It varies. Typically gate-checked items are returned to you on the jet-way, but sometimes they do end up at baggage claim. I’ve had it happen to me and I’ve heard many stories of parents gate checking strollers only to have them not available when getting off the plane.

When you have to over rule their no, be sure to state why. For diapers, “If I don’t clean your bum it will get red and sore and hurt.” “The doctor needs to look in your nose/ear/mouth to make sure you are healthy.” “Shots hurt for a second and then you feel better. We have to get shots to keep us from getting sick.”…

I figured that was the case. I grew up going to lots of different churches so I saw how different denominations organize and practice. It’s amazing how much difference there is. We often lump all christians together, but it’s really different (often radically different) across the denominations.

Toddlers can use one of these to chop. My wild boy did without a single cut or scratch. I cut things into manageable pieces and then he’d cut them smaller. For instance, for fruit salad I would cut the apples into slices then he would cut them into bite-size pieces.

The big problem with fixing schools is that desegregation of classes is the real answer, that often goes hand in hand with desegregation of ethnicities, and that will result in some bumpy years where some get more than they had before and some get less and there’s lots of transition difficulties and although many…

This is such a huge problem. One reason I picked my neighborhood was because there is some diversity and my kid would go to the more diverse school. They just built a new elementary and redistricted and now we’re in one of the more affluent white schools...The only saving grace for our district is that for the most…

The upfront cost of buying in bulk often keeps poor people from being able to purchase in bulk and benefit from that savings. If you have $20 to spend you can’t afford $10 on chicken because you won’t be able to get the other things you need. Milk is $4 a gallon and a cheap box of cereal is $2 so that is 1/3 of your…

My niece currently lives in a motel. She is too young to have established credit or to have saved up enough to afford 1st, last, and deposit to rent. Her husband is working. She has a 1 year old. She couldn’t get childcare because he made too much money, so she couldn’t get a job. They have a microwave and a plug in…

That meal price would have been too steep for my family growing up...we had about $50/week for our food budget. We were lucky though, in that we got the Sunday paper. So we would carefully plan out what we would buy using coupons and shopping based on what was on sale. Our meals usually consisted of meat(usually…

hahahahahaha...You’ve clearly never been to an American grocery store. There is not a single loaf of bread that is without sugar in my grocery store. I shop at a very large grocery store with a very large selection and the best I could do was a whole wheat loaf with 1 gram of added sugar per slice (it is sweetened…

Kids can start even younger than that, my kid has been helping to cook since he was 1. I made him a learning tower so he could reach the counter, but he also had his own little table he could work at. My dad taught us all to make eggs at age 5. Not a a one of us ever burned ourselves. Kids are far more capable than…

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Your second paragraph is the real reason. Genetics do play a factor, but it is the combo of genetics and the current food landscape that is the real culprit. We have everything turned around and mixed up. We have cut fat out of everything and loaded it up with sugar. We need healthy fats and we need zero added sugar…

I think it’s not the desert that is the issue, it is the high cost in comparison to other, unhealthy foods. Growing up in a poorer family on a tight budget, we generally could only afford bagged apples or oranges for our fruit snacks. Strawberries were a luxury when on sale, as were grapes and other fruits. The price…

Please back off on the stick thin kid. Do not encourage them to eat when they are not hungry. They need to learn to read and trust their bodies and you need to trust their bodies too. Their body will tell them what they need. I never learned how to listen to my body because I was constantly taught and forced to eat…

So many people buy into the yogurt is healthy, so every yogurt in the grocery store is healthy. Really, the only yogurt that is healthy is plain yogurt which you can then add fruit and such to flavor how you wish. Most yogurt, especially that marketed to kids and including organic, is packed with a ton of added sugar.…

I was more thinking that our kids see us putting rules on gifts in a reasonable way could lead to them thinking it’s okay to put rules on gifts in an entitled fashion because they lack the underlying understanding and nuance to tell the difference.

In many households, the children control it. The parents buy what the children want, even if it’s not something they really want their kid eating. My neighbor does this all the time. She constantly expresses guilt over this, saying, but it’s all they’ll eat. I tell her to just stop buying it and after a week or so…

My kiddo has been knocking back quarts of cherry tomatoes by himself since he was one...it’s never bothered him. He’s a tomato and berry fiend!

This is a very good point. I place blame on myself being in the opposite camp. I was a very tiny child and the doctors and other adults always gave my mom grief about it. So there was constant pressure to eat. Couple that with the old-fashioned sit here at the table until you eat everything on your plate, even if it…