Work is slowing down, playground shenanigans are picking up, and the evils of the Ice Cream Truck are upon us. Where's a mom to turn? No, I mean it. Where does one vacation at this time of year where it's not a) crowded, b) expensive, or c) reserved already? Frommer's tells me that cruises are not for the under-four crowd. VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner) displays plenty of places to stay where children are not welcome. I love me a good staycation, but I want out. For a quick family getaway, where do you go?

While food trucks that serve Korean-Mexican fusion cuisine and mac'n' cheese with Kalamata olive dust may be the current trend among urban foodies, there's one food truck that defies trends: the ice cream truck. This summertime staple seems little changed from the one that I saw growing up in Washington DC in the late 70's and early 80's. Sure, the SpongeBob and Dora popsicles are new, but there's still a good old-fashioned Chocolate Eclair and Rainbow Push-Up if that's your thing. And just as I did when I was a little girl, my kids go crazy when they see the white truck and hear the jaunty …

This Father’s Day will be different. Instead of giving the cliché tie for Father’sDay or prepping the traditional manly barbecue where he ends up working, I wasthinking about offering some gratitude to my husband. I don’t know about anyone else, well accept from the rumblings of my sisters, girlfriends, neighbors, fellow PTO members, salon divas, and others, but there has been an occasion or two that I felt a bit under-appreciated as a mom. I have whined and moaned about countless cleaning issues, felt offended when one of my recipes was not gobbled up with gusto or generally just whimpered …

This week, it's not just the Mommy blogs and sites that are all huffing and puffing. This story spread everywhere. What exactly could get so many people riled up, for either side of the debate? The Toronto Star published a story about a family with three young children. The two oldest are boys. The third is 4-5 months old and only about 6 people in the world know his/her gender. The family is aiming to raise this one as gender-free. From the Star... "When Storm was born, the couple sent an email to friends and family: “We've decided not to share Storm's sex for now — a tribute to freedom and …

Just this month, The Milken Institute's Global Conference hosted a session on our Attention Deficit Society. They brought thought leaders together to discuss what technology is doing to our brains. These fine folks discussed a pile of startling statistics about predictors for emotional health in girls 8-12 years old. The top two predictors of poor emotional health? Multi-tasking and heavy media use. We've heard this before. But what startled me was what Sherry Turkle of MIT uncovered about her work's findings: "Parents criticize their teenagers for the behaviors that the parents are modeling…

On an unseasonably cold day in early May, my second grader completed a bike safety class offered by her elementary school and the River Forest police department. The second grade bike safety class is a rite of passage that River Forest elementary school students look forward to from the moment they enter kindergarten.  Students must complete the class to be permitted to ride their bikes to school and — this is the key part — leave them on one of the bike racks on school grounds. A few days after she took the bike safety class, when the weather finally (and fleetingly) turned nice, my daughter…

Like many, I went to bed with some bittersweet emotions on Sunday, after learning Osama bin Laden was killed by our American military.  Like many parents, I woke up wondering if and how I was to explain this to my eight year old. "There might be some children at school talking about something that happened yesterday," I bravely said as I was braiding my daughter's hair.  "I want to explain it a little bit so you don't get confused or hear something that is not true." Really, I had no idea where I was going to go with this and I nearly regretted opening my mouth.  With simple language and in …

Let's get it right out there: Is it OK to admit you love one kid more than the others? This mom owned up to it in a recent babble.com blog post: It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a very long time, but I’ve been too afraid to say. I can’t be the only one out there who feels this way, though. Because moms aren’t perfect. Maybe we pretend that we are in front of other moms, lest we be judged for our failings. But we do all have them. And so…I’ve taken a deep breath, and I’m going to share. I think I love my son just a little bit more than my daughter. The author, "KATETIETJE," goes on …

Although the weather may bear more resemblance to winter than it does to summer, families all over Oak Park and River Forest are beginning to make their summer plans. Registration is already open for Park District of Oak Park camps, many private camps, River Forest summer school and the camps and summer classes at Oak Park-River Forest High School. Some popular overnight camps are even beginning to fill up. When thinking about their children's summer plans, parents have to decide whether to fill every possible week with camps and classes, or to allow for some unstructured downtime for …

Submitted by Jennifer Moore On April 22, 1970, Earth Day was founded by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson out of concern that our planet had fallen into environmental degradation. Today the concern is still very real. Fortunately, Earth Day has expanded from college campuses and into grade and high schools and communities around the world. As a result, most children today have a greater understanding of our collective responsibilities. Teachers and after school clubs are doing a great job offering our kids the opportunity to recycle, repurpose or even compost. But what are we, as families, …

OK, admit it.  You've seen kids on a leash and maybe scoffed at the parent, then pitied the unfortunate little souls attached to the other end of the cord.  But is it so bad?  Email responses to a recent article addressing the topic by Parents senior editor Judith Goldberg apparently defend the practice wholeheartedly. Supporters say it's a temporary — and wildly practical — solution for keeping track of rambunctious kids. (Editor's note: I can't seem to find Goldberg's column online. Anyone have a link? Update: A magazine spokesperon said the "Judy on Duty" column appears only in Parents …

Picky eating.  According to this ParentDish article, the reasons behind a child's eating habits vary dramatically. But it turns out some kids just have their preferences.  (But parents take heed: it could be more indicative of other problems, like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or Sensory Processing Disorder, according to a doctor quoted in the article.) So, what's the solution? Supplementing vitamins? Tricking your kids into new foods? Bribes? Playing hardball and sending them to bed without dinner? Is that even safe?  Onto this week's question: how do you handle your picky eater? 

Do you sleep anymore?   One of the most-discussed topics among the Mom Crowd is lack of sleep.  It's our number one complaint and pet peeve.  Studies show that sleep is a great healer helping to eradicate stress, sickness, disease (and I think Glamour Magazine even listed "ugliness" as a trait that sleep can help.)   So, onto this week's Moms Talk question: Are you proactive in getting sleep?  Do you actually take these sleep studies seriously?  Do you practice what you preach and in turn, do your children have sleep routines or schedules?

New York Times geek-in-residence David Pogue wrote a thoughtful column recently addressing his 6-year-old's "addiction" to the iPad.  His boy apparently gets "out-of-character" upset when it's time to fork over the device before bedtime, which raises all kinds behavioral, even moral, questions about children and their use of electronic gadgets.  "The iPad is a magic electronic babysitter that creates instant peace in the household," Pogue writes. "If you told me you’d never, even occasionally, be tempted to hand it over, I’d say I doubt you." So onto this week's question: Do you let your kids…

It's the end of February and by this time every year, cabin fever has set in. Moms are going stir-crazy, kids are bouncing off the walls and we're all counting down to spring and nicer weather. The problem is, we've done almost everything we can do during the winter for fun. So this week's question is what else is there to do? Share with us your favorite winter activities. Whether you're going out of the house or staying in, let us know. Where are your favorite places to go and what are your favorite things to do during the winter?

If you've ever attempted to get anything done with a toddler around, you know it's no cakewalk. It's a challenge to do the dishes or the laundry (shower, anyone?) let alone actual, potentially lucrative, work.   It's a wonder that some of us can hold jobs and children's tantrums down...and I often wonder about other moms: "How does she do it?" The key to my own success — running 3 companies with 2 children under the age of 4 from a home office — has always been list-making, organizing lists, and more list-making. Never aiming to achieve that illustrious, mysterious thing called "balance," I …

Editor's note: On today's debut edition of Mom Talk, we're talking about mistakes. Specifially, we'll talk about how to deal with your child's mistakes — and what they can learn from you as a parent.    The author of this post, Gail Zarbin, is part of the Oak-Park River Forest Moms Council, a panel of local moms who will seed discussions on the site each week in hopes of connecting and helping local parents navigate all sorts of issues. If you'd like to suggest a topic for the Council, simply friend us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. Here goes:  Our mistakes teach us. Parents need to let…