The latest from Spawned: Our award-winning parenting podcast
A college guidance expert and former admissions officer helps de-stress the application process. Phew! | Spawned Ep 301
Navigating the college search and admission process is rough -- emotionally, practically, financially. (Eep!) It completely stressed me out, and I'm a pretty Type B mom. So learn from my mistakes! Make it easier on yourself by listening to all the helpful advice...
How moms can find more holiday joy for themselves: Margaret Ables | Spawned Ep 300
It's been some year. To say the least. With the holiday season in full swing, it can be tough to find the joys in a tough world, let alone trying to make happy holiday memories for our kids. And in doing so, moms often put ourselves last. How can moms be part of the...
“Acceptance is Protection”: Kate Brookes on parenting a trans kid, or any child on their own path. | Spawned 299
I could not be more thrilled to share this wonderful interview with award-winning TV reporter/producer/mom Kate Brookes, author of the upcoming Transister: Raising Twins in a Gender-Bending World. While our conversation is super helpful for parents looking for advice...
Keeping kids healthy on social media with Dr. Devorah Heitner | Spawned Ep 298
With U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy introducing new social media guidelines for children in the past few weeks, social media and mental health is all any parent we know is talking about. Especially with summer here. So I immediately reached out to one of my...
Dr. Lisa Damour on the Emotional Life of Teenagers: Important insights and advice | Spawned Episode 297
It's always a pleasure to chat with Dr. Lisa Damour, New York Times best-selling author, podcast host and psychologist, about parenting teens. In this Spawned episode, we're talking specifically about the emotional lives of teenagers, based on her newest book of the...
More coolness from recent weeks…
One Cool Thing: Skout Organic all-natural snack bars pass the picky kid test.
This Earth Month happened to be the perfect time for us to stumble on Skout Organic, as a lot of us are thinking about how to get more plant-based foods into our family's bellies. So why not start with the lunch box? We recently tried the certified organic,...
What do libraries do? You’re not going to believe this list. | National Library Week
Several years ago, we wrote a lengthy post explaining what libraries do, and advocating for their funding. Wth this being National Library Week, at a time that there is an inarguable war on public libraries in the U.S. I thought I'd share that list with some 2024...
Deal Alert: Save 25% off at PlanetBox in Honor of Earth Month (Plus a Special Bonus)
With Earth Month here and Earth Day coming up, we wanted to share a fantastic deal from Planet Box, the company making the incredible bento-style lunch boxes and earth-friendly reusable lunch accessories that we've been recommending for years. For adults, too! Some...
One Cool Thing: Jackie Robinson commemorative merch is a fantastic gift for fans
There's a whole lot going on in April: Tax Day, Earth Day, and the first full month of baseball season. And this year, there's something extra special coming up -- the 20th anniversary of Jackie Robinson Day. Poking around for something cool at the official MLB store,...
Mott & Bow jeans make it easy (and fun!) for you to find the perfect fit. And maybe some extra savings.
After seeing ads for Mott & Bow denim in my Instagram feed for a while, a friend insisted that I had to check them out. I did! And I ordered! Turns out the brand isn't only legit, they're beloved by a ton of fashion editors, they have customers who swear won't buy...
One Cool Thing: Colorful Mermaid Scale Wine Tumblers
While it's still a little cold in my neck of the woods -- because, April in New York -- we're getting a little spring fever around here and we're determined to get outside more. Even if jackets are required. Next week, we've got plans to head to a local park to watch...
Daily Question: Which Mobile Games Do You Loooooooove?
If there's one thing moms need more of, it's downtime. We love reading, watching shows, hobbies, and yes, playing games. SO many games. No judgments at all -- whatever it takes to decompress is good by us. (Let alone starting each morning with Wordle without fail.) So...
Daily Question: Congrats, You’re Mega-Rich! Who Do You Hire First?
Welcome to our next daily reader question, where cool moms get to share their opinions and ideas with other cool moms. (Dads welcome too.) Today, we're asking about all your lottery-winning, surprise-inheritance, found-ten-million-dollars-in-a-coat-pocket dreams. We...
One Cool Thing: Happy Jack x Kenneth Cole is supporting students struggling with mental health
You know how much we love gifts that give back, and I was thrilled to find one more in the new Happy Jack x Kenneth Cole capsule collection. Our posts may contain affiliate links and some purchases generate a small commission to support our work at no additional cost...
Daily Question: Which Breakfast Club Character Were You in High School
Welcome to our next daily reader question, where cool moms get to share their opinions and ideas with other cool moms. (Dads welcome too.) After our first daily question about the best 80s teen movies ever (click over for the results!) it turns out you all have a...
The Best April Fool’s Prank We Ever Pulled. Still Hilarious.
Over the years, we used to create the best April Fool's posts each April 1 until it became...well, kind of a thing everyone did and readers got savvy and started expecting them. Then we started sharing the best April Fool's pranks you could play on your kids and hey,...
Daily Question: Do you take your shoes off in the house?
Welcome to today's daily question, where cool moms get to tell other cool parents what they think. Today, we've got a question that can be a little controversial: Do you require shoes to come off at the front door? Parents have extremely strong opinions about whether...
Daily Question: Gen Z Slang
Welcome to our next daily reader question, where you get to tell other cool parents what's cool! Today, we're asking about Gen Z slang. Our kids have created so much colorful vocabulary, and they get a hard time for a lot of it. So let's turn it around a bit. We want...
Daily Question : The Best ’80s Teen Movies of All Time
Welcome to our first daily reader question, where you get to tell other cool parents what's cool! First up, a topic that's near and dear to our hearts: Pop culture. Or more specifically the pop culture from our own youth that we now get to share with our kids as they...
Bet you didn’t even know you could recycle some of these things you use every day.
If you're looking for a free recycling program for your Febreze cans, your teen's EOS lip balm containers, your kids' drink pouches, or even your teeth aligners, you're in luck. I just found the ultimate list of brands that have recycling programs for hard-to-recycle...
How to dye Easter eggs: Getting the perfect shades with tips from the food dye experts
I imagine that the McCormick's website must get more traffic this time of year than any other, considering that it's pretty the perfect starting point for anyone looking for a legit Easter egg color guide. If you want to know just how to dye Easter eggs with food...
Your kids will love these 35 affordable Easter basket ideas – all under $15!
While we're all for jellybeans, affordable chocolate bunnies, and Peeps of every color, if you're looking for creative, affordable Easter basket ideas beyond candy, we've got you covered! In fact, this year we're sharing 35 incredibly cool Easter basket ideas for...
One Cool Thing: A thoughtful gift under $10 for an avid reader, teacher, or a new grad
For years we've loved sharing personalized bookmarks, and today I'm so happy to have stumbled on a new maker, right in time for graduation, end-of-year teacher gifts, Mother's Day...any day, really. What's more, the price is incredible, especially if you have a lot...
Here are 3 eco-friendly plastic wrap alternatives we can recommend for more sustainable food storage
In an effort be more eco-friendly, we've all been using more plastic wrap alternatives. After all, being eco-friendly also means cutting back on food waste by wrapping up leftovers; and making the most of pre-made staples like pre-cooked pasta and rice or diced...
One Cool Thing: An allergy-friendly chocolate bunny
While we were putting together our Guide to Easter Gifts for Teens + Tweens, we came across this awesome Allergy-Friendly Chocolate Bunny from a longtime favorite of ours, No Whey! Foods. It's a long list of gift ideas, so I wanted to be sure it didn't get buried in...
One Cool Thing: Fiesta towels add a splash of color to your kitchen
Sometimes it's fun just sharing one cool thing I've found, and because I'm online basically all day, you know...looking for cool things, I'm excited to do more of this here. Today I stumbled on Fiesta Kitchen Towels and I couldn't wait to share them. For under $15 at...