Clever Parents just loves a good parentrepreneur story.

Last year, Clever Parents featured Monkey Toes and their adorable animal and insect themed footwear line by single mom of two, Jenny Chism. (See the review.)

When Oprah interviewed Tom Cruise in the now infamous Telluride visit, the first part of the program showed Oprah walking into his home, picking up a cute pair of mini-fashionista Suri’s ladybug mary janes and saying how adorable they are. As you can imagine, Monkey Toes jumped into the limelight and sales soared as people flocked to find Suri’s ladybug shoes on Oprah. Hooray for Jenny!

If you missed the show, you can see it tomorrow – December 12th (look here for local listings). Use code OSURI08 and receive $5 off your purchase. Happy shopping.

Q. My wonderful, energetic, 4-year-old boy has picked up some wonderfully expressive behaviors from his Transformers, Power Rangers, Iron Man and watching friends at school. His latest play involves pretend shooting and “booming” with his hands, with sound effects, dying people, pretend-cutting people and the lot. His preschool teacher tells me that it’s becoming more and more the play at his public preschool, which has zero tolerance for gunplay. It’s so very, very taxing and upsetting, and I don’t know what the “right” thing to do is. Read the rest »

What do you look for in a kid’s backpack?

How often when you pick out a backpack (or lunch box) for your child do you both like the same one?

If you’re like most, you’re lucky to find some combination of function and style – either a style you like or one your child does – and that’s about it.

Then, adding insult to injury, the bag ends up getting dragged around, straps flailing, and by the time the holidays hit that ‘back-to-school’ backpack is ready to be replaced. Read the rest »

Note: If the video does not appear below, click here to watch it on Disney’s site.

Right around Thanksgiving, while I was five states away from home, I learned a valuable lesson. I think it occurred somewhere in between the argument with my mom, the disbelief at seeing my 94-year-old grandmother with her new “Alzheimer’s” personality, and the fact that, though I was having a good time in general, underneath I was still kind of pissed that I had to spend Thanksgiving (again) without a husband because he’d recently left me. And who is now “dating,” I might add. Anyway, the point is, I was feeling sorry for myself and did not feel like there was much at all to be thankful about. Au contraire.

So…I’m standing in line at a bustling Panera Bread in New Jersey with my mom, my three children, and my 23-year-old sister. My sister is young, attractive and full of life, has just begun a promising career as a nurse at a busy northeastern hospital, and everything I wish I could be again. As we’re waiting our turn to order lunch, I realize the guy ahead of us, who is about my sister’s age, has no right leg from the knee down. What’s left of it is wrapped in bright white gauze. I don’t know that he’s military, but it’s my best guess. And though this is extremely upsetting and sad to me, because I live in North Carolina and see military personnel somewhat regularly, it’s not the shock it might be to someone else. Read the rest »

Before the packages are opened and your home is overwhelmed with new things, take this challenge to clear out the clutter now. A super simple system to let go and purge. Also, the three most important reasons to do this now…

Week #2:� PRE-CHRISTMAS PURGE

We are on our Holiday home stretch.� This week continue to work on your Christmas list, get your house decorated and mail out your holiday cards.� Your list hopefully is dwindling, but if it is not-� stop the madness if you are holding onto grand plans of finishing projects that will really stress you out in the weeks to come.� It is so not worth it!� Stop trying to impress others at Christmas!� Give from your heart and give what you can really afford…not what you want others to THINK you can afford.� If you are finished with your list, beware of the ever-present temptation to buy more. Read the rest »

Surely, for some women, being a Stay-at-Home mother is an entirely magnificent, totally blissful, always fulfilling, happily-ever-after dream come true.

I’m not one of those women—and that’s okay.

In my now seven-plus years as a Stay-at-Home mom, I know I’m not alone in having mixed feelings about having left the paid workforce to be the 24/7 hands-on parent to my children. From time to time, most all women doing the job (and Stay-at-Home motherhood is a job) struggle with the challenges of this kind of in-the-trenches motherhood.

Round-the-clock parenting often has as many downs as ups. The constant demands that come from being the sole adult charged with the care of little minds and bodies (and the surroundings in which they exist) involves a daily routine that many Stay-at-Home moms need both skill and fortitude to survive. As with any job, we have moments of feeling overwhelmed, overworked, unappreciated, and under-compensated. And all that’s before the 9 am start of the traditional workday. Read the rest »