Beyond cantering: 4 life lessons my daughter has learned from horseback riding
As someone who didn’t grow up around animals, I’ve learned a lot raising kids who love them, especially my youngest who is an avid horseback rider. When she first asked to take riding lessons, I thought it might be a passing phase, especially considering she had tried...
Your tweens and teens will love this empowering book series
This is a sponsored message on behalf of Star Stable Entertainment What do you get when you combine magic, friendship, and horses? The answer is… Soul Riders, the popular trilogy from Star Stable Entertainment, the makers of the popular Star Stable Online that...
16 cool Easter gifts for teens that will make their second (ugh) Covid Easter a little more special
While our youngest kids may be content with a stuffed rabbit and a basket full of plastic eggs, I’m excited to spoil my three teens with some cool Easter gifts for teens that up the ante just a bit. After all, they’ve had one hell of a year trying to...
Fourteen talks to have before your child turns fourteen, with author Michelle Icard | Spawned Episode 229
As parents, we have a general idea of the conversations we need to have with our kids before they to the throes of teendom – like the sex talk, and the drugs and alcohol talk – for example. But there are actually a whole lot more conversations that we...
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...
How to encourage your kids’ interests and passions: 5 expert tips
We keep looking for the silver lining in the past Year That Was Like No Other, and as we talk to other parents, one thing comes up over and over: “my kid discovered they really love _____.” Whether it’s manga or chemistry, dystopian fiction or...
What Do You Meme? Custom Cards make family game night waaaaay more personal (and hilarious)
Here’s what I suggest for the weekend: Entice your teens out from their bedrooms for a hilarious family game night using your set of What Do You Meme? game cards. Only surprise them when they open the box, to find that you’ve booby trapped the deck with...
Here are the 2021 Caldecott, Newbery and all the ALA book award winners. Time to update your reading list!
Readers, get excited! The 2021 ALA youth media awards have been announced, and it’s time to update our reading lists! In case you’re not fully in the book-nerd world like me, that means our 2021 Caldecott, Newbery, Coretta Scott King awards and more have...
A free lesson plan about Amanda Gorman’s inauguration poem will make for some great dinner table conversation tonight.
My kids and I were glued to the TV last Wednesday, watching history take place on Inauguration Day. We were sobered by the national guard presence, excited about the achievements of our new VP Kamala Harris, and just so totally and completely relieved to see President...Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz!
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