The latest from Spawned: Our award-winning parenting podcast
The latest from Spawned, our award-winning parenting podcast
Holiday craziness and stress: Let’s sloooooow things down a little, please? | Spawned ep 174
If you feel like the holiday season came sooner this year -- along with the holiday ads, the holiday sales, the Mariah Carey videos, and the holiday pressure, it's not in your head. There are lots of reasons we're feeling it more this year, and social media isn't...
11 new cookbooks parents should pick up now, from Suzy Chase of Cookery by the book
Cookbooks aren't just about recipes -- they open us up to new perspectives, new cultures, new ways of thinking about food. They can be funny, quirky or heartfelt., and they can even make our lives richer -- both at mealtime and beyond. Whether you're nodding along...
How can we prioritize what we love when we’re so damn busy? | Spawned Ep 172
Back in January, we spoke with Jake Knapp about making time for the things we love. In other words, prioritizing.(Way better word than "balance," don't you think?) Jake offered outstanding tips for making sure your days and weeks and years are spent on more of the...
More coolness from recent weeks…
What are the safety standards of the U.S.’s biggest baby brand? | Sponsored Message
Before we agreed to partner with Johnson's on this series, we did our own research about their growth and evolution in terms of ingredients, practice, and transparency. As parents ourselves, we are incredibly conscientious about the brands we work with and we felt...
These expert tips could help save you money on your next vacation | Spawned Ep 163
With summer travel season in full swing, it's the perfect time to hit the road, or, if you're working ahead, get your holiday travel all planned and booked. There are definitely tricks that can help you save money, from booking your flights on specific days, to...
The best Amazon Prime Day deals July 15 and 16: Just the good stuff
Yep, Amazon Prime Day is here. It's that day on Amazon that it either looks like someone emptied out your great-grandmother's junk drawer and put it for sale on the internet...or the day that thing you wanted/needed/discovered is on massive sale and you do the happy...
Kids and nutrition: The good, the bad, and what we can do better | Spawned Episode 162
As parents ourselves, we know how hard it can be to keep up with what we should be feeding our kids. That's why were so pleased to chat with our guest, nutritionist Nicole Turner Ravana, who has spent her career helping people understand nutrition and food better. On...
Our favorite space themed toys and kids’ gifts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing on July 20th, and our kids are so excited about it. Considering it's an event that happened way before they were born, I love their enthusiasm. In fact, my son just checked out a bunch of moon landing...
Illustrators see the beauty and meaning of Halle Bailey as Ariel and we’re here for it.
With the announcement of the inspired casting of Halle Bailey as Ariel in the upcoming Little Mermaid live action reboot, certain people in certain corners of the internet lost their GD minds. I alternated between bemusement and more uh, intense feelings, about those...
These 8 cool new kids’ activity books are screen-free boredom busters for every interest
We're already hearing, "I'm bored," from the kids this summer, which is where we turn to all the cool kids' activity books available. Having a stash around our house for them to choose from is one trick that's helped around our house; it usually gives them a good 30...
Paris with teens: 8 of our favorite off-the-beaten-path attractions and activities
Our family of four with two teenagers recently returned from a five-day trip to Paris. While we did hit most of the major attractions -- the Louvre, Notre Dame, Versailles, and of course the Eiffel Tower -- we also found some fun, less touristy places to visit with...
3 new books for kids that make you proud to be American
With July 4th coming, up, this is a time my family often discusses what it means to be American, how we can make the country better, safer, and more equitable for other Americans, and what we can do to help live up to our nation's promise of liberty and justice for...
Cool Mom Picks Book Club Selection 5: The New Childhood by Jordan Shapiro
We’re back with our fifth selection for the Cool Mom Picks Book Club with The New Childhood: Raising Kids to Thrive in a Connected World a book by Jordan Shapiro I've raved about for months over on Cool Mom Tech. It covers the topic of digital parenting unlike any...
Wait, moms are funny? A delightful conversation with Ophira Eisenberg | Spawned Episode 161
We've always said that if we weren't laughing about motherhood, we'd be crying. Hey, parenting is hard. And from what we learned from our chat with comedian and NPR Ask Me Another host Ophira Eisenberg, we're not alone. Have you ever wondered what it's like being on...
Can holding a potato help prevent car sickness?
Earlier this year, I read somewhere that holding a russet potato can help prevent car sickness. I had no idea how or why, but I thought it was worth a shot. Because if you have kids who get car sick, you know that you will try anything. Like...anything. On a long...
Aluminum in deodorant and antiperspirant: Health issue or internet rumor?
For a long time I had been hearing about a terrible link between aluminum and deodorant. We have even had writers through the years who have insisted on only using natural deodorants, which, cool. Because we believe in choices. But several years ago, I did my own...
Kindness Crate combines crafting and compassion for kids
This summer, I’m looking for fun new ways to engage my kids’ creativity, despite their best efforts to convince me that more Overwatch is the answer. So when I heard Kindness Crate subscription service, my interest was piqued from the name alone. Every other month,...
Loop delivers your favorite products to your door, while helping the environment in a revolutionary way | Sponsored Message
This is a sponsored message from Loop and Cascade Busy families like the convenience of having favorite household products delivered to their doors, but there can be a lot of packaging involved to keep deliveries arriving safe and intact. That's where Loop, in...
When your America stands for kindness, compassion, justice, inclusion and love.
If you're shopping for some flag-adorned July 4 wear for the kids, and the standard stars-and-stripes stuff in the big stores isn't jumping off the shelf at you, here's a totally different way to go, and I love it:: The América la Estupenda American Flag "love" kids...
7 crazy lawn sprinklers that will get your kids outside all summer long.
We have found some of the OMG, craziest, fun lawn sprinklers for kids this summer, because come on, don't you need more silly, crazy fun in your life? We know we do. With one initial investment (ranging from small to oof in the options we've found), your kids can play...
How to watch the US Women’s Soccer Team (beat France) in the Women’s World Cup quarterfinals?
Cheering for the US Women's Soccer team right now? Us too! But So where can you watch the 11:1:2 team face off against France this Friday and take (thinking positively!) the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinals? The game is airing live at 3 PM Eastern, or 12 PM...
Migrant children in crisis: Know these stories. Say their names. Please, don’t turn away.
Friends, I hardly know where to start. But I knew I couldn't write a single other thing today, until I addressed the crisis at the border and our government's abject cruelty toward babies and children. (Feel free to live with those words for a moment.) While I have...
The Evangeline Lilly interview that will convince you she’s one of the coolest moms | Spawned Ep 160
As it turns out, Evangeline Lilly is not just an Orc-defeating Tolkien elf, badass desert island survivor, or quantum realm-traveling Marvel superhero. She is also a super cool mom, and author of the darkly comic, wonderfully inventive new young reader series, the...
Cool Mom Picks Book Club Selection 4: How to be a Happier Parent, by KJ Dell’Antonia
We are so excited about the fourth selection in in our Cool Mom Picks Book Club because it's a topic every parent can use help with, no matter how old our kids. We're talking about how to be a happier parent! And the book that's going to guide us is, coincidentally,...