Level: Moderately easy Time involved: Two to three hours Materials: Basket Fine-grain sandpaper Dry sponge Purple and white craft paints Foam plate Paintbrushes Disposable cup Easter stencils Masking tape Stencil paint Stencil brush Pink and purple crepe paper (optional) Crimper (optional)

Something important happens when children receive and write love notes and letters. They realize that the printed word has a purpose. What you need Paper Pencil, crayons, markers What to do Send your child little notes (by putting them in a pocket or lunch box, for example). You can include pictures and symbols, such as a heart or smiley-face. When your child shows you the note, read it out loud with expression....

J: Same here. Remember when you’d have to listen to like morning FM radio to find out if your school was closed? And put up with lots of boring ads for mattress stores and traffic reports and Belinda Carlisle songs to find out if you had school or not? Robotexts are so much more efficient. K: Heck yeah. Hey, um, I have too much work to do today for the kids to not be in school....

While for some kids that actually means that they are learning computer languages, creating websites, and even building robots, most others are simply using today’s technology to watch videos on YouTube, play MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games), or send text messages. Unfortunately, many of the things your kids can do online and with their cell phones can lead to a lot of trouble if they aren’t monitored. From watching porn and other inappropriate video and websites to sexting (sending inappropriate text messages or photographs) and chatting with predators, new technology can lead to new problems....

However, if you’re planning a formal dinner, do make a special effort. On these occasions attention to detail and doing things right are important. When you are entertaining more than eight guests for dinner, use place cards even if you have a seating chart. Place cards are either folded tents or single cards meant to lie flat on the table. The tent-style cards have the advantage of standing up on the table so that you can write the name on both sides....

Tree seedling Plant a tree in your yard, watch it grow and change, sit by it and talk about your problems, nurture and love it! Here’s how you do it.

5 to 10 minutes Materials Two chairs Directions Extensions Let your toddler drive and pick where you will go.Use a plate (preferably plastic or paper for lightness) for a steering wheel.Add a chair behind and throw toys and other belongings in the back seat.Put chairs in a line so you can drive a train.

Postpartum depression is common—as many as 1 in 9 new moms experience it—and while some people are more vulnerable to getting it, there is no one single thing that causes it. Not only that, but many of the causes and risk factors are not something you could have caused yourself. All that said, it can be illuminating to understand what causes postpartum depression, what the risk factors are—and maybe most importantly, what steps you may be able to take to prevent it in future pregnancies....

Descent into Rage and Weeping After the birth, things really started to change. I would get bursts of energy and then I would crash into pitiful helplessness, barely able to crawl out of bed. I was so frustrated with my husband for not understanding that something radical was happening to me that I would throw our lawn furniture around. I’m from a fiery Mediterranean background, so it was not totally out of the question for me to throw things out of frustration....

Fun Fact: Parents in the U.S. potty train their children later than many others across the globe. Parents in China, for example,start training as early as a few days old. They dress them in pants that are open at the bottom and hiss or whistle when babiesrelieve themselves. Babies eventually pair the sound with the act and begin to go on command. So why are Americans so late to train, often starting between two and three years old?...

In fact, many parents go on to expect a baby after an early miscarriage. Here’s what you need to know about conceiving again. Chances of Conceiving After a miscarriage, it’s very possible to become pregnant, have a full-term pregnancy, and deliver a healthy baby. Most people will have a successful pregnancy the next time they conceive after their first miscarriage. If you’ve miscarried two or three times, your odds are lower, but still good....

Follow this checklist, and you’ll be prepared to welcome twins to your family. Since many twins and nearly all triplets and higher-order multiples are born early, you’ll want to schedule a class earlier in your pregnancy than if you were having a singleton baby. There are several things to consider before choosing a double stroller, including stroller style (side-by-side, tandem or jogger-style). Finding the best stroller also depends on how you will use it (indoors or outdoors) and whether you will use it with infant or toddler twins....

Before we can understand the role of probiotics in the body and decide whether we should give probiotic supplements to our kids, we need to take a step back and look at how the gastrointestinal (GI) system works and the ways gut health is affected by bacteria. Bacteria and Your Gut The human GI tract is inhabited by trillions of bacteria. In fact, our bodies contain more bacterial cells than human cells!...