Research Confirms the “Parenting Happiness Gap”

There has been debate over which group of people are happier: parents, or people who do not have children. In general, this argument relies on individual people’s perceptions based on their own experiences. Research has confirmed that the “parenting happiness gap” exists. The correlating factors that make parents less happy than non-parents has a lot to do with where the parents live. The “parenting happiness gap” is a phrase that sums up a reality that may surprise some people. No matter what country you live in, or what stage of life you may be at, people who do not have … Continue reading

Tips for Salvaging a Rough Morning

Not every day starts out bright and filled with sunshine. There are going to be some days when kids wake up “on the wrong side of the bed” and are grumpy. Fortunately, there are some things that parents can do to salvage a rough morning – and prevent it from spoiling the rest of the day. Rachel Macy Stafford wrote a piece for Huffington Post Parents called “10 Ways to Salvage a Bad Morning Before Parting Ways”. In it, she has listed 10 ways that a parent can influence a grumpy child to change his or her mood and have … Continue reading

Real Food Matters

How well does your family eat? Sometimes, it can seem like the easiest solution to dinner is the best choice, especially when busy families are balancing after-school activities, homework, and everything else. Fast food is quick, but generally not the healthiest way to go. Instead, families should change their lifestyle to include real food. Don’t worry if you feel that learning about real food, how to cook it, and where to buy it, seems overwhelming. There is a fantastic website that can teach you everything you need to know. BantingWarehouse understands that real food matters. They provide information for people … Continue reading

Kids Today Aren’t Assigned Chores

Do you require your children to do chores? I don’t mean the occasional request to help with a little bit of cleaning. Instead, I mean regularly assigned tasks that you expect your child to complete on a daily or weekly basis. It appears that the majority of parents today are not assigning chores to their children. A survey conducted by Whirlpool found that 82% of Americans did chores when they were children. That same survey found that only 28% of parents today are assigning their children chores. What changed between today and when the current generation of parents were kids? … Continue reading

Dads are Important, Too!

A few months ago, a book was released that emphasized the important role that dads have. It is possible that the book may have influenced some parents to take a moment and think about the importance of dads and whether society might need to update its idea of what dads can do. Let me begin by clearly stating that I think that both dads and moms are very important to their children. Each can have a very strong influence. Whether that influence is positive or negative depends largely on the individual choices each parent makes. A book called Do Fathers … Continue reading

Banning Chocolate Milk Doesn’t Improve Nutrition

Parents who had children in several schools in Oregon noticed what they viewed as a problem. The kids were much more likely to drink chocolate milk than they were to drink white milk. The parents believed that banning the chocolate milk would force the kids to start drinking more white milk. Instead, things did not work out as planned. It is safe to say that the parents in the school district’s PTA meant well. They were hoping to make changes that would provide better nutrition for the students. They believed that removing the chocolate milk, and only offering white milk, … Continue reading

Most Important Early Pregnancy Advice

Many people might start off their first pregnancy blog with a story: why they decided to have a baby (or not), the story of how they became pregnant, their early thoughts on pregnancy and childbirth.  I might get to all of that, or I might not.  But today I want to share one of the most important things I learned in my first month of pregnancy: do not go off any medication without talking to your doctor first. This might seem silly or obvious, but I cannot stress how important it is.  My whole first trimester might have taken a … Continue reading

How to Live on One Income

Is your goal to live on one income so you or your spouse can be a stay-at-home parent, pursue schooling, keep house, or another establish another endeavor? Take the following steps to make sure that you are well prepared for your lifestyle change. Get a New Attitude If you are currently living on two incomes, you may need to make some changes, both drastic and non-drastic in order to make the one income work for your family. Embrace money-saving ideas, such as shopping at yard sales or thrift stores, cooking at home, and bargain hunting. Look at these practices as … Continue reading

Never-Ending Advice

Remember when your kids were babies and everyone around you felt the need to give you parenting advice—even when you didn’t ask for it? Well, the unsolicited guidance doesn’t stop as your children get older. Case in point:  The other day my daughter and I were getting a bite to eat at a local family restaurant.  We frequent the eatery on a monthly basis because she loves the rotisserie chicken.  And by love I mean she’s so obsessed she will not order any other entrée.  Given her near religious devotion to the seasoned bird, I didn’t even bother to ask … Continue reading

The Measure of Success

I was talking to a dear friend of mine late last night. We both were expressing our frustration with the men, or lack thereof, in our lives. We both have had such a strong desire to find a good man to share our lives with and have tried our best to live worthy of such a man; a man who would love and support us, who would be a good father and husband. I realized before long that we had both equated our success in life to whether or not we would ever marry. We both had such an intense … Continue reading