Blog Posts by Parenting.com

By Caitlin Ultimo
Former Olympian Summer Sanders has lead a successful life in and out of the pool. Twenty years ago she

Summer Sanders with her two kids!

brought homefour medals from the games in Barcelona, two of them gold. Since then, she has gone on to become a sports broadcaster, TV host, Kellogg spokesperson and mother to six-year-old Skye Bella and four-year-old Robert Charles Spider. She took some time out to talk to us about how she's encouraging her own kids to be active, and what they think of her Olympic past.

Do your kids like to swim too, or do they have a favorite sport of their own?

My kids love all sports. My husband was an Olympic skier and I was an Olympic swimmer. Everyone thinks our kids are going to be Olympic skiers or swimmers too, but it's my job to introduce them to new sports. My son, who's four, loves ice hockey and my six-year-old daughter loves gymnastics, and they both love soccer.

PLUS: What Counts as Cardio?

How do you get your kids to be active?

My kids

Read More »from Summer Sanders: Life After the Gold Medal

...about sex, date night, and more

By Ian Kerner

What Your Husband Wants You to Know

Men talk to me all the time about sex, which is only natural, since I'm a sex therapist and I make my living talking to people about their sex lives. But it's funny how many guys like to talk to me when I'm not working, when I'm pushing my sons in their double stroller or watching them at the playground. Neighbors know what I do, and it seems to draw the men to me --and they open up about certain things that the guys who actually come to see me with their wives just don't. Every time this happens, I end up saying the same thing: "Dude, don't tell me, tell your wife." Then comes the part where he shrugs and says, "Yeah, I guess you're right, I'll do that," but you and I both know it won't happen.

So I'm here, on dads' behalf, to tell you the things they think, but won't always say:

"I want to cuddle."

Guys who were never big on cuddling (except, of course, in the early days when they were trying to get in your pants and

Read More »from What Your Husband Wants You to Know (But Isn't Telling You)

By Melanie Rosen

How Many Kids Are Right for Your Family?I can still remember walking through lower Manhattan just months into dating my now-husband and discussing what we thought we each wanted for our respective futures. Since we were dreaming big, I told him that I wanted three kids. He balked at that and said he wanted no more than two. At the time, we agreed to disagree, but I remember joking with him that if we stayed together, we'd eventually have to reach an agreement.

And here we are, 11 years later, pregnant with our third child. I have no idea what life is going to be like with three kids. Overwhelming, chaotic, loud, terrifying… and hopefully just right for our family.

PLUS: Can You Keep A Secret?

Our first son, Ben, was a really tough baby-or maybe I just had a really hard time being his mom. Either way, once he was in our lives, I really couldn't understand why people ever had more than one child; the thought was literally repulsive. Fortunately, we all turned a corner when he turned a year old,

Read More »from How Many Kids Are Right for Your Family?

16 smart tips for your family's next reunion that help you keep in touch throughout the planning and enjoy the day of the celebration
By Suzanne Rowan Kelleher

Plan a Family Reunion

Put the focus on family

Every successful reunion starts with a good turnout, says Jack Bettridge of New Canaan, Connecticut, whose extended family has been gathering regularly since 1988. "Decide from the start that your goal is to spend time together, and not necessarily to have a lavish vacation," he suggests.

Beth Payer, who runs her Olliebop blog from home in Saratoga Springs, New York, attends up to three major family gatherings per year-one on her husband's side of the family and two on hers. "Make it a priority to be as inclusive as possible," she says. "That means being sensitive to those with the tightest budgets, the least flexible schedules, and the greatest mobility issues." To wit: when a nonagenarian aunt could no longer travel comfortably by car to a longstanding reunion location, the family moved it.

Read More »from How to Plan an Awesome Family Reunion

by Taylor Newman

Every other Friday morning, I drive to a local dairy farm and wait in a long line of cars until a refrigerated white van

Would You Give Your Child Raw Milk?

rolls up and parks at the top of the driveway. The cars creep slowly forward, single file, as each person's bi-weekly order of milk, cheese, and other farm-fresh dairy products - which we place, in advance of pickup, via an online spreadsheet-- is filled by the farmer himself. Customers include stay-at-home-moms and their kids, business people on their lunch breaks, athletes, health-enthusiasts - it's a diverse crowd. But we're all there for one reason. You think breast milk is the most coveted, controversial beverage in America today? Try raw cow's milk. For many moms, it's the natural successor to breast milk's throne. For many other enthusiasts, it's simply liquid gold.

PLUS: Would You Feed Another Woman's Breast Milk to Your Baby?

I ended up in the Friday morning line routine for two reasons. One is that Kaspar, who's slowly

Read More »from Would You Give Your Kids Raw Milk?

Check out which popular names for baby girls and boys topped the Social Security charts in 2011.

By Kate Goodin
Although it's always fun to see which baby names the celebs are choosing, the yearly release of the topThe Top Baby Names of 2011

10 boy and girl names from Social Security is the ultimate authority on baby naming, because it shows what parents are actually naming their kids. So which names topped the charts in 2011?

For boys, Jacob still reigns supreme-and has since 1999, when it hit the number one spot. Sure, the Twilight craze may have contributed to its enduring popularity, but it's also a strong, easy name for boys, with Jake as a cute nickname option. Stay tuned for 2012, though: the name Mason may usurp Jacob next year for the top spot, probably thanks to Kourtney Kardashian, who chose it for her son. Mason, which ranked 12 th in 2010, zoomed onto the top 10 list in 2011, and is currently the second most popular boy name.

Another boy name on the upswing: the slightly formal but

Read More »from The Most Popular Baby Names of 2011

by Jeana Lee Tahnk

You wake up from a deep slumber, open your eyes and immediately grab your phone off your nightstandFacebook.com

to check Facebook…Something happens to you and your first instinct is to post it on Facebook. Sound familiar? If so, you may be addicted.

PLUS: Parents Disciplining Kids on Facebook --Funny or Not Fair?

A research team from the University of Bergen in Norway, led by Cecilie Schou Andreassen, recently conducted a study on how addictive Facebook is and found this to be a growing phenomenon among the millions of Facebook users out there. The results which will be published in Psychological Reports, found that Facebook addiction occurs more regularly among younger users and that women are more at risk for becoming dependent on this social network.

PLUS: Is Your Personal Information at Risk?

People who scored higher on anxiety and insecurity levels, and those who were more disorganized, tended to be more at risk for Facebook addiction as well.

Read More »from Six Signs of Facebook Addiction

Graceful ways to handle unsolicited parenting advice, even if it comes from your family

By Barbara Rowley

As a baby, my daughter Anna refused to wear her shoes or socks. Not a big deal if we lived on a sunny

How to Handle Annoying Advice

beach. But we live in Montana -- and she was born in late October. So the first line of the mother-daughter battlefield was drawn: I put her shoes and socks on, she worked them off. If she was lucky, she'd push them off when we were in transit and they'd be lost forever. Score: Anna 1, Mom 0.

Then one day, while we were on vacation, a stranger wandered into the crossfire. She was older, better rested, better dressed, and apparently a self-proclaimed authority on baby podiatry. She took one look at Anna in the hotel lobby and screeched, "Ooooh! Look at the tiny little baby with the cold feet!"

"They aren't cold," I said, instantly defensive. "Feel them!" I thrust my daughter's feet, dangling from my chest as she hung in her front carrier, toward the woman's hands.

Read More »from Polite Ways to Deal with Annoying Parenting Advice