Carnegie Hill Mom

We are welcoming guest author Lara from TestingMom.com. Today she is sharing about how to make test prep a fun, natural part of your day. Today, we will be discussing how you can best integrate test prep for the NYC gifted and talented exams into your everyday routine. While the preparation process may initially appear daunting, or one that requires “super human” effort, a little bit of time each day can go very far. In fact, keeping it light and fun with a daily objective is far preferable to lengthy study periods. Not only will you enjoy the process more leading up to the testing day, but your child will approach the test with a greater sense of ease. Phrasing can be everything when discussing a test such as the gifted and talented with your child. For example, practice sessions could be referred to as “vocabulary blast”, “speed solving”, or “study rockstar”. These are friendly and fun names that may help to encourage your child to embrace the preparation process.   Depend...

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...

Some twin parents cope with newborn chaos by camping out at home. We survived by staying on the move, buckling up for the wild ride ahead. We warmed up by strolling our twins home from the hospital, ramped it up with daily walks in Central Park, and by two weeks old launched into our first mini road trip: 75 miles from New York City to New Hope , PA. We discovered rest stops and scenic turn-offs we never knew existed as we tried to calm a chorus of newborn tears with side-of-the-road breastfeeding, messily mixed formula, diaper changes in the trunk, and (finally) me sitting between the car seats where the babies could cling to my index fingers. We navigated our double stroller over the bridge from New Jersey to Pennsylvania and into a restaurant with outdoor seating that we had frequented as a married couple. All I remember is trying to juggle babies, bottles, breasts, and what I’m sure was a delicious meal that mainly ended up in a to-go box. Note to multitasking diners, ord...

Have you ever noticed how kids vie for your attention at the most inconvenient times? Ridiculous, rude or lazy demands irritate me and often get ignored. But there’s one type of request that I feel horrible brushing off: story time. “Mom, will you read this book to me?” “Arrgh, there’s too much going on right now,” I say while the kitchen timer beeps, my one-year-old practices standing on the edge of the couch and my three-year-old sings, “I need a wipe! I need a wipe!” “Mom, can we read this book?” “Sorry, sweetie. There’s no time. We’re trying to get out the door.” “Mom, what does this say?” “I can’t see what you’re reading,” I yell from the shower. “Ask your brother.” My new year’s resolution is to create more opportunities to say yes to my kids , especially regarding their hunger for reading. It might mean planning an extra five minutes of wiggle room in our morning routine to save time for a book. It likely means reducing screen time (...