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Our Journal
March 31, 2016
Top 5 Spring Activities for Kids of Every Age
Spring is here and that means the flowers are blooming, the air is fresh, and you’ve switched from hot to iced coffee. Here are our top five favorite activities to do with your kids this spring, organized by age.
3 and Under
Spring is often accompanied by many rainy days. Use those days for some fun spring crafts with your kids indoors. We love this Footprint Flower Pot idea from Crafty Morning!
4-6 Years
Make play dough! If your kids are a little too advanced for the craft above, but you still need to entertain them on a rainy day, this is a perfect baking and crafting combo. Let them help you bake the play dough, and they’ll love playing with it even more. Get creative with this homemade play dough recipe from I Heart Nap Time.
7- 10 Years
Pick and press flowers. Take the beauty of nature home with you. Let your kids have fun picking flowers outside, and then go home to press them. Check out this guide to pressing flowers from 5 Minutes for Mom.
10 and Up
Explore new passions. Photography is a fun way for your kids to experience the outdoors and get artsy at the same time. Phones double as great cameras these days, or you can go old-school and pick up a vintage film camera from a consignment shop. Either way, hand over the reins and let them have fun.
All Ages
Have a picnic. When the sun does come out, get outside and soak it in! Grab a blanket and some snacks, and enjoy the beautiful spring weather. Perfect for babies and older children alike. If your kids are school aged or older you may want to bring a ball or frisbee for them to enjoy too.
March 14, 2016
Fitbit Blaze Giveaway with Flayk App, Ends 3/29
3 Easy Steps to Enter to Win a Fitbit Blaze:
- Download the Flayk app on iOS or Android
- Create a Flayk Account for your family
- Tell Conservamom you’ve entered!
Originally published on: Conservamom
Welcome to the Get Organized + Fit with Flayk Giveaway!
Hosted by Conservamom
Being CEO of my house can be hard. With 5 kids keeping up with all their various activities is close to impossible at times. Although I get tons of help from my hubby it can be tough being on the same page all the time between all our schedules and day to day life. Thankfully I discovered Flayk, a free, family/life management app now available for free download in both the Google Play Store and the iOS App Store. It has become a lifesaver!
Flayk allows families to coordinate activities, assign responsibilities, share to-do and shopping lists and award points for completed actions in a single app that can be used by multiple families and groups. One of the app’s core features is the ability for users toflayk events, which alerts the group in the event of an unexpected conflict – from car trouble to a meeting that runs long –and allows someone else to quickly pick up the task and keep the day moving smoothly.
As detailed in ADWEEK, Flayk is the perfect solution for families looking to simplify life in 2016 as well as a technology “must have” for the new aged organized family.
Flayk Basic is free, and for a limited time, Flayk Premium, a seamless, ad-free experience with expanded features, is free for the first month. Flayk Premium is regularly priced at $1.99/month or $18.99/year.
Flayk is the only family management app on the market to introduce an innovative rewards system that lets families assign point values to specific activities. Family members can earn points for completing tasks and redeem them for specific rewards of the family’s choosing, for example, a raise in allowance, a curfew extension, dinner at a favorite restaurant or a pass on a chore.
Flayk recognizes that diversity with its customizable, central hub to organize all kinds of families, whether they live under one roof or are in multiple locations.
In spirit of holding on to those 2016 Mom Resolutions and preparing for the spring season ahead, Flayk is offering a chance to win an all new Fitbit Blaze™ – Fitbit’s New Smart Fitness Watch including a breakthrough features such as PurePulse™ Heart Rate Monitor, Connected GPS, On-Screen Workouts and Color Touchscreen.
Make sure to enter by downloading the Flayk app (IOS or Android) and setting up a profile!
Disclosure: All opinions are 100% mine. This giveaway is in no way associated with, sponsored, administered, or endorsed by Facebook, Twitter, Google, Pinterest or any other social media network.All opinions and experiences are Conservamom‘s. Open to US residents only , must be 18+. Confirmed Winner(s) will be contacted through email and have 48 hours to respond before a new winner will be drawn. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law. The sponsor will be responsible for product fulfillment to winner(s) of the giveaway. The disclosure is done in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission 10 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. For questions or to see your product featured in an Event you can contact Elia At Conservamom
February 4, 2016
Why We #LoveWinter
Winter can feel never-ending, but it’s also the best time for cozying up with your family. This week we’re sharing the things we love about winter.
1. We love cuddling up with the kids and their furry friends in the living-room pillow fort.
2. We love sipping on drinks that warm the heart and soul.
3. We love wearing fun and silly sweaters and not caring if anyone judges you because it’s COLD.
4. We love finally diving into that book you’ve been meaning to read.
5. We love turning the kids’ snow day into a baking day and trying out a new recipe.
And that is why we love winter. Tell us why you love winter!
January 21, 2016
With so many baby brands, how does an entrepreneurial mom stand out?
Be it trendy jumpsuits and rompers, hipster tees, or a bib line, nearly everyday I discover a new designer baby brand. Each product promotes one feature that makes it unique, and appealing to a certain group moms — I call this the mommy-magnet factor.
Some target DIY moms with their handmade quality, others the fashionista mom with their scaled down version of runway fashions, and others green moms with organic cotton and fibers. Yet the majority of these small businesses share one thing in common: they are designed and run by moms themselves.
The inherent advantage of a mom-designed and mom-targeted product lies in the fact that the product caters to what the end-user actually wants. These mompreneurs won’t encounter the common challenge product developers and marketers face uncovering “mysterious mommyhood.” After all, they wouldn’t have created the product if they didn’t see a use for it in a mom’s life in the first place.
Yet, they will face the challenge of finding a true differentiating factor. After all, how unique can one cloth diaper be from 100 others? Well, I’m here to tell you that moms are creativity machines! I’ve happened upon a few mom-owned children’s brands recently and have been thoroughly impressed.
Tired of only seeing pink dresses for girls and blue shirts for boys, a handful of mom companies have sprouted up in an attempt to redefine gender stereotypes for kids clothing. California-based company, Handsome in Pink, sells shirts that feature pink and purple firetrucks, tool belts, and phrases like “I love math,” made for both girls and boys. Similarly, Seattle-based Free to be Kids features gender neutral onesies and tees with positive messages for girls and boys. The messages these moms are spreading aim to empower children by what they wear, and not confine them to traditional gender cliches. If a boy wants to wear pink he should, and if a girl loves science it shouldn’t be hard for her to find clothing to express her passion.
Photo Credit: Free to Be Kids
Another mom-inspired idea I love centers around the idea of upcycling. Like many environmentally-conscious clothing brands, NYC mom Karina Kallio was disturbed by the fact that 85% of textile waste ends up in landfills. To make her dream of conscious clothing a reality she started Kallio, a children’s clothing company made from reclaimed and vintage flannels, cotton and denim. Another environmentally friendly brand was inspired by a similar idea. California moms Melina and Rachel founded Petite Marin because they loved the idea of giving old clothes a new purpose, rather than throwing them into a landfill. The company allows customers to create their own custom children’s clothing by mailing in a beloved button down shirt, flannel, or military garment, and then transforms that item into a romper or dress crafted for kids. These moms are outfitting stylish children and reducing environmental waste all at the same time.
Photo Credit: Petite Marin
Yet moms are getting creative even beyond clothing. Mom Mansai Gangan was exhausted by the long nights she stayed up getting her son to sleep by staying by his side, applying the touch of her hand to his chest. After doing her research, she learned that light pressure on a baby’s chest, whether by human touch or simulated, soothed them and resulted in a better night’s sleep. This inspired her to create the Nested Bean, which sells the Zen Swaddle and Zen Sack, both products replicate a mom’s embrace with lightly weighted pads and help babies sleep better.
Photo Credit: Nested Bean
These concepts subvert traditional baby brand powerhouses and challenge other moms to think differently about the products they are buying for their children. These mompreneurs are just a sampling of moms across the country who are using their experience and their noggins to up the mommy-magnet factor. What are some of your favorite mom-to-mom products?
Brands We Love:
Handsome in Pink
http://www.handsomeinpink.com/
Free to Be Kids
Kallio
Petite Marin
Nested Bean
Featured image photo credit: Emily May https://www.flickr.com/photos/emilysnuffer/16859530047/in/photostream/
January 20, 2016
2016 Mom Resolutions
The New Year is a time when people revisit their personal goals, and make vows to be more of the person they want to be. The new calendar gives people the incentive to leave their unmet goals from the previous year behind, and start fresh. Moms are a particular group that are quite hard on themselves, and have a tendency to make lofty goals. Here’s our list of important, yet achievable Mom Resolutions for 2016.
Make a routine, and stick to it!
Don’t be so hard on yourself.
Make more time for family dinners.
Schedule more personal time.
Plan more family game nights.
Breathe.
Which Mom Resolution resonates with you the most?
December 15, 2015
10 Tips for Holiday Family Travel
By Debbie Roberts
When you’re from a cold midwestern state, the sound of the waves crashing, the smell of saltwater in the air, and the warm feeling of sun shining on your back sounds like the best way to spend a vacation in winter. Although sometimes nostalgic for a white Christmas, spending the holidays on the beach in Florida sounds like a dream come true. Until you think about how you’ll get there. Not just traveling with your entire family, but traveling during the holidays with your entire family.
I’m no newcomer to holiday travel. M Read More
December 9, 2015
Our 10 Favorite Instagram Pregnancy Announcements
Announcing your pregnancy to your friends and family is such an exciting moment. You are about to share the news that you will be bringing new life into the world! But how to do it? Pregnancy announcements have gotten more creative with the popular Instagram hashtag #pregnancyreveal. Photographers and new moms alike are sharing sweet, clever, and quirky photos announcing the bun in the oven to their social networks.
Here are our favorite Instagram pregnancy reveals:
A photo posted by Kayleigh Grinsted (@kayleigh_grinsted) on
Coming to a hospital near you. ??
A photo posted by Teresa Dalpe (@tdalpe) on
A photo posted by Brie Morrissey *BLM Photo* (@blmphoto) on
Have you seen a pregnancy announcement you love? Share it with us!
November 23, 2015
Who’s Bringing What to Thanksgiving Dinner? Coordinating the Family Meal Plan
Written by: Danielle Dannenberg
Coordinating the Thanksgiving dinner menu for a big family requires a level of organization comparable to planning school bus routes or air traffic control patterns. I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a control freak when it comes to hosting holidays at our house, but it’s only because I want everyone to be calm, cool, and collected the day of the event. Imagine the chaos that would ensure if we ended up with five turkeys and no mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving!
For potluck-style holidays where the main attraction is the dinner table, I take extra measures to make sure everyone brings a different dish and we have a balanced meal. This usually manifests in the form of an elaborate flow chart, which evolves into a detailed family email, and potentially annoyance when Aunt Debbie hits “reply all.” Let’s not talk about the year when Uncle Mike didn’t get the memo and we had to suffer without chocolate pecan pie…
This year I’m trying something a little different and I have a good feeling about it. I’m lucky enough to be a part of the Flayk Beta Testing Group, which means I get special access to the app before it’s released to the public.
I’ve started making dish-specific lists for each meal I’m cooking. I listed out each ingredient for my favorite gluten free sweet potato casserole and vegetarian wild mushroom gravy recipes. Hopefully this way I’ll know if I need brown sugar… before Thursday morning rolls around.
Plus, I’ve decided to nix the mass email and am going to attempt to coordinate what everyone’s bringing through the app. Using the calendar feature I created an event for each dish and assigned the appropriate person as the event owner. I even set up automatic reminders 1 week and 2 days in advance so I don’t have to do the nagging myself! Flayk will send them a phone notification to remind them about the smoked turkey or the apple pie.
It also gives people backup if, for some reason, they can’t show up with the dish they were assigned. For instance, if Nancy can’t bring the stuffing, she can easily flayk it, everyone will get a notification, and someone’s likely to claim it in a heartbeat because we all know it’s not Thanksgiving without stuffing― much easier than the email chain.
Thanks to Flayk, we’re on track for a stress-free, balanced meal ― complete with mashed potatoes and chocolate pecan pie.
October 22, 2015
The Two Most Important Things I Learned About Family Management as a Nanny
Written by: Flayk Beta Tester
As a nanny of two kids it’s my responsibility to drop off and pick up Noah and Ethan for all of their scheduled activities. Their parents make the plans and then rely on me to make sure they make it to music class, swim practice, speech therapy, and playdates. Once in awhile, Noah’s swim practice collides with a playdate their mom has set for Ethan and the mom and I have to coordinate to make sure we’ve got it covered. I’ve been with this family for two years and these are the top two do’s and don’ts I would recommend to keep your family organization on point.
# 1: Do communicate daily to stay on top of changes in plans and new activities
If you set a schedule at the beginning of the week and assume it will stick, you face the risk of life getting in the way. Let’s face it, we’ve all had to back out on commitments if something more pressing comes up. When something on the schedule changes it benefits everyone to communicate this as early as possible. Now we use Flayk to let the family know if someone can no longer follow through with a task. Ethan’s mom might plan to pick him up from school, but if a work meeting runs late she will flayk the task to me to let me know right away and find out if I can fill in for her.
Last week I committed to going grocery shopping for the family, only to realize that with a few extra playdates I only had about 15 minutes without the kids every day, certainly not enough to check off all the items on the list. Since I was able to flayk the task early Friday morning, they knew right away and the dad could stop by the store on his way home from work. So much easier than frantically texting all of them. Plus, if I had waited until they got home on Friday to tell them I didn’t have a chance to go grocery shopping, they would have had to go out again after an already long week.
# 2: Don’t rely on sticky notes to do the job
The kids’ mom and I laugh about this now, but it wasn’t funny at the time. In the morning the two of us agreed that I would bring Noah to the park for a playdate from 2-4 and she would pick up Ethan from swim practice, which also ended at 4. I took the kids to the library before she left for work and since we usually came home for lunch she left a note on the counter telling me she forgot about a parent-teacher conference that afternoon and asking if I could actually pick Ethan up from swim practice ― this was back before we all had Flayk. Well, the kids and I ended up having a picnic lunch that day and never came home for lunch, which means I never saw the note. When their mom and I got home at the same time that night we were both shocked to see that Ethan wasn’t with the other. A look of panic rose on each of our faces as we realized no one picked Ethan up from swim practice! Of course, Ethan was fine, but the miscommunication we faced proves that notes on the fridge don’t always do the job. Life isn’t perfect, things come up and you have to be able to rely on flexible solutions.
October 22, 2015
With More 18-34 Year-Olds Living at Home, are Parents More Connected than Ever Before?
Written by: Alex Worth
Among all the Millennials and parents I know, I’ve noticed two extremes when it comes to technology. Either families are incredibly tech-connected or kids are trying to bring their parents out of the stone age.
In the first scenario the entire family has the newest tech gear and constantly communicates through trendy apps across multiple devices. In those families, the parents are often the ones sneaking private messages to their social networks at the dinner table instead of the children. we’ll call these families “the Jetsons.”
In the second scenario, it’s a struggle for kids to persuade their parents to even purchase a smartphone, and once they do its an even bigger challenge getting them to use it. In other words, these families are “the Flintstones”
My family falls into Category 2: Stone-Age Parents.
My parents resist technology as much as possible and when they finally get on board, I become their tech support guru.
No more, “Your call is important to us,” after a twenty-five minute hold time for mom and dad. Now they have me; and like 26% of Millennials ages 18-34 years old, I live at home (Pew Research Center).
With a source of knowledge on call for my technically challenged parents, my mom gets novel insights like instructions on how to open multiple tabs in one window. When I showed her the “Cmd + T” shortcut she reacted with shock, “Woah, woah, woah, slow down! How did you do that?” For parents of Millennials, the days of long-distance troubleshooting are a thing of the past.
Hence why I was surprised when my mom agreed to Beta test Flayk for our family. But the app makes sense to her and it helps her simplify family management. Now she can make sure I remember to take out the trash, feed the dog, and water the plants when she and my dad go out of town.
What used to be a note on the counter now comes to me in the form of a notification on my phone. Flayk levels the playing field between the overly connected Jetsons and even Flintstone families like mine.