Webisode 16: Vital Signs – When a nurse is all you need

You or your children can wait a six months of more to see a primary physician for routine checkups but sometimes you may be offered the opportunity to see a nurse practioner sooner. Nurses play a vital role in freeing up doctors to focus on critical issues and often offer patients quality and more timely care – including doing routine check ups and seeing minor ailments.

Nurse Practioner, Deborah Moore helps us understand the difference between a nurse, nurse practioner, and a registered nurse, and talks about when you should insist on seeing a doctor and what are the typical issues nurses can and should deal with.

Sponsored By: Healthy Eating During Pregnancy

Webisode 15: Are We There Yet? Traveling with Tots

Nationally respected parenting expert Dr. Maureen O’Brien discusses how to keep kids occupied, safe and healthy while traveling via car, train or plane. Dr. Mo is an acclaimed author, speaker, and consultant to parenting groups and magazines. Her book, “Watch Me Grow: I’m One-Two-Three”, is a cornerstone book on childhood development. Plus, Maureen is the mother of 13 year old twins. If anyone knows how to reduce the stress of traveling with kids in tow, she does!

Sponsored by: Wander Wear

Webisode 14: PhotoPhobic? Sharing digital photos safely

Are you scared to use photo services such as Flickr or Shutterfly because you think your family will be literally exposed? Keith Loris, co-founder of EnjoyMyMedia.com, discusses precautions moms should take when using the Internet to share photos, and other digital files. Keith talks about the potential risks and benefits of using these services, and gives tips for using these and other services safely to keep both your photos and loved ones protected!

Sponsored by: Planecomfort

Webisode 13: The Gift of Time - Personal Concierges

Ever imagine what it would be like to have someone help you for a change? Help with the kids, with the house, with chores. Getting birthday presents and organizing parties, planning vacations and house/pet sitting, or even helping you start a business. Lisa Schreider of Lisa's Hands of Time Concierge describes the typical, and not so typical, assistance that a personal concierge can provide. Often more affordable than most people think, personal concierges can really be of great service!

Sponsored By: PlaneComfort

Webisode 12: Please Stop the Rollercoaster! Parenting Teens

Hormones, drugs, school, college prep, and the list goes on. Being a teenager is tough business but parenting one can be even more challenging at times. Sue Blaney is the author of “Please Stop the Rollercoaster! How Parents of Teenagers Can Smooth Out the Ride,” a series of discussion group guidebooks for parents to gain support from fellow parents. With such groups all over the country, Sue has heard it all! She is a frequent consultant to the media, religious and academic groups on raising teenagers.

Sponsored by: “Please Stop the Rollercoaster! How Parents of Teenagers Can Smooth Out the Ride”

Webisode 11: Food Rules - prepare and store food safely

It may seem obvious to keep your kitchen clean – but how clean is safe? How many different cutting boards should you have? Can you use meat on the day of last sale? Should you let your kids lick batter that has raw eggs? What’s the safest way to defrost food?

Some obvious and some not so obvious food hazards are discussed by Senior Clinical Nutritionist for Mass General Hospital, Stacey Nelson, MS, RD, LDN. Stacey, who is co-author of the book “You and Your Baby: Healthy Eating During Pregnancy,” uncovers some facts and fiction about food safety.

Sponsored By: Healthy Eating During Pregnancy

Webisode 10: The Super Parent Trap

The pressure to be a perfect parent is more overwhelming than ever before. Parents want to ensure their children are healthy, safe, educated and well-rounded. While children can easily be over-programmed, so can the parents - resulting in exhaustion, stress, and even feelings of resentment and depression. Nationally respected parenting expert Dr. Maureen O’Brien discusses how to avoid falling into the Parent Trap by looking for early warning signs and what to do if it's already happening. Dr. O’Brien is the founder of DestinationParenting.com, as well as the author of “Watch Me Grow I'm 1-2-3” books, and a parent magazine consultant. She is the mother of 13-year-old twins.

Sponsored by: Let's Get Ready for Kindergarten

Webisode 9: Straight Talk – Chiropractic unplugged

Good back health is critical for anyone – especially kids. Headaches, allergies, joint discomfort, and other maladies can often be caused by a misaligned spine. Because it’s considered alternative medicine, chiropractic remains a controversial solution. Pediatric chiropractor Howard Goldberg addresses common questions such as when and why to take your child to the chiropractor. He’ll answers questions such as how painful is it? How much does it cost and can it affect long term growth?

Sponsored By: The Volunteer Family

Webisode 8:“Kid-chens”: fun and safe cooking with kids

Cooking together is a great way to have fun and share some productive time and experience with your kids. However, with the potential dangers and mess, some parents find the experience too stressful. Cooking educator Sharon Tomlinson talks about how to set up and manage a safe cooking environment with your kids. She discusses some hidden dangers and how to avoid them. Sharon also shares great ideas to make healthy dishes together that the entire family can participate in and enjoy.

Sponsored by: Healthy Eating During Pregnancy

Webisode 7: Beyond the Lemonade Stand - encouraging kids to be entrepreneurial

Clearly, entrepreneurial skills are critical in the global economy. Whether your child wants to be the next Donald Trump or simply earn some extra money to buy a favorite toy, teaching them how to be entrepreneurial is a lifelong valuable skill. Our guest will be Beth Goldstein who is the author of the McGraw Hill book, The Ultimate Small Business Marketing Toolkit and Boston University’s chair for their entrepreneurial certification program. Beth will talk about why and how to teach your children about starting and managing their own businesses. She’ll give some great tips to teach kids about the value of money, how to earn and manage money and how to keep them motivated during the process.

Sponsor: "Let's Get Ready for Kindergarten"

Webisode 6: Camp Counsel - expert tips for great summer experiences

Picking the right camp and summer activities for your child/children can be extremely stressful. For over 12 years, Jill Tipograph has provided families with summer planning guidance. Her company, Everything Summer (http://www.everythingsummer.com/) is the only independent resource for unbiased and customized summer guidance for kids, teens and families to ensure a stress-free, fun summer experience. She is the author of "Your Everything Summer Guide & Planner" and a helpful blog (http://www.everythingsummer.com/blogger.htm).

Jill has been featured as a summer expert on NBC TV’s Today Show, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Smart Money, Bloomberg Media, Chicago Tribune, and others.

A crash course on summer planning, Jill will discuss when and what to look for in summer camps as well as how to prepare yourself and your child! With some camps requiring a year’s advance registration, this webisode is great all year long!

Sponsored by: Wander Wear - "preventing kids from getting lost"

Webisode 5: Mom-Cents: taking control of your financial future

Sure you can manage a checkbook, but do you know the difference between a home equity loan from a line of credit? A 529 from a 401K? A bond from a bond fund? Most women unfortunately don’t.

Women, especially moms, often delegate (or at least assume) that their husbands or other family members will take care of the family finances. Who could ever imagine that one day, you might be divorced, widowed or otherwise in charge of the money?

Angela Rizzolo, from the US Department of Labor and the newly launched Wi$eUp program, will talk about the causes and the cure for women to take control of their own financial futures.

Sponsored by: Ask Patty - Automotive Advice for Women

Webisode 4: Working Out - Is It?

For everyone, it is often hard to get motivated and schedule time to get to the gym. When you finally get there, you might as well try to get the best possible workout you can!

Certified aerobic instructor, Denise Battick, will uncover some important ways you can boost your workouts to maximize results without adding more time or hassle. She’ll even give you more reasons to get to the gym by uncovering some benefits that you probably never thought of! With over 20 years as a fitness expert, Denise is a working mother with two boys ages 4 and 8 so she really knows the challenges of making it all work – work out, that is!!

Sponsored by: Ask Patty - Automotive Advice for Women

Webisode 3: Raising Charitable Children

When kids have the latest video games, action heroes and dolls, how do you teach them to appreciate what they have? They say that charity starts at home, but with our intensely busy family schedules, we usually don’t have the time to talk about it - let alone do anything about it.

On this Mom Matters webisode, our expert guest is Heather Jack. She is the founder and president of The Volunteer Family, an organization that helps match interested families with community volunteer opportunities. Heather discusses easy ways we can spend true quality time together with our families while simultaneously teaching our children to care about others.

Sponsored by: The Volunteer Family

Webisode 2: Furry, Feathered, Friend or Foe

Many kids are terrified of animals, including domesticated pets – large and small, furry or not. Experienced veterinarian and community educator, Leslie Marci, helps us understand why some kids typically are fearful of animals and what we can do to help them feel safely at ease. She discusses what we can do as parents to ease our own anxiety and in turn help our children enjoy their own or other people’s pets.

Sponsored by: Wander Wear - preventing kids from getting lost

Webisode 1: Eat More Plants - fruit facts and veggie tales

We know we need to eat 5 servings per day. Its hard to get it into our own bodies, let alone our kids'. Our guest is Jennifer Tuttelman, a registered nutritionist, gubernatorial appointee to the MA Nutrition Board, and former nutrition education coordinator for the MA Women Infants & Children (WIC) program. Jen presents important things we should know about fruits and vegetables. She uncovers mysteries about portion size, frozen & fortified foods, and she'll introduce us to some produce we’ll want to get to know better. Jen informs us busy moms what to buy, how to prepare and eat nutritious, great tasting fruits and vegetables that you and your kids will adore.

Sponsored by: Wander Wear - "preventing kids from getting lost "