Real-life reviews from parents.
Explore our lists & add your tips.

Give yourself plenty of time for the routine! I think starting an hour before we actually want the kids to be asleep has worked best for our family.

Involve them however you can, so they have some choice in the process. For us, it is often picking the story we read, or the number of books we read (within reason), as well as which kid goes first to brush teeth or take their bath.

Annie! A classic for the whole family, always. Kids were 7 and 9 when we saw it, and we were coming out of an obsession with the movies, which made it extra fun!

I love the stage version of Beauty and the Beast! It's just similar enough to the familiar Disney movie for kids to understand everything, but just different enough to keep it fresh. The extra songs are some of my favorites.....and there's nothing like the magic of watching the beast turn into a prince right before your eyes!

How to do laundry!

How to change a tire and jump start a car.

Picking weeds outside, watering flowers/plants/herbs and raking leaves is a chore that my kids find fun. (Added bonus if you buy their own gloves/watering can).

Pet care has many great options for age-appropriate chores for kids. Feeding and watering, taking the dog for a walk, cleaning the litter box and grooming tasks are all important.

I discovered that a heavyweight hairband looped around both door handles was just as effective (if not more!) at keeping my cabinet doors shut than those cabinet latches made specifically for baby proofing. Plus, they were way easier (and less annoying) for me to take on and off, making it more likely that I'd always keep it on. This only works on certain handles, though, like pull bars and knobs.

Sturdy stair guards at the top and bottom of the staircase are a must once baby starts moving around!

Join the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) reciprocal network. Register with a flat yearly fee at your local children's museum (it pays itself off very fast!) and you'll receive 50% off at sooo many children's museums nationwide. (You'll earn free membership at your local museum, too.) Where are you headed? Find a children's museum in the ACM network here: https://findachildrensmuseum.org/

Though dining out is part of the travel experience and something to embrace, we never fail to make a quick grocery store run on day 1 of the trip, especially for breakfast items so we can wake up and casually eat at "home": cereal, milk, bagels, fruit, coffee, etc. This is less expensive (and less time consuming) than eating out every single morning.

If there are six apples and you take away four, how many apples do you have? Four.

The more you take away from me, the bigger I get. What am I? A hole.