Weekend Highlights: Your Guide to Family Fun

BY  |  Friday, May 17, 2013 12:00pm  |  COMMENTS (0)

mini golfThere’s so much to do with the family this gorgeous May weekend.

We’ve told you about  Mayfair, Maplewood Mayfest, Presby Iris Gardens Family Garden Party, the Fine Arts and Crafts at Verona Park Show, Big Truck Day, and the MHS’ Sisters on the Runway fashion show—but here’s more!

Check our Upcoming Events to find out all the local happenings. Also, if you haven’t already, sign up for our newsletter to get some great deals and find out about more great events and subscribe to our daily newsletter so you don’t miss a thing on Barista Kids. While you’re at it, “like” us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and check out our new Pinterest page. We post a lot of important information over there, so you don’t want to miss out.

Here are your weekend highlights:

Bring your American Girl Dolls to the Geyer Family YMCA for a special Friday night event. (Friday, May 17)

“Tee off” with your  friends and family at the  first ever Mini Golf Day at the MPL. (Saturday, May 18)

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Our Favorite Parenting Tweets This Week

BY  |  Monday, May 13, 2013 1:00pm  |  COMMENTS (0)

Parenting TweetsHere are our favorite parenting tweets from this past week, many from local moms and dads:

 

 

 

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Seen Around Town: Mother’s Day Edition

BY  |  Sunday, May 12, 2013 11:00am  |  COMMENTS (3)

mother's day

I love this quote on motherhood at Montclair’s newest coffee house Java Love—almost as much as I love their coffee.

See any interesting and/or fun things around town relating to kids and their parents? Send the pictures here

Royalty Flocked to Cinderella at the Montclair Film Festival

BY  |  Thursday, May 09, 2013 7:00am  |  COMMENTS (1)

CinderellaThe theater was packed with princesses and princes (some in diapers) sitting on booster seats last Saturday, May 4, for Cinderella,  a rare showing on the big screen made possible by the Montclair Film Festival. There was lots of giggling, talking and calls for “Mommy,” in the theater.

Festival Director, Raphaela Neihausen, welcomed the crowd of families saying she was most excited to screen this Disney classic and that she was truly among VIPs. It was her three year old son Bez’s first feature film and she was excited to share the experience with him.

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Montclair Mom is One of The Mommentators

BY  |  Wednesday, May 08, 2013 1:30pm  |  COMMENTS (0)

The MommentatorsLiz Samuel—a Montclair mom of two kids, wife to a Brit, and actress—can now add The Mommentators to her resume.

The Mommentators is one of four shows on the new Parent Society TV, part of Parent Society, which has offered parenting topics since 2007.  The Mommentators offers a panel of four, very different moms discussing parenthood with the tagline, “We’ve got something to say!” It’s like a parenting-version of The View.

Topics so far have been raising kids in NYC, how to deal with unsolicited advice and this steamy (or not-so-steamy) one—”Your Post-Baby Sex Life”:

 

 

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I Know What You Did Last Sunday…

BY  |  Wednesday, May 08, 2013 8:00am  |  COMMENTS (3)

Changing A Diaper Where People Eat

Use this please.

Picture this: You walk into an eating establishment. You look to your left. And there is a woman in the seating area—where people eat—changing a baby’s diaper. Kind of makes you lose your appetite a little, does it not? This is the scene my family and I walked into when we went out for frozen yogurt last Sunday evening. I’ve been debating myself as to whether this is in fact as outrageous as I thought it was. Then I consider the immediate reaction my wife, always the cooler head of the two us and rarely one to instantly judge. She had the same initial reaction as I did. That is, “What the bleep is she doing?!”

I think this is unacceptable. There are societal norms that we have to adhere to even in cases of child-care emergency. Human feces and frozen yogurt do not mix. Ever. It’s gross. Not to mention unsanitary and just plain dirty. Just because we have children, it does not excuse us from thinking of other people when we are in public with our children. Sure, there are times when we need to let our child have the tantrum in the store. But there are also times when we need to give them a Snickers bar to avoid the meltdown in the checkout lane. Same theory applies to diaper changing. Use the bathroom. If there is no changing table in there, shame on the establishment. But we certainly can’t expect every place of business with a public restroom to be equipped with a changing station in the restroom. It would be nice, but that not realistic.

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Go Ahead Mom/Dad—Clean That Dropped Pacifier With Your Mouth

BY  |  Monday, May 06, 2013 11:30am  |  COMMENTS (1)

Raise Pacifier your hand if you’ve ever picked up a dropped pacifier and sucked it clean to give back to your fussy baby? If your hand is up, good job! You may have actually helped ward off allergies for your baby.

NPR reports, that in a recent study study of 184 Swedish babies published in this week’s issue of the journal Pediatrics, researchers found that the 65 babies whose mother or father sucked on their pacifiers to cleanse them were significantly less likely to get eczema and asthma, two conditions caused by allergic reactions, than babies whose parents did not use the cleaning technique.

I was a nervous germphobe with my first daughter and wouldn’t dream of sucking her dropped binky. I carried extras and I boiled them weekly to kill germs. With my second daughter, I totally got over it. Guess who has allergies? Yep, my first daughter. Coincidence? Maybe, but a little dirt is good for us.

Do you/have you sucked on a dropped pacifier or bottle to clean it before giving it back to your baby? Take our poll:

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First Comes Love: A Modern Family Re-Imagined

BY  |  Saturday, May 04, 2013 10:14am  |  COMMENTS (0)

First Comes LoveYesterday I had the pleasure of seeing First Comes Love, one of the great films showing in the Montclair Film Festival. It will playing again this afternoon at 4:15 pm at the Clairidge with Director/Producer Nina Davenport making an appearance and I  recommend it.

Single at age forty-one, Nina decides to have a baby on her own, despite being a single mom on a low income in Manhattan.  In her documentary First Comes Love, Nina takes you from the beginning of her decision to have a child to becoming a mother in a funny and candid way. Throughout the movie you see Nina grow, both literally and figuratively, as a person. It’s a look at how parenthood changes you, positively and negatively, and how it makes you look at your own parents in a new light. It’s funny and candid.

First Comes Love

Get your tickets online here.

Weekend Highlights: Your Guide to Family Fun

BY  |  Friday, May 03, 2013 11:00am  |  COMMENTS (0)

Magic camp

It’s May in Montclair and that means that this first kick off weekend is jam-packed with family events.

We’ve told you about  Montclair Historical Society’s Herb Sale and Family Day, Free Comic Book Day, the WBGO Kids Jazz Concert at NJPAC, All the fun street fairs and family day fun in Montclair, and the Kids Milk and Cookies Baking Competition —but there’s more!

Here are your weekend highlights:

This weekend is all about the Montclair Film Festival! And if you’re kicking yourself for not getting tickets for the Family films, so far, no worries. Some shows still have tickets available and they just released a few more tickets to Cinderella yesterday, a sold out event!

There are still tickets available for:

Cinderella—Don’t miss this rare opportunity to experience it on the big screen thanks to a special arrangement with Disney. You’re encouraged you to dress up as a princess or another favorite character. Co-presented with BaristaKids and Investors Bank.

The Thief of Bagdad—Full of lavish sets and special effects, it’s one of the most imaginative of all silent movies.

Magic Camp—A doc about Magic-obsessed kids who congregate at the one place they can be themselves – Tannen’s Magic Camp, the most prestigious institution of its kind. Co-presented with BaristaKids

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UPDATED: Presby Iris Gardens Family Garden Party Will Bloom With Fun

BY  |  Thursday, May 02, 2013 9:00am  |  COMMENTS (0)

i phone photos 032

The Gilmore Girls at the Family Garden Party 2011

The annual Family Garden Party at Presby Iris Gardens will be held on May 18. In addition to the gorgeous blooming  irises, the garden will also be filled with entertainment, refreshments, activities and art from talented school students.

Families will also enjoy the sounds of Island Music Steel Drums by Sterling C. Sample at 10 am followed by a  concert by local kids’ band Jason Didner and the Jungle Gym Jam at 12:30 pm.

jungle gym jam

Take the family—this is one of those must-do May in Montclair events:

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