Blog Entries

Right on Schedule

editor@houstonkidstuff.com — Mon, 09 May 2011 01:00:00 +0100

Dance, soccer, basketball, golf, football, baseball, gymnastics, competitive cheer, music or voice lessons, Cub Scouts or Brownies, art lessons, drama and horseback riding, just to name a few. Ask a parent about his or her child's activities and you're bound to get at least three (or six) from the list. Throw school, homework, transportation and meals into the mix and you've got a child that needs a very capable parent EA (executive assistant) to manage the CAS (child activity [...]

The Boys (and Girls) of Summer

editor@houstonkidstuff.com — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 01:00:00 +0100

{mosimage}If you're frantically trying to "plan summer" as we are, you'll love this gem. Created by Houston mom Sarah Gish, The Summer Book is an all inclusive guide to Houston area day camps and programs for kids from age 4 up to their teens. Published annually in March, The Summer Book is chock full of information on over 200 organizations offering camps and classes and even includes a week by week chart by date and camp amenities. Comprehensive enough to [...]

Buy One, Give One

pam@houstonkidstuff.com — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 01:00:00 +0100

{mosimage}We love a fab shoe find, and this one’s a “feel good” in more ways than one. Cute, comfy and benevolent, for every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of shoes to a child in need. In sizes ranging from Pre-Walker Tiny TOMS all the way up to Women’s and Men’s, you can stock up on shoes for the whole family. Available at www.tomsshoes.com.

Save It!

editor@houstonkidstuff.com — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 01:00:00 +0100

Our latest fascination stems from a show on TLC, Extreme Couponing. (No, we really don't participate in as much mindless activity as it would appear.) In this show, shoppers have taken couponing to new heights, paying cents on the hundreds of dollars and acquiring household items and groceries for next to nothing. The individuals featured are a bit extreme (thus the show's title), spending as many waking hours as they do working to fulfill their coupon mission and renting storage units [...]

Keeping Score

editor@houstonkidstuff.com — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 01:00:00 +0100

A scene on The Real Housewives of Orange County (yes, we admit we watch The Housewives) played out with two of the women sparring, for lack of a better, word over the abilities of their not yet three year old children. One child drew the best squigglies of anyone in her class, another was the best listener, another could count to seven in Spanish, and yet another of these overachieving children was potty trained almost instantaneously. Watching the scene unfold, we were struck by the ludicr [...]

The Happiest Place on Earth?

editor@houstonkidstuff.com — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:00:00 +0100

Contemplating a first time trip to Disney, we sought advice from our Disney veteran friends and relatives. All loved it, said we would too, and all raved about it being magical; the "happiest place on earth." The other common sentiment was not to make the mistake of many and try to do or see everything all in one visit, thus completely over-stressing and wearing yourself and your traveling companions to a frazzle. This is also known as Disney commando-ism. We get the idea. Plans d [...]

Grade A

editor@houstonkidstuff.com — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 01:00:00 +0100

One of the best pieces of advice I've gotten recently was from one of my son's teachers regarding grades. By the way, we're talking elementary school here, not make or break for the Harvard entrance exam, which is precisely why I think she gives this advice. What she said was, "Don't get too caught up in the grades. It's not always going to be indicative of what he knows. If you can focus on what he's learning (or not) instead of concentrating on the grade, yo [...]

School Daze

editor@houstonkidstuff.com — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 01:00:00 +0100

With the start of school right around the corner, we thought we'd share an email sent by one of our friends. It's a reply to a group of friends, all of whom had children starting kindergarten on the same day. This is an entirely true story although the names have been changed to protect the still somewhat traumatized.

Sent: Thursday, August 23m 10:29 AM
To: XXXXXX
Cc: XXXXXX; XXXXXX
Subject: Re: 1st Day pics

Child Y'S AR [...]

Are You My Mother?

pam@houstonkidstuff.com — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:10:31 +0100

From the moment we discover we're going to be someone's mother to the
time we actually give birth, our feelings run the gamut of hope,
excitement, trepidation, fear, joy, helplessness, or a cocktail of all
of those combined. Once the child arrives, we still have all of those
feeling and more. Gone, however, are the singular conversations,
musical stimulation exercises, or whatever we did in our one-way
communications with our baby in utero. Beginning with our first meeting
[...]

RSVP - PLEASE!!

editor@houstonkidstuff.com — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:08:10 +0100

A common complaint and topic of discussion among parents is the
non-RSVP to children�s birthday parties. Have a conversation with any
parent planning a party and you are likely to hear something that goes
like this �I sent out 30 invitations two weeks ago, the party�s on
Saturday and I�ve only heard back from 14 people. I don�t know how many
goody bags or how much pizza to order�. Note, I said �any� parent,
actually meaning �every� parent. Sheer logic would suggest if every
[...]

Kids Will Be Kids

editor@houstonkidstuff.com — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 01:00:00 +0100

Recently I've witnessed a plethora of what I've named ABB. Acceptable
bad behavior, shrugged off by the parents with the comment, "kids will
be kids". If you've been a participant in play dates, sports activities,
school functions, birthday parties, trips to the park, Chick-Fil-A, or
even casual playtime in your neighborhood, chances are you, too, have
seen this. ABB can range from little ones biting an unsuspecting toddler
in a sandbox to taunting and teasing from bigger k [...]

Welcome to Stuff We Think About

editor@houstonkidstuff.com — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 01:00:00 +0100

As parents of kids of a variety of
ages, we have quite the stream of consciousness at least daily, hourly
or sometimes minute by minute. I once heard parenthood compared to a
movie in which one never knows what will happen next. This movie,
however, can take the unexpected turn from comedy to drama with tears
in between, sometimes with bad acting, all in a matter of seconds. And
like a favorite movie, parenthood is something we rarely tire of and
experience each moment with the same an [...]