Co-Sleeping Doesn’t Have to Wreck Your Sex Life

Wendy Wisner for Kveller

Since becoming parents almost nine years ago, my husband and I have always had a child (or two) in our bed, camped out on the floor, or on an extra mattress smushed up against ours. Basically, my husband and I have given up all bedroom privacy since kids entered the picture. I’m not going to lie and say it’s all sunshine and roses, but it’s what we do, and everyone (including my husband) is happy with the arrangement. I totally get that not everyone wants to share a bed or a bedroom with their kids, and it goes without saying that every family should do what works for them.

But anytime someone mentions co-sleeping, there is always a lot of chatter about how it will supposedly destroy your sex life (almost always coming from someone who has never co-slept). Again, if you don’t want to share a bed with your kids, don’t do it. But I want to make one thing clear about those of us who co-sleep: We still have as much sex as we damn well please.

Really.

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Please Don’t Feed My Toddler Without Asking Me

Maurie Backman for Kveller

My family recently attended a party where we knew several guests in attendance, but not well. At one point a well-meaning acquaintance came over to say hello and decided to give our toddler a plate of cookies. It was really nice of her—no question. But it annoyed me, because rather than ask if she could offer my son something to eat, or what that something should be, she decided to just hand over a bunch of cookies to him directly.

This has happened to us before. In fact, I’ve kvetched about people giving my son candy at temple and gotten some feedback along the lines of, “You need to chill out.” But my philosophy is this: At a certain age—and frankly, I’m not sure exactly what it is—I think it’s OK to offer a child food directly. But if that child is 3.5 like my son, or younger, it’s not OK, and here’s why:

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Our First Family Vacation Failed, But For Reasons We Didn’t Expect

By Jaclyn Novatt for Kveller

Our first family vacation was both a huge success and a total failure.

Our twins are almost 4 years old, and our destination was Pennsylvania. We planned to visit Dutch Wonderland and the Please Touch museum—both destinations were highly recommended by friends whose kids are also almost 4 years old.

We arrived at our hotel in Lancaster at about 2:30 Sunday afternoon. We were thrilled to see that our hotel was literally ACROSS THE STREET from Dutch Wonderland. Perfect! Our tickets allowed us to enter Dutch Wonderland after 5:30 p.m. on Sunday and still use our tickets all day Monday. Since we had about three hours to kill before we could enter the park, we decided to explore the hotel.

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Meet Mifold, The Tiny Grab-And-Go Booster Seat That Fits Into Any Bag

By Eunice Lim, NoCamels

An innovative booster seat developed in Israel provides proof that good things come in small packages.

The mifold “grab-and-go” seat promises to simplify carpooling for parents without compromising safety. mifold is flat, portable, foldable, dishwasher-friendly (!), and much smaller than traditional booster seats, so that children can carry it around in their backpacks. Soon, you won’t need to schlep a full-size booster seat on your vacation!

The crowds are already cheering for mifold: The miraculous booster seat has raised $162,000 on crowd-funding platform Indiegogo in only two days, which is more than four times its goal of $40,000. And, there are four more weeks to go for those who still want to jump on the bandwagon – early-bird supporters will receive the product for $31 by March 2016.

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Why My Kids Are Going Back to Jewish Day School

By Rona Kaufman Kitchen for Kveller

For four years, my children attended Community Day School, Pittsburgh’s independent Jewish day school located in Squirrel Hill, the city’s historically Jewish neighborhood.

The school’s mission is to “educate Menschen: young people who are academically strong who grow to be good people, knowledgeable Jews, contributing citizens of the people of Israel, the United States, and our world.” Essentially, CDS promises not only a rigorous secular education–it promises to partner with me to raise my children.

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