Spawned Parenting Podcast with Liz of Cool Mom Picks

Ready to laugh? Join us for our own version of Wait Wait WAIT Don't Tell Me (don't sue us, NPR!) As we try to discern the craziest beauty trends from a few fake ones. Which are also crazy. (Seriously, nose hair extensions? MAKE IT STOP!) | How many did you get right? Share with us at spawned@coolmompicks.com, or find us on social media @coolmompicks with hashtag #spawnedshow | And we're sorry we s...

When it comes to our kids' education, we all want them develop good habits, self-direction, and autonomy, So what can we do as parents to best support them at home? (Spoiler: Nagging is not a good idea.) This week we've got BRILLIANT tips from Katherine Firestone of the Fireborn Institute -- which has nothing to do with Game of Thrones, we asked. Her ideas are so innovative and smart, many of them...

If you're having a hard time with the ongoing story about Harvey Weinstein, sexual harassment and predatory behavior, abuse of power, and a complicit culture, well...so are we. A really hard time. So we put together this raw, honest, unscripted conversation (no ads, no interruptions) with the hope that we can help more women to process your feelings, find the right words for your kids, and get the...

Not every parent has the time (or patience or uh, interest) to play racecars for hours on end. GUILTY! So we're chatting with Meredith Sinclair, TODAY Show play expert and author of Well Played to get some much-needed tips. We discuss how to make play more fun (for parents too), why we all need more play right now, the great tech toy debate, and score lots of toy and game recos that parents should...

Are we comfortable saying vagina? YES! Having frank conversations with our daughters -- and sons -- about menstruation? YES! Telling our most embarrassing period stories? Well...at least Liz did. (And there's more than one, oh no!) Join us for a funny, frank talk about "the talk" you know you'll be having with your daughters one day if you haven't already. Plus, get lots of helpful advice from Naa...

Parents, if you listen to any episode it should be this one. Because we've got civilization=saving strategies here from James Breakwell (aka @xplodingunicorn), comedy writer and author of the new book, Only Dead on the Inside: A Parent's Guide to Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse.  Wait, are you laughing? This is DEADLY SERIOUS STUFF, PARENTS. Discover tips for how to break the news to your kids in...

When can your kids start watching more "adult" movies and shows? Do you care more about f-bombs or violence and gore? What about sex? What about themes like suicide or sexuality or war? And how come the ratings system seems so totally ridiculous sometimes?  A fun, candid, and (ahem) somewhat NSFW discussion to help you decide when to let which kids watch what. | Questions, comments, show ideas or...

Is it okay to ignore your kids when they're being pains in the you-know-what? Family coach and LCSW, Catherine Pearlman, the author of the new book "Ignore It" says yup!  But...with a few caveats. If your kids have ever acted up (mayyyybe once, right?) tune in and learn about her smart technique, and how ignoring is not the same as neglecting. We think you'll get some great tips out of it! We sure...

Professional organizer and mom Laurie Palau of Simply B Organized saves us all with down-to-earth tips, tricks, and common sense advice to get us on track for the school year, manage the kids (mostly), and keep us organized and productive. So smart! We've also got some truly amazing cool picks of the week. Questions? Comments? Knock-knock jokes? Email Kristen and Liz at spawned@coolmompicks.com, o...

Morra Aarons-Mele discusses her new book, Hiding in the Bathroom and shares incredibly helpful tactics and tips for overcoming introversion, battling social anxiety and FOMO, and living your best life when you feel like more like "leaning out" most days. (Also, turns out Liz and Kristen may be more introverted than we had realized!) || Questions? Comments? Follow us at twitter.com/coolmompicks or...

This episode we're joined by the hilarious Laurie Gelman, author of Class Mom: A Novel and we get allllll the dirt on the mind of a class mom: The pettiness and the perks, the nightmare parents, the differences between class moms and class dads, and just what kind of masochistic martyr takes on this job anyway. Plus, we're sharing 3 cool picks of the week. || Thanks for listening to Spawned! If yo...

How do we keep our kids curious and interested in all kinds of topics? What do we do when we don't know how to answer their questions? What are some cool educational websites for them? Why is it so important to let kids know that we (sadly) don't know every single thing in the world? And WHY WHY WHY are kids all so obsessed with farts? We have answers! Join a fun chat with Kristen, Liz, and Molly...

Liz is joined by Cool Mom Eats editor Stacie Billis -- and a special, surprise child guest -- to take on all your questions about that big parenting milestone (cue scary music)... sending your kids off to sleepaway camp! How do you know when they're ready? How do pick the right camp? What are the secret BTDT camp tricks for packing? How do you get your kids to actually write you letters? What abou...

Comedian, actor (Inside Amy Schumer, 30 Rock), author of Man V Child, and dad Doug Moe joins us to answer parents' most common questions about babies and toddlers. Do babies belong in bars? What do you do when you hate your kids' friends? Find out the answers - and laugh a lot - on this week's episode of Spawned with Kristen + Liz.  Questions? spawned@coolmompicks.com, @coolmompicks on Twitter and...

If you're like us, you've got emails piled up in your inbox, photos eating up memory on your phone, and don't even get us started with all the documents cluttering up your computer. But that's all about to change thanks to professional organization expert and Director of Global Community and Training at Evernote, Joshua Zerkel. He's got pretty amazing tips and tricks that can really help you get a...

If you want to get your kids excited about science, or need help answering those impossible questions they ask about the world around them, join us! We've got a super fun interview with the hosts of Wow in the World, the brand new NPR science + discovery podcast for kids starring Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas. They describe the crazy questions their own children have asked them, offer tips and resource...

Today, Liz is joined by Lauren Smith Brody, the fabulous author of The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom's Guide to Style, Sanity, and Big Success After Baby. Join us for a fun, revealing, extremely honest chat about getting over mommy guilt (argh!), how to look and and feel human again, how to carve out me-time, and why single moms are our role models. | Comments/Questions? Find us on social @cool...

This week, we're sharing the Mother's Day PR pitches in our inboxes that are so hilariously bad we couldn't help but laugh about them. And uh....save them. To share with you. Because we love you.  Want to say hi to Kristen + Liz? Share the best or worst gifts you've ever gotten? Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook or IG @CoolMomPicks and use the hashtag #SpawnedShow.  Learn more about your ad choices...

This week, Liz and Kristen sit down with the one and only queen of kids music, Laurie Berkner! Tune in for a fun talk about what to do when your kids outgrow the kid stuff, learn tips for connecting over the music they do like, and behold: our own first teenage concert confessions! Some of which are more embarrassing than others. (Ahem, Kristen.)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone....

Upon popular request, it's an entire Cool Picks of the Week episode, filled with beauty saves and splurges right from our own make-up bags. Did Liz really spend $72 on a mascara? Is that $5 lipstick as good as the $30 one? We'll give you the inside scoop on our favorites that we hope you love just as much as we do. You can find links from our show over on our podcast page . And feel free to send u...

With so many parents asking us about how to manage social media and kids, we decided to spend a show helping parents navigate this challenging topic. On this episode, we discuss some of the recent studies about kids and social media, and then tap into our own experience as parents and tech experts to share our tips, tricks, and practice advice. And of course, we end our show with our cool picks of...

Who doesn't want more time in their day? On this episode of Spawned with Kristen and Liz, we take a close look at 5 popular time organization techniques from the experts and talk about how they could work (or not) for parents. We bet you'll appreciate these smart ideas that could really help make your life as a busy parent easier. And, as always, we share our cool picks of the week. You can find e...

With the popularity of the new Beauty and the Beast movie , we just had to address the issue of princess culture and whether it's healthy or hurtful. Can you still be a feminist parent with daughters obsessed with princesses? How does this all affect our sons? We tap into books, articles, research, and our own parenting experience as we chat about this controversial topic. You'll find all the link...

Whether you've got a kid who eats everything or the same four foods over and over, we've got tips, tricks, and helpful advice from our Cool Mom Eats food editor (and mom of 2), Stacie Billis that you won't want to miss. Tapping into her background in child development as well as her many years as a food writer, Stacie shares her advice on everything from how to get kids to eat better to ways to en...

That's right, the Dr. Harvey Karp joins us for this very special episode to answer your sleep questions, like when babies are really supposed to sleep through the night, what's the right (and wrong!) kind of white noise, plus how to handle sleep issues with older kids. And, he shares the inside scoop on his brand new SNOO smart sleeper , and how it's helping babies and parents get more sleep. Let'...