Be prepared for a snow daySnow days can be fun, but only if you're prepared. Do you know what essential supplies you might need to stay safe--and sane? Fay Wolf, professional organizer, joins Easy Does It host Ereka Vetrini to share her tips for getting snow day ready.
Wolf suggests keeping at least a three-day emergency stash for your family. To start, it should consist of about a gallon of water per person per day. She also recommends keeping food that doesn't require heat. "Things like peanut butter and jelly, canned goods, dried fruit, things like that," she says. She also notes that people often forget that it's very important to stock up on toilet paper--like Charmin Ultra Strong.
Related: 10 tips to be prepared for emergencies
In addition, Wolf says that it's important to stock extra batteries and battery-powered electronics in your emergency stash. Plus, she says, you should keep salt or kitty litter on hand to break up ice that may form on walkways. And finally, she says, "Cash in small bills is a
Blog Posts by Team Mom Staff
Messy Rainy Day Activities for the Whole Family
By Team Mom Staff | Team Mom – Wed, Jan 16, 2013 8:01 AM EST
Read More »from Messy Rainy Day Activities for the Whole Family
Messy Rainy Day ActivitiesRainy days are upon us, and with them come bored children and frustrated parents. Luckily, help is at hand. Art Zone founder and educational psychologist Laura Krug joins Away We Grow host Diane Mizota to share some fun activities for your family.
Krug explains, "The fact is that kids learn through hands-on activities. It's the best way for them to develop their growing brains and their curiosity." She begins by sharing three messy art-based activities for kids to do on rainy days.
Related: 25 rainy day activities for kids
First, Krug suggests gathering some wooden blocks and double-stick tape. Then, she says, attach ordinary household items to the blocks with the tape. "Now go ahead and stamp that into the paint, and then we'll stamp it on the paper," says Krug. This makes interesting patterns on the paper.
Related: Rainy day survival guide
Next, Krug shows how to make a print with bubble wrap. Simply dip the bubble wrap into the paint. Then press it on paper to take a print of
Read More »from The Hidden Benefits of Pregnancy
The hidden benefits of pregnancyJohanna has a few words of wisdom for pregnant women. She says, "I'm sure you've heard that pregnancy is an amazing and magical experience. And it is. But not for the reason that you think. It's amazing and magical because never again will you be able to get away with so much for such an extended period of time.
"Now, everybody knows that pregnancy is a chance to gorge yourself like a ravenous wildebeest, but that's just the tip of the pregnancy with benefits iceberg.
Related: 4 things you should never say to a pregnant woman
"I want you to look upon these nine months as a blank check to behave like a total a-hole, and I can say this, because when I was pregnant, I cashed it. Many, many, many, many, many, many times. Are there things you've never been able to say to your mother, your best friend, your neighbor, your boss? Now's the time to say them.
Related: The 7 best presents to give a pregnant woman
"Just be sure to follow it up with the phrase, 'I'm sorry, I'm feeling a
Is your kid safe online?A generation ago, the idea of cyber safety didn't even exist. Now, it's more important than ever. Joining Away We Grow host Diane Mizota is Pattie Fitzgerald, founder of Safely Ever After, to talk about how to keep kids safe online.
Kids are starting to use computers and phones early on these days, and parents may wonder what sites are appropriate for what age. Fitzgerald notes that most social media sites have age guidelines in place. "Do your research, find the age-appropriate games and websites, and use the most private settings," she says.
Related: The best Internet browsers for kids
If your children are using social media, Fitzgerald offers a few key tips for keeping them safe:
• Friend your children.
• Know your children's passwords.
• Set up the rules ahead of time.
• Do not let your children accept friends unless they know the other person in the real world.
• Do not allow chat rooms, especially when kids are young.
Related: Internet safety at homeIn addition,
Read More »from Is Your Kid Safe…Online?Winter Skin Care Tips to Keep You Looking Radiant All Year
By Team Mom Staff | Team Mom – Tue, Jan 8, 2013 2:26 PM EST
Read More »from Winter Skin Care Tips to Keep You Looking Radiant All Year
Stay radiant with winter skin care tipsTired of dull and lifeless skin? Help is at hand! Makeup artist Beth Carter speaks with Easy Does It Host Ereka Vetrini to share her winter skin care tips.
For many women, their skin gets flaky and dry winter after winter. Carter explains that in the winter months, it's much cooler-and often windier as well. Plus, she adds, "you're in and out of areas that are heated indoors." These factors combine to dry skin out.
Related: Smart tips for fixing dry winter skin
The key to avoiding this problem, says Carter, is to stay moisturized. "First of all," she says, "you need to use a cream or lotion-based cleanser." She suggests applying the cleanser in an upward and outward motion. "We don't want to drag our skin down in any way," she explains.
The next step in a winter skin care routine is exfoliating, which allows the moisturizer to penetrate more effectively, says Carter. She adds that by the time women turn 30, they should be exfoliating more often, and they should always be using an
ThinkstockAccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of childhood obesity has tripled over the past 30 years-and we as parents may not be helping to reduce it, says Dr. Natalie Muth, author of "Eat Your Vegetables and Other Mistakes Parents Make."
Dr. Muth tells Away We Grow host Diane Mizota that a common parental practice that could lead to childhood weight gain is the "clean plate club." When parents require their children to eat everything on the plate, kids then lose the ability to use their own feelings of hunger and fullness to decide how much to eat. "And that habit stays with that child for their whole life," says Dr. Muth.
Related: Childhood obesity: A Growing concern
How parents try to get their children to eat vegetables may also lead to problems down the road. A classic mistake that parents may make is to tell their children that if they eat the vegetables, they can then have dessert. All of a sudden, the dessert becomes a reward.
"It starts early,
Read More »from Childhood Obesity: Are Parents to Blame?
Read More »from Money-saving Solutions for the New Year
Save money in the new yearOne of the most common New Year's resolutions is to save money, but this may be easier said than done. Financial expert Erica Sandberg joins Easy Does It host Ereka Vetrini to help tighten your purse strings with some money-saving solutions.
Sandberg says that before you start thinking about making more money or having a budget, the most important thing you need to first is get rid of your debt. "Put yourself on a plastic diet," she says. "Totally stop using the card while you are paying that debt off." She suggests giving yourself goals-for example, "I'm going to put $500 toward my credit card debt every single month, and I'm going to be out of debt by May."
Related: 6 new ways to tame credit card debt
Debit cards can also be problematic, as they may come with high overdraft fees. In addition, "if you're constantly going to the ATM and if it's not your particular bank, you've got fees associated with it," Sandberg says, noting that these types of fees are a waste of money.
Read More »from The Perfect Mother Moment
The Perfect Mother MomentJohanna learns how pregnancy can help a person become her higher, better self. (Or, in Johanna's case, her lower, dopier one.)
Related: 5 tips for surviving the first trimester blahs
"The second trimester has been kind to me," she begins, "and I am feeling all of the things the books say I should feel: feminine, serene, and in a state of emotional ecstasy. I spend most of my waking moments picturing my future perfect motherhood with my future perfect baby, and when I do, it's in soft-focus, with dappled sunlight and hippie wind chimes. I'm so happy I could puke a friggin' rainbow."
Related: Mom humor: 5 funny books on pregnancy and parenting
Johanna continues, "I'm at a picnic table with some friends when a woman in a bikini walks over and asks if she can borrow a bottle opener. She is quite fit--except for her very exposed tummy, which is taut yet full; there's no mistaking it, this is a belly full of arms and legs. Sizing up the bulge, I pin her at maybe five months along. ISuper-Mommies: Why They're Super-Ruining It for the Rest of Us
By Team Mom Staff | Team Mom – Wed, Jan 2, 2013 8:02 AM EST
Super-MommiesIt's true what they say: nothing compares to the arrival of your first child--that feeling of "family," the shared sense of purpose, the built-in excuse generator: "Sorry we can't make it, the sitter cancelled!"
Related: 5 "new mom" things I swore I wouldn't do
But Johanna was not prepared for the Club of Motherhood.
Related: Mommy wars: Why good parents judge others as badThe minute you shoot a wad of humanity out of your body, Stein says, "you're suddenly fair game to the criticism of other women--women who are doing it better than you. These women are known as 'Supermommies' - in Germany, Uber-mutti; in Spain, Madre Estupenda; and in Holland, BesteMoeder - and if you don't do as they do, a horrible fate is in store. If you've ever been shunned by the Amish, you know what I'm talking about."
Check out the video for more from Johanna about how to recognize these Super-mommies!
Read More »from Super-Mommies: Why They're Super-Ruining It for the Rest of Us
Watch more videos from ShineMaking New Year’s Resolutions a Family Affair
By Team Mom Staff | Team Mom – Tue, Jan 1, 2013 7:56 AM ESTI
Read More »from Making New Year’s Resolutions a Family Affair
Make resolutions with your whole familyt's the new year, and everyone is making personal resolutions. How about making some to improve the lives of your whole family? Katie Hurley, child psychotherapist and parenting expert, shares her ideas with Away We Grow host Diane Mizota.
Hurley notes that instead of referring to family resolutions, she prefers to talk about "making family goals." She says people tend to make enormous personal resolutions, like losing 30 pounds or getting a big promotion--resolutions that can be hard to keep. She adds, "When you make smaller goals that are attainable, your self-esteem goes up because you reach those goals."
Related: A new approach to the New Year's resolution
When families set goals together, Hurley says that it's always important to keep things simple, fun, and positive. "Instead of mom and dad deciding on what the most important things are that the family needs to work on, give everybody a chance to have some input into these goals," she says.
Related: Revive your resolutions
