columns Archives | Cool Mom Picks

If you’ve ever said “this is not America” in response to racism, you need to read Caste.

by Liz Gumbinner | Books for Adults, Thinking : Parent

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...

BURN IT ALL: My New Year’s tradition helps me manifest good things for next year. (And get rid of a little petty. Okay, a lot.)

by Ibidunni Ojikutu | Thinking : Parent, Tips + Tricks

When Ibi shared her New Year’s Eve tradition with me, I was like…this is genius. How have I never done this? I need to do this! Whatever I can do to be out with the old and focusing on better things in the year to come sounds good to me. I’m sure...

We love these election reactions from some of our favorite moms: History is happening.

by Liz Gumbinner | Doing Good, Thinking : Parent

This morning, as we wake up on our first Monday with President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris heading to the White House, I’m passing the mic. Although yes, of course, we had some things to say as well. I’m sharing just a few of the...

What you can and CAN’T wear to the polls: Don’t get turned away on Election Day!

by Kate Etue | Tips + Tricks

I’m in several politically-minded Facebook groups, and lately, the women there have been asking what everyone is planning to wear to the polls this year so we can identify each other. Some said they’ll be in all blue, others will be wearing their RBG...

A study about the ignorance of teens + young adults around the Holocaust + anti-Semitism is disturbing. Here’s what we can do as parents.

by Liz Gumbinner | Books for Kids, Doing Good, Kids, Thinking : Parent

This morning I woke up to the study that’s making the rounds on Twitter: Nearly 2/3 of US young adults are unaware that 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust — some get the numbers wrong, some didn’t know at all. Dig deeper into the survey results...

10 arguments to help you convince your friends and neighbors to wear a damn mask in public already.

by Liz Gumbinner | Health, Fitness + Wellbeing, Thinking : Parent, Tips + Tricks

I just read that nearly 30% of Americans sometimes, rarely, or never wear a mask in public and it makes me want to bang my head on something. Nothing too hard though, because our hospitals have been through enough and don’t need the likes of a self-inflicted...

I’m a lifelong Tennessee white woman. And we have to talk about the Confederate flag and other symbols of hate.

by Kate Etue | Doing Good, Thinking : Parent

Let’s talk about the Confederate Flag, y’all. It’s time. As I write these thoughts, I’m sitting at the exact location where Confederate soldiers met the “Federal Front Line” of the Union Army during the Battle of Franklin in the...

5 deschooling tips for new homeschooling parents, and how it will keep you from feeling like a total failure.

by Christina Refford | Tips + Tricks

I know a lot of parents have jumped right into homeschooling their kids (or, schooling-from-home might be more accurate) so that they won’t get too far behind in their studies. But with news that Virginia has canceled school for the rest of the academic year due...

A homeschool mom’s tips on homeschooling your kids during school closures. You can do this!

by Kate Etue | Thinking : Parent, Tips + Tricks

So, school’s been cancelled for the indefinite future and you’re about to become a homeschooling parent, maybe for the first time. Now that you’re stuck at home with the kids for the next two, four…ten weeks, what in the world are you going to...

The shirt you need for every girl you know

by Liz Gumbinner | Doing Good, Kid Fashion, Thinking : Parent

When my friend Dara sent me the link to the Electable kids’ shirts, dresses and baby rompers at our friends from Free to Be Kids, I was like YES YES YES. Seconds later, I was holding back tears. The fact that we even need to remind people that yes, women are...

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).