Blog Posts by Parents.com

The tree is the centerpiece in your family's deck-the-hall efforts. With our creative ideas, decorating the tree with family and friends can be one of the most memorable events of the season.

By Melody Warnick

Tree Timeline
Each year, choose new ornaments for your children that represent some part of their lives in the last year: a ballerina for a budding dancer, a water-skiing Santa to remind your child of a family trip to the beach. Wrap the new treasures up and let your children open them to kick off the tree-trimming. Bonus: The yearly additions add up to a personalized ornament collection that your kids can take with them when they're grown up.

Friends-and-family Plan
Arrange a tree-trimming round robin. Invite two or three families to share in the fun, and go from home to home to hang ornaments and drape garlands. (It's best to take care of the lights beforehand.) Make sure each family provides a little something to munch on, too, like savory appetizers at one stop, steaming

Parents.com blogger and mom, Allison Winn Scotch, discusses how she's using the Penn State scandal to talk to her kids about tough topics.

By Allison Winn Scotch

Tough subject matter today. But important subject matter today too.

If there is any positive to be found in the Penn State atrocities -- which I blogged about last week -- it's that it made me realize that I need to talk to my kids about the possibility of a stranger violating them. To be honest, it hadn't occurred to me. Sure, I'd read and heard of horror stories of molestation, etc., but it hadn't really hit home that this could happen virtually anywhere (even though I understand that it can) and that it could happen to my own kids. And this weekend, as DC and I were looking online for a new sports league for him, it dawned on me that I'd be sending him out into the arms of strangers, just as the parents had done at Sandusky's foundation…and that, as delicate as the subject may be, I needed to raise it with my kids.

Now,

Parents.com blogger and mom, Berit Thorkelson, shares why she's hoping for another natural childbirth.

By Berit Thorkelson

When I found out I was pregnant the first time, the one that resulted in the 20-month-old ball of energy currently zipping around our home, I figured I'd ride out labor pumped with whatever drugs they'd give me. My instinctual philosophy went something like Pain: Bad. Drugs: Good. What kind of nut job wouldn't readily accept any and all available help in making what by all accounts is an excruciating experience more tolerable?

I am a researcher. I tend to spend a lot of time reading up and polling friends to ensure I'm prepared for purchases and experiences, for example, especially those that build up slowly and uncomfortably over the course of nine months and are 100 percent guaranteed to change my life forever. I read and Googled like it was my job, then watched "The Business of Being Born" with Clint. When it ended, I looked over at him, sighed, and said, "Oh,

Is your child afraid of going to the doctor? We have the ways you can help toddlers deal with visits to the doctor.

By Dina Roth Port

No child loves going to the doctor, but some kids are downright petrified. It's no surprise, considering that most kids don't like being handled by an unfamiliar person, let alone the fact that there's a chance they might get shots. Here are tips on how to help your little one feel a little safer and calmer during his next visit.

Accompany Your Child
While some parents need to have a grandparent or other care provider take kids to doctor's appointments, they should try to make the first visit or two, says Ari Brown, M.D., a Parents advisor and author of the Baby 411 book series. "If a child sees that a mother or father is comfortable in the new locale and that the parent trusts the doctor, then the child will l feel more secure," she explains.

Read Books and Role Play
Help your child know what to expect before going to the pediatrician. Purchase a toy

Follow our foolproof plan to get a modern, delicious turkey dinner for eight on the table -- and look relaxed the entire time.

By Jennifer Iserloh

Even if you've never made a turkey or only have one child-free arm to stir the gravy, our step-by-step plan will make you seem like a Thanksgiving pro. The secret: Prep most of your dishes the day before the meal so you can focus your energy on the turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Our delicious menu feeds eight adults and a couple of young kids, but feel free to buy a bigger turkey and double the side dishes if your family is larger. Then gobble up all the compliments!
Make grocery shopping a snap. Click here to see our organized list.

The Day Before: Make the Cranberry Sauce
A little balsamic vinaigrette gives great flavor to this sauce. Whip it up today right in the serving bowl you plan to use, and tomorrow you'll only have to take it out of the fridge. Another reason to start with cranberry sauce: You'll need a cup for the Thanksgiving

From acupuncture to yoga, our experts weigh in on so-called natural fertility treatments.

By Donna Christiano

Seven million women of reproductive age have undergone fertility treatments, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Acupuncture, hypnosis, and other complementary therapies are touted as an alternative to costly, high-tech fertility treatments--but do they really work? Although there isn't any conclusive research on the topic, some experts say they're worth a shot. "Personally, I think the best way for women with fertility issues to increase the chances of conceiving is an integrative approach," says Alice Domar, Ph.D., executive director of the Domar Center for Mind/Body Health in Waltham, MA. "If you have a medical problem, seek medical help. But if these alternative therapies can help your mental state, I say they're worth doing."

To avoid a scam, ask your doctor to recommend a qualified practitioner for the therapy you'd like to try. Here, we

Parents.com blogger and new dad, Nick Shell, shares how his priorities have changed since becoming a father.

By Nick Shell

After becoming a dad last year, I quickly learned that certain things in my life which were previously important had become nearly irrelevant. The funny thing is, I'm so used to my new state of normalcy that I actually forgot that at one point these things even mattered at all. So to celebrate my recent maturity as a dad and as a human being, I now share the top seven things I stopped caring about when I became a dad.

1. Drool: Today at work I looked down at my jacket and saw what appeared to be dried slobber. It's amazing how much I didn't care. Maybe there's something about changing so many diapers in those first couple months that caused me to not even think twice about something as harmless as a little bit of baby drool -- whether it's wet on my hand or dried on my clothing.

2. Sleep: At this point, my son sleeps from 7PM until 6:30 AM every day; but I'm so

Mental health experts are debating whether extreme temper tantrums and irritability should be considered a psychological disorder.

By Richard Rende

There is debate swirling around a proposed new diagnostic category in child psychiatry: Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder or DMDD. The online conversations illuminate a phenomenon that makes me worry: when parents and clinicians can't control a child's behavior, there is a tendency to diagnose a disorder, and then use the diagnosis to justify medication.

Look, I sympathize with every parent who has difficulties in managing their child, especially one who is highly irritable and has extreme outbursts and tantrums (which is the territory of the DMDD label). The reality is that some kids are much tougher to parent than others. I also understand the frustrations of practitioners who find that conventional behavioral treatments are not as effective as we'd like them to be for some kids. And I fully get that some kids do benefit from