Big Kids

Recently our family traveled cross-country for a wedding in a big city. As all of you know, the planning of travel and logistics with kids is never fun. We were staying downtown and would not have a rental car....

Truth: If you serve more than two meals a day in a vehicle, you are a road warrior. If you have, at any given time, ice packs in coolers filled with snacks & dinner, you are a road warrior....

There is no greater desire of any parent than to make sure that our children are given every opportunity to remain healthy. We have all been to the 24-hour pharmacy in the dead of night to pick up a...

My kids love to do things “all by themselves” and this includes putting their DVD movies in and out of the player. Thus it is no surprise to anyone that we have quite a few movies with scratches, some...

Christ Church School is a private preschool and elementary school (16 months through 4th Grade) located in Paradise Valley that focuses on a personalized style of instruction. What is personalized instruction? Personalized instruction is paced and tailored appropriately to the learning...

If you grew up rooting on Horton the Elephant for the sake of his precious Who's, while reviling the dreadful Wickersham Brothers and that mouthy Kangaroo mom/babe combo -- you'll so appreciate this storyline.

We here at Scottsdale Mom's Blog are very excited to  introduce you all to our newest contributor Jenny Castle!  We know you all will love getting to know her just as much as we have! (Read more about Jenny in...

Parents of teens: Raise your hands if you can’t wait for the seemingly endless days of kids sleeping until noon, daily requests for money, hours of video games, wet beach towels on the floor of every room, and the...

With all those great "First Day of School Photos" floating around Facebook and Instagram, and all those new moms learning the drop-off morning routine, we felt like it was time to dust off this fabloulous post from the archives....

Living in Arizona means we have countless back-to-school options available to every family! Families can choose from microschools, traditional, homeschool, charter, private, and parochial schools. It is wonderful to have so many choices available to our children, but it...

With a background in teaching and a family full of lifelong learners, it’s no surprise that school choice was something I took very seriously. I waited outside a preschool before the sun had risen to secure a spot. Later,...

We’ve all been there. Driving in our air-conditioned cars, coming from or going to our air-conditioned homes, and we see someone on a street corner, holding a sign asking for help. One part of me is cautious, being a female...

Praise action over natural gifts to optimize performance!  By all means, continue to compliment your child’s talents and intellect to help them form a strong foundation, but in addition, over-emphasize praise of their efforts and actions. They’ll be far...

We here at SMB are excited to introduce to you the newest addition to our team: Sara Frederick! You can learn more about our amazingly talented new contributor on our "Meet the Contributors"  page or at her personal blog,  Mind Body...

Editor's Note: Happy Friday! All week long we're talking about screens - from TV shows to tablets for kids and grownups of all ages. Love 'em or hate 'em, screens and screen time are a hot topic in parenting...

For many families, homeschooling is becoming an option on the table of discussion when it comes to educating our children.  Even though there are more families considering homeschooling, there are doubts and fears surrounding what may feel like a...

 My eldest daughter came down with a stomach bug-- YES- that awful thing! One minute she was bubbling with energy, running after a ball at her soccer game.  Just a few hours later she was back in bed, looking pale. Then it...

Meet our newest contributor: Monika Patel!  As the mother of two elementary age daughters, Monika is busy with school, parties, soccer, running the business side of SMB, and of course, birthdays.... which sometimes are a little hard on mom...

Previously, in Packing Healthy School Lunches {Part 1}: Ideas & Time Saving Tips, we talked about what to pack in a school lunch as well as some time saving tricks to make your life a little easier. Since we're...

The one thing I look forward to each year as summer break approaches is having an abundance of time. During the school year, we are so constrained by our over-scheduled world. Out of the house by 7 a.m., errands,...

Summer break in Scottsdale is upon us and the extremely high temperatures can make for some of the LONGEST days with little ones. Sure, there are amazing local indoor attractions offered in Scottsdale, but outings are not something I'm...

We hope you are able to start your day as we are, with a moment's pause and reflection, remembering where we were eleven years ago. Wishing you a day filled with peace as you remember the past and look...

Moms can use all the tips and tricks on how to make to make prepping for snacks and school lunches. I am sharing my tried and true tricks for snacks & school lunches made easy-peasy-lemon-squeasy! I will absolutely admit that...

      Cut their own food:  Your child should be able to use a knife that can actually cut a chicken breast into bite size pieces and learn and use proper table manner. Who knows when your son might be invited for...

Kiddos are freaking out? Facilitate 10 ways of finding calm. Explore below to help them learn or improve on how to smooth things over within themselves. Whether your kiddo just “needs to calm down”, could stand to develop more...

   Target  I’m dangerous alone in this store. Add two pint-sized beings that seem to gain control of the cart and steer to either sparkly tank tops or lego aisles and it spells even more trouble. Make no mistake,  this...

How to do Arizona Halloween Fun with older kids! After spending years going to pumpkin patches and other fun Halloween events all around the Valley, my kids have just outgrown the little kid activities. But they are not old enough...

As someone who grew up in Ohio, I have had share of my rainy days. Though a monsoon may cause more chaos for the valley, the rain still puts a smile on my face. I love the smell of...

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine tackling online learning with a first grader. When things started closing down due to COVID-19, I knew organization and routine would be key for our busy daughter. We filled our day...

Celebrating our teachers is important for kids and their families. May 4 -8 is the week when children have the opportunity to show how much they love their teacher.  How do we do that? For teacher appreciation week, why not decorate your...