Our Featured Blog is Clare’s Dad, written by Darren who is, as you probably guessed, Clever Parent that you are, Clare’s Dad. Clearly a clever fellow, Darren has an MFA in from Columbia as well as a law degree and has worked in theatre management as well as law. Currently he’s a stay at home dad to Clare, his 5-year-old daughter.

Not having a daughter, I like Darren’s blog because it’s a great window into the father/daughter relationship. At 5 Clare evidently has quite the eye for style—specifying her haircut and putting together outfits—to the obvious amazement of her dad who confesses that, “Clare is hipper than I am.” Then there is the post where Darren and his wife realize they might have to sell their house because Bigfoot inhabits it. (more…)

Tragically hip and painfully cool. No, it’s not a documentary about a fast living young rocker who dies before his time, it’s the tagline for a new online children’s clothing store, Rock’n Sprouts.

Like other Clever Parents that we’ve featured, Tonya Bowers took a passion and made it into a business that lets her stay home with her kids. Rock’n Sprouts sells designer clothing for boys and girls online. Though Rock’n Sprouts has only been opened a short time, you can rest assured, before an item is put up for sale, it must pass the ‘Tragically hip and painfully cool’ (THPC) test. (more…)

In typically modest fashion, our featured blogger, Matthew Baldwin describes himself as a pretty okay guy. Matthew writes the Defective Yeti blog about his experiences as a dad to Squiggle-the online pseudonym for his 3 year old son. 18 months ago Squiggle, who was formerly refereed to as Squirrelly, was diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the Defective Yeti makes for a great resource and inspiration for other parents with ASD children. Or for that matter any parent. Matthew manages to write posts that are hilarious and poignant—recent ones have dealt with Captain America, a romantic weekend with the Queen, aka Mrs. Defective Yeti, and the rationale for changing pseudonyms to Squiggle from Squirrelly. (more…)

Trips and excursions with the kids can be a ton of fun and the basis for great family memories. They are also potentially stressful times for mom and dad. Nobody wants to be the parents of the kid who screams the whole flight or throws food at the restaurant; you also don’t want to waste your time with a vacation or day trip to someplace that isn’t going to be fun the whole family. While we can’t help with the in-flight tantrum or food fight, we can suggest a great website for making sure your excursions are kid friendly. (more…)

Yep, you read that right, a train destroyed our master bedroom. Although, not in the “CNN is outside filming the wreckage now”, kind of a way. The offending train wasn’t from Amtrak, it was from Thomas and it didn’t derail, it flushed. Or almost flushed. Which is exactly the problem.

For those of you reading at home, one toilet, two little boys, a Thomas the Train wooden train figure and a bunch of toilet paper equal disaster. You see, Thomas the Train wooden train figures don’t flush down the toilet well. And once they’re jammed, adding a roll of toilet paper and repeatedly flushing makes things worse, not better. (see picture of what’s left of our ceiling - above right) (more…)

Sometimes a thing is remarkable more for what it isn’t than what it is; for it’s simplicity rather than it’s sophistication. Such is the case with GarageCo Toys Yo Baby practice board. The Yo Baby is a small plastic skateboard deck without wheels or trucks (axles for those not versed in skate lingo) that is designed to let little kids pretend they are skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, etc. While pretending on the Yo-Baby, they’re picking up balance and coordination skills. (more…)

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that music is a great stimulant for little minds and, unlike other things that are good for kids (brocolli anyone?), music is something that kids love. The problem, as any adult who has The Wheels on the Bus stuck in their head will attest, is that ‘children’s’ music is rarely tolerable except in very small doses. And most adult oriented music is either unpalatable or inappropriate to little ears. (Though our almost two year old is a fan of the White Stripes.) What a dilemma.

How fortunate then that Belinda Takahashi became a parent and encountered the same quandry. Unlike the rest of us who can only lament and suffer through Old MacDonald, Belinda is an award winning composer and educator. So when her baby was born, Belinda went to work creating a series of classical music pieces specifically for children. Then she had the music recorded by actual orchestra musicians–a refreshing break from the electronically produced sounds of most children’s music. (more…)