: Bedazzled-panel non-maternity pants. While you're pregnant, you'll find that the stretch panel on your pants is so comfortable that you'll never want to wear regular trousers ever again, but that panel is crazy-fugly. So while you're looking for something to do during your maternity leave while the baby naps, please get rolling

This post was written by Michelle Duggar. Photo credit DCI.

My husband Jim Bob and I recently celebrated our 27th anniversary. We laugh about how it took us 25 years to learn this one simple concept that we shared in our book, "A Love That Multiplies." It's so simple, but yet I think each couple probably has certain things that maybe have been tripping them up along the way in their communication skills.

A couple of years ago we went to a Courageous Conversations marriage counseling conference, and we were so encouraged by many things at the conference, but the one thing we really came away with -- that took us this long to learn -- was that Jim Bob and I have very different styles of communication. And maybe this is just my personality, but I tend to talk more. It's often said that women like to talk about a subject more, whereas men are just short, sweet, straight to the point and that's all they need, they're done.

And so I would talk and talk and talk and talk

This post was written by Susan Wagner.

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This post was written by Michelle Duggar. Photo: DCL.

When you're traveling with family -- whether you're on a bus, like we are sometimes, or flying -- I think one of the ways to help keep everything calm in close quarters is to stick to the same rules you have at home.

One of the most important ones for us is to respect one another, and to respect each other's space and things -- don't try to step on somebody else's space or get into their stuff without permission.

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And then just honoring one another and trying to look for ways to help each other, instead of having the attitude of, "I don't want do anything." Traveling together is a lot of fun, but we all have to work hard to make it happen.

If we're staying for the entire trip on the bus and not staying at a hotel it's a little bit more cramped and crowded and not as easy to do much else than just survive -- because we have a lot of people in one small