5 ways parents can empower our younger kids and tweens to be more independent.
It can be hard to remember when we’re so busy with the minutiae of each day, but the ultimate goal of parenting is to raise responsible, independent adults. And, well, that starts before they actually hit the age of 18. The dance of educating our kids and then...
Kids and nutrition: Tips from pediatric expert Dr. Tanya Altmann | Spawned ep 125
This week on Spawned, we’re talking kids and nutrition. Which, TBH, is one of those issues that nearly universally stresses out parents of all kinds, with kids of all ages. Fortunately, we’ve got an expert to help us out: Dr. Tanya Altmann, who you may...
The simple difference between Latino and Hispanic, in one clever cartoon
There is so confusion about the difference between Latino and Hispanic, whether you can use the terms interchangeable, and whether they’re two different things. So with this week kicking off Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15), it seems like a good...
One brilliant, simple thing you can do right now to help end working mom guilt | Spawned ep 124
Working mom guilt is something every working mom has experienced in one way or another. And basically, it sucks. However, we’ve always heard that guilt is the most useless emotion — and now, consider us schooled. On this week’s episode of Spawned, we...
6 important reasons to talk to girls honestly about their bodies and sexual health. And no, you can’t say “vajayjay.”
When my oldest daughter was 17 months old, lying half-nekkid on the diaper change pad, she grabbed her genitals and said, BUTT! “No, honey,” I corrected. “That’s your…vagina.” Cough. Gulp. Eep. Deep breath in… Exhale. Phew. Why was it so hard? It made little...
5 top time-management techniques from the experts: Can they work for parents? | Spawned Ep 122
With a new school year here, on this episode of Spawned, we’re taking a close look at 5 popular time-management techniques from experts, to compare them, debate the merits, and describe how they can work best for parents. If you’ve been wrangling a...
How to discuss Dr. King’s I Have A Dream Speech – the whole speech – with your kids today, on its 55th anniversary.
Today is the 55th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which mean it’s also the anniversary of his incomparable I Have A Dream speech. We can’t think of a better way to honor the day than to share...
Our new hero: The police officer who breastfed a starving baby herself
I know I’m making the understatement of the year when I say that there’s been a lot of difficult news lately. Which is maybe why this viral photo of on-duty police officer Celeste Ayala breastfeeding a starving child at a hospital had me weeping into the...
How to be a Happier Parent without guilt or shame: KJ Dell’Antonia lays it out | Spawned ep 121
In case the book title How to Be a Happier Parent: Raising a Family, Having a Life, and Loving (Almost) Every Minute sounds like something that’s not for you…you’d be wrong. Because it’s written by the hilarious, down-to-earth, wonderfully...Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz!
We started Cool Mom Picks in 2006 to help make life cooler, easier, more organized, 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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