About the Author

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Kristin Van de Water is a former journalist and teacher who relies on humor, faith, and her mom crew to get her through the day. Raising four kids in a two-bedroom NYC apartment, Kristin is always on the lookout for life hacks to save time, space, money, and her sanity.

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Creative Childcare Solutions for Life in NYC

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If it takes a whole village to raise one child, then thank goodness I live in New York City. As a stay-at-home mom of four on the Upper East Side, I’m grateful for my network of friends, babysitters, and neighbors who help when I need to be multiple places at once. Within 15 minutes of both my babysitters calling in sick today, I recruited a neighbor to monitor my sleeping toddler and a classmate’s dad to pick up my twins from Kindergarten while I hopped on the bus to collect my third from preschool. Finding last-minute creative childcare solutions that are affordable means embracing our beloved city. While some parents might be daunted by the thought of raising kids in New York City, especially when family lives across the country, there are certain characteristics of NYC life that work in moms and dads favor when it comes to childcare. Love your neighborhood Take advantage of high population density. Look for a sitter in your local neighborhood so her punctualit...
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How to Prepare for Those (Inevitable) Holiday Air Travel Headaches with Your Family

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The true sign of a veteran traveler is the ability to roll with the punches that holiday travel throws your way. An involuntary bump taught me to hope for the best but pack for the worst. It all started when we didn’t bother with online check-in the day before our flight, knowing that we’d need to see an agent at the airport anyway to get our infant-in-arms boarding pass. Southwest also lets families board between the A and B groups, so the exact boarding position printed on your boarding pass doesn’t need to be an A to get seats together. While my husband returned the rental car, I took my time getting our four kids through security and the bathroom and snagged some empty seats by the window so we could watch the airplanes before I asked the gate agent for a stroller check tag. That’s when the agent informed me that they didn’t have room for our party of six on the flight. If you tell that to a mom who has spent that last several hours exerting ridiculous amounts of em...
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Ten Skills I Honed as PTA President

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During my first foggy years of stay-at-home motherhood, Mommy brain replaced the quick wit I previously employed as an English teacher. Life suddenly revolved around my brood of four kids under four years old rather than my cohort of rowdy freshmen. Literature started to look more like board books and less like Shakespeare. My mind threatened to turn to mush in the melee of spit up, swings, snacks, swaddles, strollers, and stretchy pants . It was hard to see beyond the immediate task of making sure my household was fed, clothed, clean, and sleeping. Just when I glimpsed a light at the end of the tunnel (aka all kids attending school), COVID-19 hit and launched us into a blurry year of hybrid learning limbo . When my youngest child finally entered full-day Kindergarten in 2021, I emerged from the daze of new parenthood. Not looking to return to the classroom as a teacher, but ready to expand my focus beyond meeting my family’s basic needs, I dipped my toe into volunteering with our el...
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