Articles for parents


Quick Pantry Lunch Ideas
by Menus4Moms 
It’s lunch time and the kids are hungry. Take a look in your pantry for some quick and filling lunch ideas. You’ll be surprised with how many last minute meal ideas you can come up with using the various cans and bags of dry goods stashed away in your kitchen cupboards.


Let's Play "Hide and Sneak" with Veggies!
by Deborah Taylor-Hough
Do you find yourself sitting by helplessly while your very own little picky eater works her way through every ounce of spaghetti sauce, picking out the almost microscopic bits of cooked onion? Do you wish there were a way to get little Johnny to eat more veggies than just the French fries at the local drive- thru? (Do those even count as veggies, anyway?).


Luring Your Kids into Eating Healthy School Lunches
by Michelle Stern
Feeding children is a lot like fishing – you have to have the right lure, or they won’t bite! Packing desirable school lunches is a lot like the fine art of selecting an appealing lure while fishing. Try some of these stress-free strategies for packing lunches that are healthy for your kids and the environment. They’ll be sure to bite!


Back to school, or back to the poor house?
by Tawra Kellam
Back to school is a time when many moms witness their money sprout wings and take flight, finding their homes at retail stores across America. I know that consumer spending is good for the economy, but I don't take it upon myself to keep the entire US economy propped up.


Back to School Report
by Christine Steendahl
This downloadable Back to School Report is a guide to making the transition back into school easier on the whole family. From a stress-free morning routine to choosing afterschool activities, the Back to School Report has tips to make your back to school season enjoyable for everyone.


Kids Cooking From the Garden
by Peg Baron
Okay, so the kids have helped in the garden and grown lots and lots of vegetables. Now what? Besides eating all the peas as they pick them and gnawing on the carrots after the great fun of pulling them out of the ground, what’s next?


Revering the Crayon Marks
by Susie Cortright
It was one of those days when my husband left promising to return home a little early, and to bring with him a pizza. I had started the day, even, in one of those relatively rare but still very real moods in which the best I was going to be able to do in my role as a stay-at-home mom would be to fake a smile and turn my back, when necessary, to count to ten.


Kids' Snack Ideas
by Mary Ann Kelley
Kids are notoriously fickle. This week's favorite food may be tossed aside next week with an inexplicable, "I don't like them anymore." Moms on TheHomeSchoolMom in the Kitchen Yahoo Group are familiar with that frustration and have suggested the following snacks to help you find something that will keep the kids happy when last week's favorite is ancient history.


Dinner Planning For School Days
by Christine Steendahl
Another summer has quickly passed us by. The kids have reluctantly gone back to school. It stands to reason that life should be a little less hectic, right? Unfortunately, that’s usually not the case. Between all of your daily ‘Mom obligations’, helping with homework and providing transportation to every extra-curricular activity under the sun, you probably have little time to devote to dinner planning.


Kids School Lunches - 13 Alternatives To Promote Healthy Eating And Avoid Fast Food
by Helen Thompson
For parents, providing your kids with healthy, nutritional lunches that they find interesting can be quite a challenge. The "if it is good for you then it must be boring" mentality makes this particularly challenging and you have such favorites as lollies, sweets and fizzy drinks to compete with. Don't despair, it can be done and here are 13 alternatives to get you started.


8 Fun Ideas To Get Your Kids To Eat Their Veggies
by Susanne Myers
Do you have trouble getting your kids to eat their veggies? I sure do. My daughter used to be great about trying and eating just about anything…and then she turned 2 ½. Now it is pretty much impossible to get her to eat anything other than corn when it comes to vegetables. So I had to come up with some fun and sometimes sneaky ways to get some veggies in her. Here are a few of my favorites.


Homemaking School for Children
by Monica Resinger
With it being summer vacation for the kids, a lot of us may be experiencing a messier house than usual. A solution to this would be to give the kids daily chores or, what I like to call it, homemaking school. Homemaking school will not only help the house stay tidier, but will also give your kids valuable lessons in housecleaning and responsibility that they need now and later in life.


10 Ways To Sneak Some Extra Fruits And Vegetables In Your Family's Diet
by Susanne Myers
We all know by now that we should be eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. But knowing and doing are two different things, aren't they? Sometimes it is just not easy to get them all in there. We are constantly tempted to fill up on convenience and junk food. If your family is anything like mine, they'd much rather fill up on a bag of chips or a bowl of rice or pasta instead of trying an apple or a plate of steamed broccoli. So we'll have to get creative. Here are a few ideas to "sneak" some extra vegetables and fruits in your family's diet.


Time-Crunched Families can Turn Baking Time into Family Time
by  ARA
Some of the happiest family memories are made in the kitchen. Everyone cherishes a time when they baked cookies with grandma, or remembers the first cake they made for dad’s birthday. Children learn so much though cooking and baking. They learn how to follow directions, math and measurement, as well as food and kitchen safety. They sharpen fine-motor skills and practice getting organized and sharing family responsibilities.


Get your Family Racing to Complete Chores!
by Monica Resinger
My family went on a mini vacation a few years back which included a stay at a very nice hotel. During our stay, I admired how clean the room was and wished my home could be that clean. We had a long drive home and I thought about how I could start keeping my home that clean or close to it. The reason my house wasn't as clean as I liked was because I didn't do everything that needed to be done when it needed to be done-in other words, I didn't have a system.


Get Housekeeping Help By Keeping It Simple!
by Roxanna Ward
I do believe I've tried every option possible to recruit help around the house. I've tried withholding special items. I've tried paying good money for chores. I've even tried a little torture .. only joking. Few things have worked. Some things have not. But I have found that if you change back and forth from one good idea to another, help usually happens. When your family stops helping out around the house, try another method. Afterall, we all get bored with housework.

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