This week did not go as planned. No matter how well I fill out our family’s weekly planner, mentally prepare for the easy meals we will need for busy nights and make my to-do lists, no preparation can compete with the stomach flu. And I had big plans. Between writing assignments when my 2-year-old was napping, I was determined to make my way around my son’s bedroom this week, slowly but surely, with a can of gray-blue paint. We also had contractors coming over to bid on projects and play dates scheduled for nearly every morning. All that changed on Tuesday at 3:30 a.m. My 5-year-old ran in my…

The image most parents have when they worry about their kids using drugs usually involves something dark and sinister, like a back-alley exchange or kids hovering in a corner at a party. The reality might be something much different. Prescription painkillers are a popular choice for misuse among youth because they are so readily available at home. Even if a kid’s own parents don’t have painkillers in their own medicine cabinets, it’s easy to find a friend or a grandparent who stocks them. What parents want to know, however, is how to keep their kids from getting into the medicine cabinet or …

I make frequent visits to the Hill. I pretend it’s to visit my sister-in-law and her three adorable kids, but I also find myself craving the food on a regular basis. There’s been many a time where we’ve walked to a nearby deli or pizza place and we can always find a new place to try. They even have a great little hot dog stand nearby.  So far, Eovaldi’s Deli is my favorite and I just can’t get enough of their sandwiches. Though my sister-in-law would never admit it, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want me drooling on her doorstep every day. But I envy all those great little restaurants where the …

Many people believe that a potty-trained child is the early parenting promised land. Parents get very stressed about whether their child is potty-trained at age 3, and those who happen to have a child who is using the toilet early are hailed as wise sages, with devotees lapping up their advice about how they did it. I’m in the minority camp on this one. While a truly potty-trained kid is a great thing, a lot of what people call potty-trained is, in reality, a kid that wets himself in public on random occasions. Not my thing. I prefer the control that diapers bring to my life. I hate the potty…

I call myself a homebody. My husband laughs at me because I refer to myself that way often, yet am always jumping to fire up the mommy mobile the second I think of a fun place to go. Family outings are my weakness. I can even go to the same St. Louis attraction twice in one week, and once at Gus’s Pretzels, the lady behind the counter said to me, “We see your crew in here a lot!” Over time, I’ve realized that I'm more of an anti-scheduler. I’m pretty sure this is a product of being on the young end of six children. Though I wasn’t an over-scheduled kid, I was an over-dragged kid. Even if …

Local elections often bring up discussions of needs versus wants for the community. Explaining to our children the difference between a want and a need is a daily event in some households. Teaching my son that he doesn’t need to play video games is a relatively easy one. Explaining to him why we, as a family, need a vacation, but that the need turns into a want when we discuss Disneyland, is a little trickier. Sometimes, needs and wants come together blissfully, like when my 2-year-old begs for strawberries or edamame. I congratulate myself for being such a good mom quickly, before I have a …

When I was expecting my first daughter, I remember sitting at the counter at my mother’s house, listening to my sisters and sisters-in-law do what we always do: eat junk food and talk about how bad it is for us. We compare recipes and talk about how yummy the appetizers are, but laced in the conversations are references to fat grams, calories and Weight Watchers points. This conversation invariably leads to the all-time favorite topic of any group of women, related or not. It’s the “what I’m doing right now to lose weight.” Some shrug and laugh about how they’ve just plain given up, while …

After voters decided to pass on Proposition C—the school district’s 88-cent tax hike— in November, things felt pretty gloomy around here. At our house, we discussed the campaign and filled out the surveys that asked our opinions about it. While we had a few reservations about one small aspect of the proposition, we knew it was great for not only the kids, but the whole community to propel the district forward. We were disappointed when it didn’t pass. But now it’s time to shake the dust off our feet and leave the negativity behind. There are great things going on in the Mehlville School …

There are some things that technology cannot duplicate. No matter how enthusiastically you type “LOL,” it just isn’t the same as sitting with a friend and cracking up together. You might see bad news on Facebook and type “hugs to you,” but a hug isn’t a hug without the squeeze. Take a thank-you note, for example. Last week, I had the fun of treating a friend to dinner. We had a great time together, and the next day she wrote me a sweet email about how much she enjoyed our conversation and our friendship. But while I liked getting her email, it was the words written in ink that arrived a few …

I have no idea if I’m a helicopter parent. Like other flaws, and especially parenting mistakes, helicopter parenting is hard to detect in yourself and easy to see in others. There’s no concern that I’ll end up financially supporting my grown children (too cheap) or that I do too much for my kids (too lazy), but I am sometimes overprotective of my kids, which always seems completely reasonable at the time. All of us crazy parents seem reasonable to ourselves. As technology moves us along, however, the ability to hover is more tempting than ever. When the current generation of parents was in …

Preschool is a time of finger-painting, learning to share and learning letters and numbers. What sounds like an innocent, sweet time for children is often a difficult decision for parents. When we shopped around for a preschool, the options were plentiful and my head spun with the major differences between the schools. To help other parents choose a preschool they and their children will like, I talked with the director of St. Luke’s Preschool and the director of Faith Lutheran Preschool, both located on Telegraph Road. The directors gave me their tips for selecting a preschool. Why Preschool…

Recently, a Huffington Post article discussed the opinions of Jeannette Cox, a University of Dayton law professor who specializes in disability law. Cox believes that pregnant women need additional protection than what is currently maintained by law, ensuring that any physical limitations experienced during pregnancy will not threaten employment security. While Cox’s proposed policy may help pregnant women feel emboldened to share their news with their bosses, the idea of pregnancy as a disability is igniting conversation about whether protection should extend beyond pregnancy. Some parents, …

One of my kids’ favorite outings is a visit to the Magic House in Kirkwood. Especially with the major addition that was finished a couple of years ago, we can never get tired of the hands-on fun. This year, the Magic House will draw many Jack and Annie fans for their Magic Tree House exhibit. Located in the Once Upon a Time gallery, the presentation features scenes from the popular books about time travel by author Mary Pope Osborne. We were excited to visit the exhibit because my son has enjoyed several Magic Tree House books, but it was immediately clear that having read the books was not a…

I’m a stay-at-home mom, and my husband and I are really trying to stick to some financial disciplines, despite some minor aggravations like waiting in line for our one bathroom. While we are pretty frugal, there are a few little splurges that I work into our budget, because they make a big difference in a mom’s quality of life. Date night: We recently spent an evening at Cusanelli’s on Lemay Ferry Road just before our new daughter was born, enjoying steak and pasta. It was a splurge, but we had free babysitting just two blocks away from our house. One of our favorite spots is Frankie G’s on …

The campaign began today. The campaign, that is, to convince my 5-year-old to stay home with me instead of going to kindergarten next year. She wouldn’t cave. Judging from the stack of paperwork required to register her, though, I’m not convinced that Bierbaum really wants her.  I picked up the packet of forms required for kindergarten registration last week because registration starts today and goes through Friday. Forms can be picked up from your elementary school office and then parents can make an appointment to turn in the forms this week. The requirements for registration are not really…

As more and more moms are following the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendations for feeding their babies, there is frequent debate about the proper way to breastfeed in public. Recently, NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne tweeted his disgust at encountering a breastfeeding mother at a grocery store: “I don't feel like shopping anymore or eating.” The comment reignited the discussion about where and how to appropriately feed a baby. I have followed the AAP’s recommendations, nursing each of my children for about 15 months. With a fourth baby’s arrival in December, feeding in public is once …

One of the greatest challenges facing modern parents is navigating the tension between providing for our children in a way parents of previous generations couldn’t, and yet helping them avoid an attitude of entitlement. Simply put, none of us want to raise brats. I was wandering the aisles of the Tesson Ferry branch of the St. Louis County Library when I saw a book displayed in the new books section. The Entitlement Trap by Richard and Linda Eyre is the latest from the same couple that wrote the now-classic parenting book Teaching Your Children Values. The book looked promising, and I hoped …

By the time we welcomed our fourth child in December, we knew a lot of what to expect about the first few days of settling in. For instance, any discomfort or sleeplessness has been put in perspective by an awareness of how fast those precious days fly by. On the other hand, we also know just how many diapers to expect to change and how very tired we will be until the baby is on a schedule. This week we brought home our new daughter, a dark-haired beauty that arrived quietly on a Wednesday afternoon. She is our third girl in a row, and in many ways we think we know what will come in the next …

Every year, the holidays get crazy and blow by in a flash. Many of us find ourselves staring at the January on the calendar in disbelief, wondering what in the world just happened. We’ve been rushing through the last six weeks of the year, every year, and then when we hit the drudgery of January, it feels as if we might have overdone it. This year, with a baby due at the end of December, it was particularly important to me that we take some time to really slow down and enjoy the season. I have been tempted for several years to take a trip to the YMCA Trout Lodge for their family holiday …

My husband and I are very thankful to have grown up in St. Louis and still have nearly all of our siblings close by. We love the fun of being involved with our families, along with great benefits like having so many babysitters in town. One aspect of living with both sides of the family in town gets a little tricky, though, especially at this time of year. It is hard to make sure that we are spending ample time with each side of the family while still preserving some precious hours for making memories in our own home, with just our little family. Thankfully, my parents came up with a …