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,...
Taking the stress out of the college application process | Spawned Ep 237
It’s kind of crazy to think we started this site writing about cool swaddles and baby carriers, and now we’re thinking about…college applications. (Insert sobbing emoji x 100000.) And yes, it’s stressful. So we turned to one of the most...
7 incredible aspects of The American Families Plan you may not have caught. It’s a big f*cking deal (to paraphrase a certain current president)
Watching President Biden describe some of the details of his American Families Plan this week — well, it’s made me emotional. It’s so much of what we’ve hoped for. And frankly, so much of what our own parents and even grandparents have hoped...
Rene Syler on speaking up and speaking out about racism and racial injustice | Spawned Ep 236
No sooner did we all feel the relief of the George Floyd verdict last week, that even more Black Americans were needlessly shot and killed by police officers. It’s upsetting, it’s infuriating, it’s terrifying. And we all need speak up and work toward...
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...
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...
3 powerful children’s books about grief, to help them process an unimaginable 12 months.
You know we often turn to books when we want to help our children through their struggles and feelings, and this month feels like the right time to share some excellent children’s books on grief and loss. When I think back over the last twelve months of...
Kate DiCamillo on why kids need superheroes right now | Spawned 228
It’s a bit of a statement say we fan-grilled a bit over this week’s guest on the Spawned Parenting Podcast, two-time Newbery award-winning author Kate DiCamillo. Surely you know her incredible children’s books like The Tale of Despereaux, Because of...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).
We still love what we do every single day. And we're so glad you're here.
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