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Sugar Bugs Are Bad
A visit to the dentist can be filled with fear and wrought with drama (and we’re not talking about the…
Smiles Are Forever
There’s nothin’ sweeter than a healthy, toothy grin. We asked Dr. Montsérrat Bouvier, mom to 12-year old Sofia and 5-year…
Stylish Little Beans
You might have noticed a distinct lack of articles about the latest in kids’ fashions on SavvyMom over the years. What the Hollywood babies are wearing, bla bla bla…. We figure if we can ever justify spending $150 on a pair of the latest jeans, you can bet they’re going to be in our size, not size 2T.
Ketchup is Not a Vegetable
Ahh, summer…. The long days, the warm nights, the feel of sand underneath your bare feet—and the blood-curdling sound of…
Summer Smorgasbord
You’ve heard the eco-slogans: slow food, eat local, reduce your carbon footprint. We say choose to be healthy, wealthy and…
The Other Island
You know it’s time to find something new for your family to do when the kids are getting bored of…
Get Fresh
Okay, maybe we aren’t quite as committed to local eating as the now-infamous founders of the 100-Mile-Diet. Tell our kids…
Playing with Coffee
What everyone knows: kids need a place to play and moms need a place to drink coffee. What everyone doesn’t…
Playing Footsie
Summer feet. It’s a curse. Just when we want our tip-toes to look tip-top, our dry, cracked heels are more…
No Place Like Home
Been there. Done that. Check, check, check…yawn. Yes, it’s easy to develop a bad attitude about your home town. All…
Good Golly
Top three activities to avoid doing with your children in tow: Shopping Shopping Shopping Ok, so we know that it’s…
Equipment Renaissance
There’s definitely been the dawning of a new age when it comes to baby and toddler gear. Innovative designers have introduced better versions of the old primary-coloured plastic equipment parents need, and for that we’re ever thankful. With all this new gear, we’re thinking you might even want to change it up when Baby #2 or #3 comes along.
The Better High Chair
The gang at Boon have done it again with the Flair Chair, a revolutionary new highchair with some great new features. It’s got all the important safety features such as a five-point harness and a restraining post, but what we really love is the stylish pedestal stand and the effortless height adjustment (think barber chair—the pneumatic life mechanism makes it easy to adjust to any height, including under the table). The best part? The seamless seat—no cracks or crevices—makes clean-up easy. Because crevices are definitely menaces when it comes to drips, drops, and crumbs. Available from L’il Niblets and Baby Sprouts and Modern Baby Barn and other retailers across Canada ($319)
Hand It to You
Scrub a dub dubThree men in a tub
And who do you think they be?
We’ll tell you who they be—they be germs! And they are not just in the bathroom (where most people think they live). They are actually much more abundant than that, and particularly are all over the human hand. Adults and kids alike, we pick them up from other people we interact with, surfaces we touch, and animals we come in contact with. Yup, pretty much everywhere we go and everything we do, we are coming into contact with the nasty germs that need to be scrub a dub dubbed. As usual, we have a simple solution. Wash your hands with soap and water…and often. Here’s the 411.
Join the Circus
Want to put some fresh fun into your day? Take time off from visiting the park or the neighbourhood pool…
A Mean Green Clean
“Inside every problem is an opportunity”, mom used to say.
And of course she was right—even when it comes to making some environmentally-friendly choices around the house to reduce your family’s exposure to chemicals and just generally keep a watch out for Mother Earth. So here are a few opportunities we’ve recently capitalized on ourselves as we inch towards a darker shade of green for our homes:
Opportunity: Reduce exposure to potentially irritating laundry softening chemicals and save some money too.
Solution: Now that we’ve discovered that traditional laundry softeners work by leaving a thin layer of (flammable!) petro-chemical product on your clothes and linens, which reduces absorbency in things like towels and can off-gas things we can’t pronounce like toluene and trimethylbenzene, we’re a little obsessed with our Nellie’s™ Dryerballs. You just throw the two bumpy oval balls in the dryer with the wet laundry. As they tumble around, the balls lift and separate clothes to improve the air flow so things dry faster (Money Saver #1—up to 25% faster means less energy required) while the bumps relax the fibres of the fabrics, making them softer. Money Saver #2? A couple of boxes of your usual stuff costs more than the $25 or so a set of Dryerballs will set you back, and they last for years. Available online, at Roots Yoga Studio and at London Drugs.
Mad for Monkey Bars
You know you are truly in the thick of parenthood when your list of hot spots has shifted from your…
Park It Here
Summer isn’t as simple as it used to be. Instead of heading to the beach with a girlfriend and a…
Al Fresco: Not One of Daddy’s Friends
Next time the weather’s fine and you’re thinking of going out for pizza, consider taking a trip down to Westboro…
Drive-in Around
Summer lovin’ had me a bla–hastSummer lovin’ happened so fa–hast So maybe you’re not Sandy and Danny sitting in the…
Paper Adventures
Dear Reader:
Thanks so much for the great book ideas last week. We devoured a few of them over the long weekend, and we’re thinking about getting a Manny ourselves.
To show our appreciation, we did a little digging around to answer your question about good reads for kids. Even kids need a good escape in the summer so our picks are full of great imaginary stories and zany adventures that also celebrate and encourage a love of reading.