Our goal is to provide you with practical, positive parenting content that you can put into practice in your own lives! While we have a ton of resources available to you throughout our site, we know that sometimes you just need quick and simple answers to your parenting questions.
Below you’ll be able to find frequently asked parenting questions organized by topic!
And for more in-depth information and free resources, browse all of our Collections and Printables!
Back to School
When preparing for school, you’ll want to:
- Figure out schedules and logistics while also adjusting sleep schedules
- Check in with your kids and see if they have any worries or concerns
- Shop for back to school supplies (check in with local families if you have questions)
- Make the most of the final days of summer!
Read the full Back to School article for more information….
As adults, it can be tough to go back to work after a week vacation. So just imagine what it’s like for kids after having the whole summer off!! They don’t want to go back to their ‘jobs,’ and it can result in a lot of negative emotions. Which is exactly why it’s important to highlight the positives!
School isn’t all bad. Which friends are you excited to see? What art projects do you think you’ll get to do this year? What is something that you really want to learn this year in school?
It’s important to remind our children of all of the benefits of school. It is always amazing to me to see how much children learn throughout the course of a school year! And it can be fun for them to relive that and see how far they’ve come. It is also reassuring for them to see that they are making progress – even though the days might seem monotonous.
If you’re asking this question, then the answer is probably “no.” Or at least, not quite yet! Heading back to school always requires some time and effort to help ease into the transition.
You’ll want to prepare for school as much as possible. There’s the usual back to school shopping, but you also want to start adjusting your routines and preparing emotionally as well! Try to start back to school with a positive outlook… you have to be there either way so you might as well make the most of it!
One of the best ways to prepare for school in the morning is to set yourself up for success the night before! Planning ahead and falling asleep at a reasonable hour will help your mornings go much more smoothly!
It’s important to start adjusting sleep schedules gradually as you get closer to the beginning of the school year. You can’t expect your child to adapt overnight. You don’t need the schedule to be exactly the same as the school year, or even be super rigid about things. But it can be helpful to start easing bedtime a bit earlier and setting alarms for earlier each day until you get to a point where you are close to a realistic schedule for the school year.
You can also start working on a more consistent morning routine. Print out these Morning Routine Checklists for your kids to help encourage their independence from an early age and make your mornings run a bit smoother
Preparing for school the night before will make your mornings so much easier! Think through your normal morning routine and anything that you can do the night before, should be done the night before!
You can pick out clothes, make sure everything is in the backpacks, pack lunches, and even figure out easy breakfasts for the morning. It might be helpful to do all of this before it gets to late in the evening, and you start getting too tired!
Childcare Options
There are many different types of childcare, and it’s important to consider each one to figure out what will best for your own individual family!
Types of Childcare:
- Daycare Center
- In-Home Daycare
- Babysitter
- Nanny
- Au Pair
Visit our Childcare Options collection for more information…
While childcare costs vary depending on the type of childcare and your location, there are averages for monthly childcare costs in the United States. Center-based childcare in the United States is an average of $1,230 per month. And in-home childcare options average about $800 per month.
Find more information about types of childcare, hiring tips, and rates in our Childcare Options collection…
Nanny care does tend to be more expensive. In a daycare, you are splitting the cost of care between numerous other families while a nanny is typically hired just for your own children. There are, of course, pros and cons to each option that should be weighed carefully!
The average weekly rate for nannies is $705, and the average weekly rate for daycare is $243 (per child). With these numbers, if you have three children of your own it may make more sense to hire your own nanny. Of course, these rates can vary significantly depending on where you live and what options are available to you!
There is also the middleground option of in-home daycares, which tend to be less expensive than a nanny, but more expensive than a daycare center.
First, let me say that I love hiring someone I know, or someone that comes personally recommend by someone I trust. But, that is not always an option. And sometimes these friends do not always work out as expected. So I came up with a system to properly vet each candidate, and a couple of options to consider when seeking someone outside of family to help out.
A few years ago my part-time babysitter took a new full-time job, and I was out of family members to call in favors with. So, I decided to try Care.com – an online service to find a new babysitter.
A babysitter locator membership can be expensive, but I have always had amazing luck and never needed more than a month of access. If you are desperate to find good help like I was, a one month fee to a babysitter locating service may seem totally worth it! And now there are a lot more sitter finder services out there. So shop around and do your research before selecting one, because each one offers something different.
Read this article about Hiring a Great Babysitter for more information…
The national average for babysitter rates is $16.43. However, this can vary quite a bit based on your location! In Houston, the average babysitter rate is $11.88, but in San Francisco it is $17.89.
It can be helpful to ask families in your area to get a better idea of how much to pay your local babysitter.