Parenting Tips

Kids are active, but CURAD is here to help navigate the bumps, bruises, and owies that happen along the way.

If you have a pre-teen daughter, it’s time to start talking to her about beauty and skincare. Use these tips to guide the conversation.

If your kids want to get into acting and modeling here are a few tips for you.

Are your kids drinking enough water? Use our handy tips to encourage them to drink more each day. 

Getting out the door for the first day of college can be overwhelming but it doesn’t have to be with this guide and essential items to help guys get moving.

Protect your whole family against catching a cold or flu this season with these easy tips.

February is National Children's Dental Health Month. Perfect time to schedule that appointment. I've rounded up some books all about making your child…

Using positive reinforcement and having our kids … or should I say one child in particular, yes, you know the one I mean … start and end each day in the best possible way is high on my list of priorities. We've used rewards systems for a few years now, where after a week of positive feedback or tasks being completed then an item that the kids have wanted is then given to them, which is normally building toys, or anything to do with video games, cue Skylanders which pretty much covers both of those loves. Skylanders is a fairly new thing for him, his 9 year old cousin in Australia collects the characters for his Nintendo Wii and of course what the cool big cousin has, he wants to have too. You might remember we just spent a month there on vacation for the holidays so these boys spent a lot of time bonding, sharing and playing together.

So let me share with you our latest rewards chart, which we have to adjust as he gets older to accommodate any new chores we ask him to take on, and also any other problems that we feel have arisen during his normal day-to-day activities.

I made this reward chart using a plain white magnet board that I found at Walmart (under $10), a sheet of Expressions Vinyl (which has a sticky backing to adhere to the board), and then printed the reward chart on sticker paper to attach to the front. I made custom magnets too, which you'll find a tutorial for down below.  

We have four more weeks of summer vacation left, but I’m already starting to get everything prepared for the kids to go back to school. Jay will be a senior this year and the twins will be heading into second grade.

I’ve purchased back-to-school outfits and new backpacks for two of the kids, but there is still so much more that needs to be done.

Photographs: Bright Star Kids

I need to have a checklist when the kids go back to school, otherwise I tend to forget things. Like last year, I didn’t label a single thing. I forgot. And then, on the first day of school my son lost his drink bottle. A month later as we were leaving school one afternoon we noticed a similar drink bottle on the lost property rack. My son immediately ran to grab it, I was quicker though and grabbed him. What if it wasn’t his? How many germs were attached to that drink bottle? I told him to continue walking … we had already purchased a new one anyway.

Easy popsicle stick art project for kids to do this summer.