Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in greater los angeles, CA

Dicks Gift Card Winner

August 19, 2009

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway contest for Dicks Sporting Goods.  The winner is Tania from Los Angeles!  Congrats, and we hope you enjoy your shopping!  Please follow http://twitter.com/DicksSportCMO for more good deals.  Read more...

Back To School Sports Supplies Giveaway

August 10, 2009

Does your little one play soccer, T-ball, or some other sport that requires equipment?  Does she just like kicking stuff around in the backyard?  We know those things can add up over time, especially with our little Destructo-Preschooler, so we are delighted to bring you this giveaway from Dick's Sporting Goods.  The prize is a $100 gift card!

Here's how to to enter:

Follow Dick's CMO on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/DicksSportCMO

COMMENT HERE and answer the question, "What would you buy at Dick's with $100 and why?"

That's it!  The contest will be open for entries until next Monday night, August 17, at 11:59 PM.  The winner will be chosen at random and announced on Tuesday, August 18.  Only entries that consist of new follows for @DicksSportCMO with a valid comment on Being Savvy San Fernando will qualify.

Happy Twittering!

Summer Reading For Parents: Local Writers

August 04, 2009

The joke is that in Los Angeles, everyone is working on a script.  Luckily, that old adage extends to books, too.  The new fashionable thing to be working on, if you're a writer in Los Angeles who has children, is the parenting memoir.  If you're looking for some end-of-summer reading while the children frolic on the beach, look no farther than your local bookstore for tales of child-rearing, from dramatic and thoughtful to light and funny, from people who get what it's like to have little kids in our town.

This Lovely Life by Vicki Forman.  "A Memoir of Premature Motherhood," this book tells the story of Forman's twins born at 24 weeks gestation, and the rabbit hole she entered as an advocate for their care.  Haunting and soulful, Forman's prose is gut-wrenching, and carries with it a quiet hope.

Sippy Cups are Not For Chardonnay and Naptime Is the New Happy Hour by Stefanie Wilder Taylor.  With snappy pop culture references, Taylor recounts her daughter's first year of life, then her transition to childhood, in short chapters that are fun and easy to read in quick bursts.

Rage Against the Meshugenah by Danny Evans.  A dad's take on raising kids while battling depression, this book has been described as "fun to read" with a laugh on every page.

Rockabye by Rebecca Woolf.  In her memoir Woolf describes how she went from party girl to stay-at-home mom at the tender age of 23.



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Weekend Roundup - BlogHer '09 edition

July 23, 2009

There are no lazy days of summer around here, I'm afraid.  July kicked off our bad back/sick/family visiting/travel season so my household has been rather, well, chaotic.  I remind myself that priority 1 = the children.  Priority "up there too, honey" is my husband.  Then work (for $) then work (for the love, which includes this site), then parties like the ones at BLOGHER '09 which I am really excited to be attending this weekend.  I just can't contain it.  The networking, the free stuff that I will share with you, and the things I will learn will all come back to benefit this space.  If you are attending, please let me know so we can jump up and down and try not to pee our pants together.

Meanwhile, back in the valley...

SATURDAY

Frugal Festival!  Meet the Bargain Babe in person!  Get chances to win free cash!  Get financial advice on the run!  Play outside!

Space Camp at Borders in Canoga Park to celebrate 40th Anniversary of Apollo moon landing. (I will be at BlogHer but otherwise I would not be missing this event that is so perfect for my four year old.  Sigh.)

Free movie at Warner Center Park:  Alvin and the Chipmunks, starts at dusk.

SUNDAY

Warner Center Park free concert!  Desperado, an Eagles tribute band, 6 to 8pm.

Summer Family Fun at Farmers Market LA 12-3PM, face painting and a circus!

Bargain Babe: Top 4 money saving tips for parents

July 21, 2009

I love a good deal.  I've given you my own tips before on saving money, but I have quite a treat today.  This is a guest post from Julia Scott, who writes BargainBabe.com and BargainBabeLA.com, a site where you can find and share local deals using Google maps. She shares daily tips and scoops on deals and savings opportunities. like this one about free pastry day (TODAY) at Starbucks.  Best of all, join her Sunday, July 26 from 1-4 p.m. at Woodley Park in Van Nuys for a free celebration of being frugal. Details at Frugal Festival.

Grocery Store Alternative - Larry's Produce

June 15, 2009

As a mom and Chief Everything Officer of my household (Everything, incidentally, does not include plumbing or ironing) I have been getting increasingly frustrated with our grocery bill.  I cut the coupons, I make the lists, I plan the menus, I squeeze the shopping in wherever I can, and still our bill climbs and climbs.  The worst culprit is supermarket produce.  There is no reason, in California, to see a $5.99/lb price tag on apricots.  Seriously.

My husband had been urging me to try the local ethnic produce market for a while, but I was too scared to go in there.  My experience with ethnic markets consists solely of visiting our local Vallarta, the Latino-skewing supermarket chain with a location down the street.  The traffic there is so bad that it's impossible to get a parking space without almost running over 10 people and a fruit cart.  It's too much for me.

One morning a few weeks ago, however, I had a few extra minutes on my hands and so I gathered my courage and went into Larry's Produce, a small market on Reseda just south of Nordhoff in Northridge (parking is behind the building).  Not one but three ethnicities are represented, according to the signs:  Indian, Mexican, and American.  I went in on a Monday morning, so the place was nearly deserted and the produce was being restocked right before my eyes.  The produce prices grabbed my eyes and hooked me in - I stayed to check out all of the exotic offerings, too.

The staff was nice and friendly, and there was no wait to check out.  The lovely gentleman behind the deli counter, stocked with fresh cuts of everything, told me that they serve hot kabob meals for lunch starting at 11AM every day except Sunday.  For less than $20 I scored broccoli, bananas, strawberries, peaches, lettuce, fresh pita bread, hummus, and the best deal of all:  4 ripe apricots for $0.79!  Take that, supermarket!

Check out what other people are saying about Larry's Produce here.  My favorite suggestion "[Wander] the aisles when you're depressed and looking at each and every weird item."

9043 Reseda Blvd. NOrthridge, CA 91324 818-773-0469

Myself Belts - A Giveaway

June 08, 2009

You know how there's all this talk about mommyblogs and product reviews going on in the blogosphere and on Twitter?  If you don't know, you can read about it on several popular blogs, but really, it's just a time-waster, and the basic idea is that since mommyblogs are the new target of marketers, they are increasingly chock full of product reviews and sponsored posts which can call into question the validity of a blogger's story and authentic voice.  Being Savvy gets a lot of pitches and we are often the lucky recipients of fantastic products to feature and give away to readers, so this space is not a place to complain about it.  Instead, we celebrate marketing here, and we hope you trust us to handpick only those products that we really believe in, because we all have preschoolers ourselves.

Today I want to tell you about a product that was not pitched to me, however.  In the traditional mommyblogger way, I was surfing the 'net a few weeks ago, catching up on my favorites.  My blog-friend Kate Waterhouse wrote a post about a product that she found in a search for a solution.  This was not pitched to her at all.  She had a need for something, searched for it, tried it, loved it, and blogged about it.  THAT, my friends, is the power of a mommy blogger.  Because when I read about it, I thought, "Genius!" and contacted them and said "Hey, would you like me to test and tell my readers about it?"

Long story short, the product is Myself Belts, "the first belt intended for one-handed use, making dressing and undressing an easy and accessible thing for a child of any age! The fashion and function of the belt assures all tots feel independent and self-confident as they can now secure their pants in place on their very own - any place or time!"  

The belt is a groovy strap that you thread through the kid's pants as usual, except that the velcro end loops around the first tab on one side, so that there is an anchor.  The velcro closure allows for the child to quickly open or close the belt, putting the control in his hands and keeping his pants up!  This is perfect for skinny kids whose pants, while long enough, don't stay up.  If you try one, you'll see why the product speaks for itself, and why it made its way quite naturally into a blog post on a perfectly good mommy blog.  Myself Belts is extending a discount for our readers through the month of June - use coupon code "SAVVY" and get 10% off your order.

The company has happily offered to give one of their Myself Belts to a lucky Being Savvy reader.  Just leave a comment here before midnight on the night of Sunday, June 14 and the winner will be chosen at random, announced next Monday June 15.  If you win, you tell them the size and gender, and they will send you a nifty belt! 

Early Reading Programs: Word Attack!

May 25, 2009

For my kids' birthdays this year, my mother-in-law sent a giant box of materials from the "Your Baby Can Read" program.  I hadn't heard of it before then, but she said that her friend used it with her children and it helped them do well in school.  Since my kids are not yet in school, I haven't felt any pressure to teach them to read.  In fact, our 4-year-old pretty much learned the alphabet from Sesame Street.  Now that the 2-year-old is talking, I do try to give him some instruction in that department so he can catch up with his big brother, but since I'm in denial that they ever have to go to school, I'm not exactly pushing it.

My denial must come to an end soon.  The older son starts preschool in the fall, which as I understand it from other parents, is simply kindergarten but with naps.  I'm told that once a child hits kindergarten he must have certain basic skills mastered - that's as far as I will let myself think about it.  I know the time will come when I will have to buckle down and find out what those skills are and help him to master them, but that time is not now.

Still, I couldn't help but be curious when I found out that Pierce College's extension program offers summer reading programs for children as young as 4 years.  I don't know about you, but for me the idea of my kid being able to read himself a good night story every now and then is a tempting thought.  If you want to give your child a leg up before he or she starts kindergarten, this is seems like a good way to do it.  "Students in these programs make significant gains in phonics, word-attack, sight vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension."  The classes meet on Saturdays at Cal State Northridge or Pierce College in Woodland Hills.  Tuition is $299. 


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Tough Stuff Local Resources

May 05, 2009

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  When I was younger, I would celebrate the day by attending a big ol' party in West Hollywood.  Now?  Not so much.  This "holiday" comes and goes without a ripple in the otherwise choppy sea of my crazy family life.  That doesn't mean I can't stop for a moment and reminisce about my younger years, but at the same time I know the days of my children being so young and needy are numbered.  It's helpful to keep that in mind when they are whining in stereo and I can't even do the most basic of things without someone getting hurt or something getting broken as I look away for 30 seconds!

Our family is fortunate, as I've said, to be together and healthy and otherwise intact.  Knock on wood, we will always be that way, but just in case, it's nice to know there are resources to consult if we ever need them.  Here are some organizations to contact in our area when family matters are too large to handle alone:

Child Abuse Hotline  800-540-4000

LA County Free and Low-cost Healthcare Services

Department of Mental Health:  Free, confidential mental health information, referrals to service providers, and crisis counseling at any day or time, 1-800-854-7771

Department of Public Social Services :  For financial assistance

• East Valley Office – 14545 Lanark St., Panorama City…..............................……..(818) 901-4101
• West Valley Office – 21415 Plummer St., Chatsworth...…….............................….(818) 718-5217

Weekend Roundup: Let the Spring Events Begin!

April 23, 2009

There's a lot going on around these parts this weekend.  Saddle up!  Also, don't forget the Earth Day (Month) events listed here on Tuesday.

THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

Santa Clarita Valley Cowboy Festival:  Have a little cowboy or girl in your family?  Head up the mountain for days and days of music, poetry, food, cowboy gear, and trip roping!  Behind the scenes tours of a movie studio!  Old west is best.

FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

Santa Clarita Valley Kids Consignment Sale:  Just like the LA Kids Consignment Sale but...not.  It's smaller and newer and probably less of a zoo.  Great place to stock up on summer clothes and toys.  Who cares if it's secondhand if they're just going to destroy it anyway?

SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

Burbank Arts Festival:  Seriously, click that link.  There's so much going on during this event that my eyes started to pop out and I got tired just reading it.  Chalk art?  A mud booth?  High school BANDS?!  It's fun on a silver platter, my friends.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books:  Simply put, this event brings together people who love books with people who create them.  For two days there will be author signings and readings, including many, many children's authors and performers.  I originally planned to attend this alone, but looking at the schedule I know I would want the children there.  Wish me luck.  Tickets are free, but parking is $9 at UCLA.

SATURDAY ONLY

Kester's World Music and Art Festival:  11AM to 5PM.  Music, games, art, food, more.  Kester Ave. Elementary School.  If this is your district, it's a good way to meet people in that community before your children get to that kindergarten. 

Bargain Babe speaks:  3:00PM - 4:30PM, Borders, Thousand Oaks.  Julia Scott of the Bargain Babe blog shares tips about cutting expenses and saving big!

What Is Freecycle?

April 20, 2009

Our family went on an overnight trip this weekend.  Before we got very far we had to come back to the house because I had forgotten something.  When I walked in the door I thought "We've been robbed!" because everything in the house has been turned upside down:  books were off the shelves, toys littered the floor, couch cushions were upturned, clothes were tossed in piles throughout.  I quickly realized that that was just the state of our house as a result of the chaos of getting ready for the trip.  Now that we are back and cleaning up I am overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff we have, especially the toys!  Oy!

Body Image Forms NOW - Emme Helps Us Note National Eating Disorders Awareness Week

February 23, 2009

Emme is working with Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity to educate our country about weight bias, weight discrimination and wants to share with you helpful ways to teach your children about the harmful effects of weight bias and how to support a child in your life who is the victim of such a horrible experience.

I am bringing you this interview as the week of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week begins.  Please take a moment after reading this post to visit the site!  

Savvy Source - What exactly is weight bias? Why is it such a growing problem in the US? 

Emme - The issue with childhood obesity is that it has doubled in the past 20 years.  30% of adults are obese.  1 in 5 children are overweight.  The obesity rate in teenagers has tripled in the last 20 years.  If you read the studies that are being done you realize that children who are obese have the same type of feeling as a child going through cancer treatments. 

They get mobbed, they

Green Soap

by Kim Tracy Prince

January 26, 2009

Thanks to goodeedle, I just found out about a "circle of life" operation right here in Los Angeles. Further Soap is made from used vegetable oil collected from the "finest restaurants" in L.A.. The makers use the biofuel portion in their cars, then use the glycerin to make soap. They take the soap back to the same restaurants where they got the vegetable oil. An 8 oz. bottle costs $18.50. For  Read more...

Wear Bamboo Socks

by Kim Tracy Prince

January 22, 2009

With the Go Green Expo showing up in town this weekend, I've been on the lookout for "green" businesses in our area. There are not that many, so when I hear of one, I like to tell you about it. Green and Greener is on the east end of the Valley on Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Valley Village. The store sells everything from compost buckets to t-shirts, from cleaning products to diaper  Read more...

guest post from Totspot.com

by Kim Tracy Prince

January 15, 2009

You should know something about me. I hate scrapbooking and the internet has made me neglect my paper journal. Thank God for blogging then, which started to become popular around the time I got pregnant with our 3.5-year-old son. My personal blog began as a way to keep track of my pregnancy and share stories and pictures with family and friends far away. Now there are resources set up just for  Read more...

Three Favorite Parenting Tools

by Kim Tracy Prince

January 08, 2009

I am not a parenting expert just because I have two little boys. I'm not even an expert at parenting THESE two little boys. They keep me on my toes, as they say. However, along the way I have discovered certain books and tools that have worked for me at certain times. 1. The Sleep Easy Solution . Much like Babywise or The Baby Whisperer, or even the Ferber method,  Read more...

Mother on Fire

by Kim Tracy Prince

January 07, 2009

Today is "Parenting Book" day here at Being Savvy, so I'm taking this opportunity to tell you about Sandra Tsing Loh's book " Mother on Fire ," which tells the story of Loh's journey through the school choices available to parents in the San Fernando Valley. That is how the book is marketed, and when I cracked it open, I was eager to discover the secret of navigating among the  Read more...

Celebrating Being Savvy San Fernando's First (Half) Year (Reader's Input)

by Kim Tracy Prince

December 31, 2008

(Imagine how many kids live here!) It's been a great half-year creating this site. Previously I would whine and moan that there was no resource quite like Being Savvy for the valley. I mean, sometimes I think event guides forgot that the valley existed, or that children live here. Whining and moaning usually don't get me anywhere, but somehow the universe said "Oh  Read more...

My Favorite Posts of 2008

by Kim Tracy Prince

December 30, 2008

Looking back on the mass of posts I've put up here, I selected my very favorites, for one reason or another. Escape to the Valley Series - because there's too much to do around here in one day. Graffiti removal - because we teach our kids NOT to write on our stuff. Classes around town - because preschool can only cover so much. The Sneaky DJ - because the Wiggles drove me crazy. Valley  Read more...

Helping Them Help: Kidflicks

by Kim Tracy Prince

December 22, 2008

By now your preschooler has probably grown out of the Baby Einstein phase. On the later end, she's probably already into Hannah Montana and not so much into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse anymore. So what do you do with all those DVD's she never watches anymore? If you're like me, you have friends in the film industry, and so you have stacks of DVD's that spill out of your  Read more...

Yard Sale! Benefits our soldiers

by Kim Tracy Prince

December 19, 2008

OPERATION GRATITUDE YARD SALE Saturday December 20th, 2008 6am to 4pm All proceeds to benefit Operation Gratitude 1000's of Items for $1.00; Great Holiday Gifts 17330 Victory Boulevard; Corner of Louise Lot adjacent to California National Guard Armory Donations of Items Welcome on Friday December 19th from 9-4 (Operation Gratitude will set all sale prices) You  Read more...

Buckle Up

by Kim Tracy Prince

December 05, 2008

My preschooler, at age 3-and-a-half, is already a back seat driver. "Slow down Mommy!" he'll cry as we drive to daycare. "You're losing the race, Mommy, the other cars are ahead of you!" he complains as I switch lanes on the freeway...inevitably to the one that stands still. "Be careful, Mommy, don't crash this car, or you will break it!" Etc. Etc. But before I give him the keys  Read more...

A Note About Giveaways and Comments

by Kim Tracy Prince

November 21, 2008

Our delightful network of local blogs here on Being Savvy is pretty young - we've only been live since June, and adding new cities lately, too. So it's only natural that we experience changes and growing pains - one of those is that now you have to sign up and log in to comment on our posts. I know that can be a pain, believe me, I am the last one who wants to go that extra inch when I fly  Read more...

Volunteer them early

by Kim Tracy Prince

November 12, 2008

Every new kid you have is an opportunity to have two more helping hands around the house someday. At least that's how I think of it when I am gritting my teeth and saying "Please pick up your fork/toy/socks" for the fourth time, trying to train my children to be helpful. Getting them out of the house to help someone else might drive the point home a little bit more, too. That's why I've  Read more...

Storytime Update

by Kim Tracy Prince

November 11, 2008

Back in May I wrote about some great local spots for storytimes.  It's about time to update that list, but some good things don't change.  I stand by my recommendations (below) and I'm adding a few new ones: ASL Story Time - Deaf West Theatre, North Hollwood.  Every Saturday at 10AM through December 13.  " Each workshop offers children and adults  Read more...

Sensory Friendly Films

by Kim Tracy Prince

November 05, 2008

One of the great advantages of living in a big city is the prevalence of cool things to do. (Don't argue with me right now. I know there are lots of BAD things about living in a big city, too, and you'll often hear me complaining about them.) One of the great advantages of living in the Los Angeles area is the variety of movie-viewing opportunities, and now the movie viewing opportunities  Read more...

Allergen-Free Goodies for the Trick or Treaters

by Kim Tracy Prince

October 30, 2008

Nothing takes the fun out of trick-or-treating like food allergies in children. If your child or someone close to you has a serious food allergy that makes most candy dangerous to them, navigating Halloween can be an anxiety inducing experience. Some parents cope by skipping the ritual altogether, but as children get older and especially if they have siblings, it gets harder to deny them  Read more...

Sit! Stay! We'll Be Back in a Few Hours!

by Kim Tracy Prince

October 24, 2008

When Kyle was a baby and even up until his little brother was born, it wasn't very hard to find someone to watch him so that Stewart and I could go out for a few hours. But after we had Brady, I didn't often want to ask our friends to watch TWO kids, especially since the older one had moved firmly into his, how shall I say, precocious years. So we didn't go out for a while. And then along came  Read more...

When It's Urgent But Not An Emergency

by Kim Tracy Prince

October 06, 2008

Our kids have a great pediatrician's office just a short drive away, without traffic. With traffic it's a different story - there's no freeway involved, but to get there we must take major surface streets near the 101/405 junction, and everyone knows that area is a traffic snarl best avoided if possible. During office hours, if one of our kids is sick or injured, driving them there in  Read more...