Cool Mom Staff, Author at Cool Mom Picks

Raising smart problem solvers: 4 tips to help parents teach kids | Life Skills Series

In the first post of our Life Skills Series, we shared tips to help you raise critical thinkers. And next up, we’re talking about how to teach your kids problem-solving skills. As adults, we know how important they are in our everyday lives, but it’s hard...

Why we need play, levity, and romance, even in a pandemic | Spawned Episode 208

by Cool Mom Staff | Podcast

As we continue to navigate through this unchartered pandemic territory, it’s easy for us to think that this isn’t the time for play, levity, or romance. But as it turns out, those experiences are even more important now than ever, which is something we...

Raising critical thinkers: 6 expert tips for parents | Life Skills Series

by Cool Mom Staff | Tips + Tricks

If one thing has become abundantly clear over the past few years, our kids are growing up seeing all kinds of problems we face in the world, and they’re increasingly asking us what they can do, or how they can be part of the solution. That’s pretty...

How to be the fun mom, with thoughts from fun dad and Magic for Humans host Justin Willman | Spawned Episode 206

by Cool Mom Staff | Podcast

On our special Father’s Day edition of our Spawned podcast, we wanted to figure out how we can get a little more credit for being the fun parent from a dad who is peak fun. We’re talking about magician and dad Justin Willman, who’s also the creator...

8 reasons why every family should have a virtual pet

by Cool Mom Staff | Tech CMP-Style

It’s pretty amazing what you can do virtually these days, which has definitely made these last few months much easier for families. From online classrooms to card games, to lots of other fun things in between, there are no shortage of cool ways for kids to...

What we’re keeping and what we’re ditching, after the pandemic is over | Spawned Ep 203

by Cool Mom Staff | Podcast

This past week, Liz and I were chatting about some of the changes we’ve made since this pandemic started. We’re finding ourselves cooking more, taking more time for ourselves, and spending way less (waaaaay less) on Starbucks. So it got us thinking: what...

10 funny Father’s Day cards for the dad in your life. Hold the fart jokes.

by Cool Mom Staff | Father's Day Gifts

We’ve rounded-up some of the funniest Father’s Day cards for the dad in your life, no lawnmower, golf, or fart jokes to be found. We hope you find the perfect Father’s Day card for the partner, dad, father-in-law, or grandfather in your life. Cool...

KJ Dell’Antonia on how to be a happier parent in a pandemic. Is it even possible? | Spawned Ep 202

by Cool Mom Staff | Health, Fitness + Wellbeing, Podcast

This much is clear about parents right now: We’re stressed. We’re tired. We’re anxious. We’re sad. We’re coping in any way we can, all while taking care of our kids’ feelings too. So the big question is, is it selfish to want to...

A beautiful new children’s book, just in time for Father’s Day | Sponsored Message

by Cool Mom Staff | Books for Kids

This is a sponsored message forCandlewick Press With Father’s Day right around the corner, there’s nothing more special than the gift of time together, reading Hike, newest book written and illustrated by Pete Oswald, the New York Times bestselling...

6 tuition-free classes that help your teens learn online this summer — without you standing over their shoulders.

by Cool Mom Staff | Kids

Over the last few months, we’ve shared some informative posts to help the newbies among us succeed more with homeschooling — or more accurately, helping us to guide our kids through the at-home learning they’re getting from their schools. So much has...

Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz!

Kristen Chase + Liz Gumbinner of Cool Mom Picks

We started Cool Mom Picks in 2006 to help make life cooler, more meaningful, and more fun for parents of all kinds.

Trivia: It was called Cool Mom Sh*t for the first two days. (Yeah, we rethought that.)

We had no idea our site would grow to become a major lifestyle network, that we'd end up sharing our finds with the TODAY Show and Martha Stewart, that we'd be able to make a real difference for so many small businesses and women-run companies, or that we'd end up with an incredible community of the coolest readers on the planet. (If we do say so ourselves).