7 outstanding high school or college graduate gift books: On stepping into the arena, dreaming with eyes wide open, and professional troublemaking (in the best possible way)
When my daughter graduated from high school five years ago, the headmaster gifted each graduating senior a book with a personal message inside. Her class received Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. The following year, my niece’s...
Manicures are not self-care: Why moms need to recenter ourselves in our own lives | Spawned Ep 237
This week on Spawned, I loved chatting with Nina Restieri. entrepreneur and MomAgenda founder, and author of the new book Overcoming the Mom-Life Crisis: Ditch the Guilt, Put Yourself on the To-Do List, and Create A Life You Love. The book is filled with terrific,...
Judith Warner on “that article” about adolescents getting through the pandemic | Spawned Ep 234
Last week, my entire social network (online and off) buzzed loudly about author Judith Warner’s New York Times article about adolescents and the pandemic, Stop Calling It a Lost Year. Parents had very strong opinions! Especially those who didn’t actually...
Why parents need a laugh right now (and a little something to help with that).
So, how about 2021, parents? It’s been a pretty rough year (which we know, understatement of the century), and well, let’s just say, we could use a laugh. We could also use a few other things too (cough hugging friends cough), but for now, a good hearty...
How to raise addiction-resistant children: Jessica Lahey | Spawned Ep 233
For years, Jessica Lahey has been one of our favorite parenting columnists and authors. So we were honored she joined us to offer her wise advice on talking with our kids about drug use, abuse, and addiction, all of which you can find in her essential new book, The...
Can you really be a feminist dad? Jordan Shapiro on fatherhood, masculinity, and gender roles in parenting. | Spawned 232
While we love all of our Spawned guests, there are some interviews that truly reshape our views on parenting. That’s just how we feel about this chat with global education expert Jordan Shapiro. He changed our views on kids and technology thanks to his...
“Just embrace the Janet Jackson rule” and other tips for supporting women in the workplace.| Spawned Episode 231
What is the “Janet Jackson rule” exactly? Let’s just say it could really help you succeed in your career (and has nothing to do with wardrobe malfunctions that were entirely the fault of a guy but that’s another story). If you’re a...
“Back in the Burbs” is self-care in the form of laughter
The world is a little overwhelming these days (understatement of the year, right?) and sometimes we just need to kick back, chill out, and as a wise songwriter once sang, forget about life for a while. Oh, and laugh. More laughing please! PLEASE. One way to do all of...
If you’ve ever said “this is not America” in response to racism, you need to read Caste.
If you’ve been paying attention for the past four years — and in particular the past week — there’s been a lot of dissection of phrases uttered by horrified, primarily white people in response to bigotry and racist violence. Phrases like This...
What we get wrong about kids and tech: The interview that blew our minds | Spawned ep 214
While we love all of our Spawned guests, there are some interviews that truly reshape our views on parenting. That’s just how we feel about this chat with global education expert Jordan Shapiro, author of the acclaimed international best-seller, The New...
4 funny novels for summer giving us the comic relief we desperately need right now
I don’t know about you, but I’m either needing to project my primal scream into Iceland or get a really good, belly-aching laugh in with a funny new summer novel. We’re in the final stretch of summer at my house before school starts (whatever that...Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz!
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).
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