The problem with being a ‘holistic mom’ is that we want to send our grown-up kids out into the world with everything they could possibly need! The best college first aid kit addresses the most common small stuff in a general way and contains familiar, easy-to-use items.

Having the kids off school during the summer is a mixed bag. The long-anticipated freedom from being over-scheduled quickly gives way to the stressful fatigue of managing high-intensity kids looking for outlets. It’s exhausting to constantly be ‘herding cats’, or trying to muscle our kids into ‘helping’ or ‘things to occupy them’. As parents, we can still reap the helpful benefits of rhythm during the summer free-for-all by getting creative. Here are 10 parenting tips to beat summer boredom!

“The imitative nature of the baby and young child is so obvious and so all-pervasive that we tend to be blind to it, unaware of its implications for parenting,” opens a 1987 Mothering Magazine article by author Rahima Baldwin. “Your child learns everything through imitation - walking, talking, toilet training, tying shoes, endless tasks. And imitation manifest in expressions and gestures, as when we see and hear ourselves in our children’s play. “ I’d add that while parenting is now extremely child-centered, none of these actions are learned better from a screen or app. “The most effective way to correctly behavior in the young child is to provide an example in movement rather than to reason it out….”

There lots of lists of the “Special Gifts for the Women in Your Life”. But these lists are AWFUL! Full of fancy perfume we’ve never heard of, lotion sets full of garbage, jewelry that looks like the entrance of every department store? Who WRITES this stuff?

So, here are some REAL gift-giving ideas moms will appreciate, use and remember!