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New MPMK Instagram Account!

April 8 by Steph (MPMK Founder)

Modern Parents Messy Kids Instagram - Funny parenting quotes, Mom hacks, and just a little inspiration to get you through!

Ok, so the Modern Parents Messy Kids instagram account isn't technically new but - to be honest - my passion for it is! I initially set up the account a couple of years ago and then just kind of let it sit there, updating whenever I remembered (which wasn't often). But not anymore. I've totally gotten into the art of instagram over the last month and I'm having so much fun over there! I love it because it's a platform that allows me to share a lot of the little things I think will really … [Read more...]

Filed Under: The grown ups (that's you!) Tagged With: Modern Parents Messy Kids instagram, MPMK instagram

Raising Kids in a Digital World: 8 Books to Help Modern Parents

April 6 by Janssen

Raising kids in a digital world- SO many great resources for when you child should get a phone, keeping kids safe online, and how your kids are affected by YOUR phone! Love them all!

Parenting in the digital world is something that has been on my mind SO much lately. I've been wondering about everything from the best apps to keep my kids safe online and what kind of screen time limits to enforce, to how my own phone use affects my kids. That last one is a doozy and has been especially worrying me lately as my job is online so I'm definitely on my phone more than I'd like... In fact, after I read this list from our in-house children's librarian, Janssen, I raced to get the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Parenting, The Book Nook Tagged With: keeping kids safe online, kids and phones, kids and screens, raising kids in a digital world, when should my child get a phone

Parenting Styles: When is the Right Time to Start Kids in Sports?

April 4 by Jessica Timmons

When is the best time to start kids in extracurricular activities? One family's experience with putting their kids in karate and marital arts.

Jessica is back today discussing her parenting style when it comes to extracurricular activities. More specifically, her experience enrolling her son in a martial arts program at age 4. When and where to start enrolling your kids in activities has to be one of the most personal choices of parenting. There doesn't actually seem to be a lot of routinely recited advice on the topic (other than to always, always - Dear God, Always! - be weary of over-scheduling). So I love to see what other … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Jessica, Parenting Tagged With: karate for kids, martial arts for kids, parenting, when to start kids in activities, when to start kids in sports

Our Secret Tool for Raising Kids Who Are Safe & Responsible On Their Phones

March 31 by Kristin

We LOVE this free OurPact app to monitor what apps our kids use on their smart phones, and even what hours the internet works! So cool.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of OurPact. We've got such a cool tool to share with you guys today from our newest sponsor, OurPact. I really, really think you're going to find it to be one of the most valuable apps you own- and it's free! Kristin is going to go into lots of detail below, but in a nutshell this genius app gives parents the ability to control exactly when, and how long, their kids can use the apps, or the internet on their phones AND to block any apps … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Kristin, Parenting Tagged With: how to monitor my child's phone, how to raise responsible kids, kids and phones, kids and the internet, media guidelines for children, monitoring kids phones, OurPact, rules for kids and phones, sponsored

How Iris is Helping Combat My Mom Brain

March 23 by Janssen

How to set up a "smart home" to make your life so much easier!

I was telling a friend recently that I don't feel like I ever suffered from "pregnancy brain" during my three pregnancies, but I definitely have "mom brain."  Between three little kids, a new house that needs a fair amount of updating, a small business, and all the regular household tasks like laundry, library books, grocery shopping, and dance classes, I feel like things are always falling between the cracks. I'm always looking for things that make managing my life a little easier and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fresh Finds: The Everyday, Janssen, The grown ups (that's you!) Tagged With: how to set up a smart home, Iris Smart Home, smart home apps, sponsored, what is a smart home

Play Dough Mats for Your Easter Baskets (Free Printables)

March 22 by Kaley

Easter play dough mat free printable - love this candy alternative for the Easter basket, especially with the included Jell-O play dough recipe.

Easter! Do you have your baskets ready yet?! If not, no worries, get your 30 day free trial for Amazon Prime's 2-Day Shipping and use our recipe for getting your baskets put together STAT: Check out this roundup of our resident children's librarians' all-time favorite Easter books and pick up your favorite Add one or two picks from our list of Easter toys that promote creativity Roll up and insert our free Easter play dough mats (see below) Fill a few plastic eggs with our super … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Holiday Projects, Kaley, Printables, Seasonal Fun Tagged With: candy-free Easter basket, candy-free Easter ideas, Creative Play Easter Basket, Easter basket ideas, Easter ideas for kids, Easter play doh mat, Easter play dough mat, Easter playdough mat, homemade play doh, homemade play dough recipe, homemade playdough recipe, jello playdough, play dough mat free printable, play dough mats

30 Ways to Eat Veggies All Day Long (for You & the Kids)

March 21 by Kristin

How to eat more vegetables - so many great hacks and vegetarian recipes to eat vegetables all day long and get more energy!

I recently had a serious energy crash (I'm talking could barely get myself up off the couch to do anything for days and days kind of crash). To get myself out of it, I did a lot of research on things like The Adrenal Re-set Diet. In the end, one of the HUGEST factors for me finding my energy again was simply to start eating vegetables all. day. long.  My goal is seriously to have some sort of vegetable pretty much every time I eat. As you can imagine, this is not always easy! So today I've … [Read more...]

Filed Under: In the Kitchen, Kristin Tagged With: eating more vegetables, getting kids to eat vegetables, vegetarian recipes

1 Year to a Non-Toxic Home: Best Bedding Ever

March 17 by Steph (MPMK Founder)

Best bedding ever - these non-toxic luxury sheets are made in Italy and surprisingly affordable. The envelope closure on the shams are my favorite part- no more slumpy pillows!

Last month I announced a brand new series on the blog, 1 Year to a Non-Toxic Home. In the coming months I intend to cover it all, beauty products, self-care products, cleaning products and, of course, your bed. In fact, I'm starting off with the bed and I'm sure you can guess why. Because of the huge amount of our lives that we spend there, of course. This makes it so, so important that everything about these comfy sanctuaries are designed to support and nurture our health! As you may … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 1 Year to a Non-Toxic Home, Fresh Finds: The Everyday Tagged With: affordable luxury sheets, best bedding, non-toxic bedding, non-toxic home, parachute, sponsored

Parenting Styles: Saying No to Tween TV

March 14 by Jessica Timmons

parenting styles, parenting, good tv shows for kids, kid-friendly tv, best shows for teens, best shows for tweens

What's your parenting style when it comes to kids and TV ? It's so much more simple when your kids are really young isn't it? When you can turn on Sesame Street every once in a while and they're happy? Can't we just stay in this place forever? According to our parenting contributor, Jessica, no- no we cannot. But that doesn't mean we're without power. Here she is with her take on the dreaded "Tween TV". She's got some pretty strong feelings on the subject. I'm curious, what's your take? Is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Jessica, Parenting, The grown ups (that's you!) Tagged With: best shows for teens, best shows for tweens, good tv shows for kids, kid-friendly tv, parenting, parenting styles

7 Simple Easter Hair Ideas for Girls + A Video!

March 9 by Kristin

Easter Hair Tutorials for Girls - These all look pretty doable, just have to decide between the bunny hair or one of the braids!

Now that S is 5, I'm finding that the standard "half up with one barrette on each side" hairdo that I've been relying on isn't quite cutting it anymore. While she's not overly demanding now (an especially sparkly barrette or two clips instead of one is enough of an upgrade from the norm at the moment), I can tell the days when she'll be begging for braids and bow buns aren't far off. I figure I might as well get out ahead of it and start learning about such techniques now. Plus, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Holiday, Kristin, Parenting, Seasonal Fun Tagged With: braids for little girls, Easter hair ideas for girls, Easter hair tutorials, girls braid tutorials, girls hair tutorials, hair inspiration for girls, hairstyles for easter, how to braid hair, how to make a crown braid

How to Make Your Kid a Money Saver

March 7 by Janssen

How to teach your kids to save and budget- great tips here for kids of all ages!

Today's post is brought to you by MPMK's newest sponsor, Upromise, a company dedicated to helping parents find small ways to do a really big thing- save for college! If you're not familiar with how the Upromise program works, here's a quick 1-minute video to get you up to speed on how the things you already do every day, from shopping online to ordering pizza for movie night, can earn you money for your child's college fund. Check out the Upromise program today and then check out these … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Janssen Tagged With: how to teach your kids to budget, how to teach your kids to save, maying your child a money-saver, parenting, Upromise

Spring Cleaning: Free 4-Week Printable Action Plan

March 2 by Steph (MPMK Founder)

Lots of handy free checklists to finally get your spring cleaning done - love the look of #6, actually makes me feel happy about cleaning!

Now that it's March, we're definitely due a Project Organize Your ENTIRE Life spring cleaning post... have you gotten started yet?  Yeah, me neither. But I'm giving myself some grace and saying there's still time! In that spirit, Kristin has rounded up for us some of the best FREE spring cleaning checklists around to help get you started.   And, as a special bonus, there's a free 4-week spring cleaning calendar at the end of this post. If there's anyone that can inspire us to Spring … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cleaning House, Printables, Project Organize Your ENTIRE Life Tagged With: cleaning calendar, free printable cleaning calendar, POYEL, Project Organize Your ENTIRE Life, spring cleaning checklist, spring cleaning printable

Friday Find: ABCs of Science Book Series

February 25 by Steph (MPMK Founder)

ABCs of Earth Science - Coolest ABC picture book ever! (There's also the ABCs of Biology, Chemistry, and Physics)

I received the most gorgeous picture book in the mail the other day courtesy of Jumbo Minds' Science. It's called ABCs of Earth Science and is part of the larger ABCs of Science series. The thing I really loved about the book was that it appealed to all three of my kids, ages 7, 5 and nearly 2. The vibrant pictures drew in everybody, my youngest really liked the ABCs and my bigger kids were really into learning new science terms they'd never heard before. A little about the author- A.C. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: science books for kids, STEM books for kids, STEM gifts for kids, STEM toys

Parenting Styles: Navigating The Eye Roll, Seven Years Early

February 24 by Jessica Timmons

Parenting styles: What to do when kids roll their eyes (way younger than you expect!)

With all the different parenting styles, it can be no joke figuring out how to discipline a toddler. Jessica is here today with our parenting section, newly re-named Parenting Styles, with some great insight on what to do when your toddler starts acting like a teenager. I read this great article the other day that was wildly reassuring to my future self, the one who's a mom of a teenage girl. It covered the many purposes that the ol’ eye roll serves in the life of an adolescent. And they … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Jessica, Parenting Tagged With: how to discipline a toddler, MPMK, parenting, parenting styles

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