Parenting Now Blog

Along with all the joys and precious moments with your little one, parenting a new baby can be lonely work. Especially as a new parent - you are adapting to a lot! There are long days of seemingly endless feedings and diaper changes, rocking and swaying, swaddling and then re-swaddling-and, ironically, you are never really ...

Everyone at every age can thrive on positive attention! It feels good when someone focuses his or her full attention - in a good way - on you. Children, especially, need that attention in order to grow emotionally, develop their self-esteem, confidence, and a positive sense of identity. But as parents, we get busy and ...

Team parenting is about having a shared approach to parenting, even when the parents don't live together. It includes having similar approaches to everything from bedtime to how to handle discipline, and supporting one another in those choices. Team parenting can make the daily challenges of parenting so much easier, by helping your child understand ...

When you're pregnant, it doesn't take much time in the sun to feel overheated, but there are some things you can do to stay cool (or at least comfortable) during the summer months as the temperatures start to spike.  Did someone turn up the thermostat? No, it's not an illusion. Your internal body temperature is ...

Summer is a busy time for parents. There's swimming, camps, sleepovers, picnics, playgrounds-not to mention the everyday chores like laundry that need tending to. It can be hard to manage it all in one day! So what can parents do to juggle the demands of parenting, while still finding balance in their day and keeping their sanity? ...

As a parent, you are your child's first teacher-and wonderful learning can take place when you play together. You don't need expensive toys or gadgets to entertain and engage your child. In fact, the best learning and play comes from items you can find around the home and your imagination! For this reason, Parenting Now's ...

Kids are naturally creative, and your unique child is going to express their creativity in their own special way. Some kids express themselves through singing; others like to smear paint all over a canvas; and some kids like to make patterns out of items found in nature. Point is, it's ALL good and it's ALL ...

This spring, Parenting Now was lucky to have Christy Rigopoulos as one of our stellar interns. Christy, a senior at the UO, worked hard to support our local, deserving families by coordinating a Healthy Families Care Package fundraiser. She raised over $850 dollars in a few weeks to provide care packages for the families that ...

Cooking and baking alongside your toddler and young child results in so much more than just a tasty meal or snack! When we cook with our child, we provide opportunities for learning science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM). STEAM is a way of looking at learning that explores many subjects within the same activity-and ...

There are few parts of parenting that are as notoriously challenging as encouraging your toddler to try new foods. It might be an uphill battle to introduce new snacks, flavors, and textures, but it doesn't have to be that way!  Here are some simple ways to encourage your toddler to try new foods. Tips to ...

Summer weather is upon us and parents and kids alike are chomping at the bit to get out the goggles and cannonball into the swimming pool. But with COVID-19 restrictions still in place, more families are opting for a backyard, above ground swimming pool or wading pool. Swimming and water play bring endless joy to ...

As a new parent, you may feel inundated with information about stimulating your baby's budding brain with interactive toys, books, things to look at, etc. But just as important as stimulating playtime is quiet time for your baby to reflect and recharge. Learning how to balance the two is something all families can benefit from ...