The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recently announced a recall for Step2’s Little Helper’s Shopping Carts. The shopping cart’s basket can break into sharp pieces, posing a laceration hazard. Step2 has received 22 reports of cart baskets breaking. No injuries have been reported.
This recall involves Step2’s Little Helper’s Shopping Cart with the following model numbers and color combinations: 700000 (blue basket with tan cart,) 708500 (pink basket with white cart) and 8567KL (pink basket with gray cart). The grocery shopping carts measure 18.5 inches by 13 inches by 21.5 inches and have a shopping cart base and basket, four wheels and a doll seat. Only units with date code combinations of 5 and 19 are included in this recall. The date code can be found on the center rib on the back of the basket below the handle. The model number is located on the product packaging.
The affected shopping carts were sold at BJ Wholesale Club, Kohl’s and other stores nationwide and online at Step2 from May 2019 through October 2019 for about $40.
Consumers should immediately take away the recalled shopping carts from children and contact Step2 online or by phone at 800-347-8372 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday for a free replacement shopping cart or a refund in the form of a $40 credit.
With winter comes that added chill in the air. Even if you live in a rainy climate, all those cozy fires and cranked-up heaters can really dry out your skin. These skin-savers are great for a quick solution to keep you looking your best without a ton of effort.
CELLrenew Collagen Infusion Serum
It’s anti-acne and anti-aging. Need we say more? Well, yes, it's not over drying so great for winter!
This little stick soothes under eye circles, polishes cheeks, treats shredded cuticles and tames flyaways. Oh, and it smells like a cookie. Great for travel.
Free of parabens, dyes, perfumes and more this little stick protects your lips from wintery weather and both indoor and outdoor hazards including pollution, blue light and infared heat. This little miracle balm will keep your lips kissable no matter the season. SPF 30.
From Gryph and Ivy Rose, this is high-performance, skin-saving balm that will change your winter hands, lips, face, nails, cuticles and even scars. Use as a spot treatment to get you through the dry winter months (and beyond).
The full collection of these luxe products include the Dreamsicle Cleanser, Mama's Lil Helper Papaya Enzyme Scrub, Night Night Cream, Sun Smoothie Natural SPF 45 and Mama's Miracle Oxygen Serum. The Mama Lé Full Collection 5 will set you back $304, but if you're looking for the ultimate skin-saving night cream, splurge on just the Night Night Cream. You'll wake up to softer, smoother,-looking skin after just one use. Safe for use during pregnancy and beyond.
Getting any work done at home is never easy with little ones around, but it sure makes for some cute moments.
As a tease for her new cosmetics line, Kylie Jenner recently shared a sweet photo of Stormi as her adorable assistant, intently studying plans and pictures of the new products. Clearly, she’s a great little helper.
The caption simply reads “coming soon.” If you inspect the paperwork closely, it’s labeled as a Valentine’s Cosmetic line so fans won’t have too much longer to wait.
There’s so much more to Thanksgiving weekend than leftover turkey sandwiches and online Black Friday deals. With the kids out of school (whether it’s the Zoom or in-person kind), you’re probably desperate for ways to keep everyone entertained. Scroll down for 15 fun and festive activities that will make the long weekend fly by.
Sure, some of our favorite holiday light displays have been cancelled this year (as in, no LA Zoo lights... sigh). But these over-the-top, illuminated houses around town are sure to dazzle and delight.
Starting the day after Thanksgiving, most of LA's local tree lots and further-out tree farms open for business. If you're feeling adventurous, start a new post-holiday tradition at a cut-your-own farm, where kids can wander through the rows of trees in search of the perfect one to take home.
After a tough year, Descanso Gardens invites you to reflect and enjoy the beauty that's all around us with Reflections at Descanso, a celebration of all that’s hopeful and peaceful in this world. Be sure to stop by the magical Wishing Tree, where you can add your own wish for the new year.More details.
LA's best drive-thru holiday events are happening now! Get tickets to The Elf of the Shelf's Magical Holiday Journey, Santa's Speedway Spectacular (with 2 miles of lights!) and more.
Hit the Trails
Shannan Rouss
Looking to work off all that stuffing (plus tire out the kiddos)? Visit one of our favorite off-the-beaten-path LA hikes.
Play It Safe
Most of LA's outdoor playgrounds have reopened with Covid restrictions in place. We recommend going during off hours, ideally earlier in the morning, to avoid the most crowded times.
There's still plenty of time to give your LA kids a true fall experience with a visit to one of these nearby wooded spots, where you can see trees in all their autumn glory.
Jeopardy James Holzhauer is giving the decades’ old game show a kick. As of May 3 the professional sports gambler from Las Vegas (of course) has won 22 games in a row, totaling over $1.691 million. So how does he do it? Holzhauer’s little helper might surprise you.
Only second to information icon Ken Jennings, Holzhauer is well on his way to take taking top honors. But unlike some of the more scholarly contestants, the 34-year-old husband and father doesn’t have a PhD-level pedigree. Recently, the quiz show phenom revealed his key to success—children’s books!
During an interview with The Washington Post, Holzhauer admitted, “You may be able to read an adult book about a boring subject without falling asleep, but I can’t. For me, it was either read some children’s books — designed to engage the reader — or go into “Jeopardy!” with giant gaps in my knowledge base.”
If you’re looking to step into Holzhauer’s shoes, the Jeopardy giant recommends, “The Classics Illustrated series was an excellent primer in literature, and I also really enjoyed Zachary Hamby’s mythology books for teens.” But if you just want to check out some of Holzhauer’s faves, the sports gambler/Jeopardy mega-winner told Publishers Weekly that the top picks from his own childhood include Green Eggs and Ham, The Little Engine That Could and Peter Rabbit!
Is Khloe Kardashian a car seat hack genius extraordinaire? Maybe she just knows more than most of us when it comes to wrangling kiddos with a full-on mani. Allow us to explain.
In a February Instagram post, followers questioned the mama’s ability to care for little love with long, freshly-manicured nails. And that’s when Kardashian schooled them on the Namra Car Seat Key.
The little plastic product, available on Amazon for $14.99, clips on to your key ring and makes unbuckling easy on your fingers. Not only is Namra’s Car Seat Key an easy way to avoid mani malfunctions, it’s also perfect for people with arthritis or carpel tunnel syndrome.
If a mischievous little elf is a regular visitor to your house this time of year, then you’ll be interested to hear that a big change is coming to Elf on the Shelf dolls with the addition of several new elves.
For the uninitiated, the Elf on the Shelf tradition involves a little elf with a direct line to Santa visiting your family for the holiday season and keeping an eye on kids. The Elf makes sure all kids are being “nice” and parents ratchet up their Pinterest brownie points finding increasingly crazy ways to move the elf around in various scenarios after the kids are tucked in bed at night.
Until now, that little elf named Scout has only been offered in one variety: a brown-haired, blue-eyed boy. This year the Elf on the Shelf has expanded its offerings with some more diverse options for families who want to take part in the popular tradition.
The company has expanded it’s elf collection to include four different elves: two female elves with light and dark skin and another male elf with dark skin join the original elf this year.
All four Elf on the Shelf dolls are available for $29.95 each and come with an illustrated children’s book that gives the backstory of Scout’s role as Santa’s helper.
When it comes to getting your kids to do their chores, the struggle is real: you’ve tried chore charts, chore wheels and reward systems. Eventually, you might even beg, plead, bargain and bribe, but alas—nothing. But not all hope is lost when it comes to getting your kids to do their chores: psychologist Suzanne Gaskins discovered something kind of amazing when it comes to kids and chores and what her research revealed may be able to help you and your chore-phobic kids.
While living in the small village of Valladolid, Yucatan in the early 90s, Gaskin had a rather eye-opening conversation a pair of sisters, ages 7 and 9. Gaskins was happily surprised to find that the girls not only helped out around their house with but were actually thrilled to do so. That led her to start studying how children in the village spend their time, including how, when and why they do chores.
As it turns out, Gaskin discovered that children in the village weren’t being forced into doing chores. There were no candy bribes, shiny sticker charts or threats of grounding. Instead, the children actually wanted to do the chores. What’s more, the kids seemed to enjoy helping out.
Gaskins is just one of several researchers who have studied indigenous families in Mexico and Guatemala for the past 30 years. And what did they find? Kids helping out with chores was a completely common, expected and enjoyed practice within these communities. The practice even has its own word in Mexican families—acomedido—but the meaning is far more complex than just helping out.
University of New Hampshire education researcher Andrew Coppens told NPR what acomedido means: “It’s a really complex term. It’s not just doing what you’re told, and it’s not just helping out. It’s knowing the kind of help that is situationally appropriate because you’re paying attention.”
As it turns out, building a family culture of happily doing chores starts at a much earlier age in these villages. While we might look at toddlers as messy little creatures who throw tantrums and cause more chaos than cleaning, they’re actually perfectly built to be surprisingly good little helpers. At their age, toddlers are all about helping their parents and eager to imitate mom and dad’s behaviors. Instead of pretending to let your toddler help or assuming that they’ll take waaaay too much time to clean, slow down and let them take ownership of their chores.
This isn’t to say that your two-year-old should scrub the floors on their hands and knees—but letting them take half an hour to sweep the floor (especially if they’re totally into it) may just get you a happy little helper later on. In other words, don’t deny your tot the right to help just because you want a spotless kitchen.
Not only is it okay if they take their time, it’s totally okay if they don’t get it “right” the first time. Help them, work together and give them the opportunities they need.
Let me start by saying that I’m not a single mom. Jon and I recently celebrated our ten year anniversary, yet whenever he is travelling away with work, or there’s a reason why we’re not together, I’m always more tired than when he’s here because we put equal effort in to bringing up our children. The mental teamwork into ensuring their health, happiness and inspiration levels is immense. As immense as sometimes the pressure feels when I’m winging it on my own for a week or a few nights. Systems have to naturally change to get everything done and I fall into bed exhausted.
So whether you’re a single mom, or whenever it’s the case that you have to function as if you are, I applaud you. I live in awe of you and I send you these…
You’re teaching your children so much about multi tasking it’s amazing
I’m a planner by nature, lists surround me and keep me sane. But with Jon away these become my lifeline. Noah and Ella pick up on that and when they’re not hiding them, they tend to ask: ‘What do we need to do first mommy?’ They’re learning about tasks and priorities without me really having to mention them. Multi-tasking, time management, being organised, you name it, we can all teach our children these but it’s on another level when you’re functioning as a single mom. Wow, your children are privy to all of this – they’re going to run the world!
You’re stronger than you think you are
Because you are. You’re doing the toughest job on the planet without a permanent helper. Even when your little ones get to the age where you can do your best Mary Poppin’s impression and attempt to get them to tidy their room or help out with the dishes, the reliance for any task can still fall on you in a moment’s notice. Have a hug of strength from me right now – feel the warmth flying over the digital airwaves to you in this moment.
You’re doing a great job
When you’re tired it’s easy to get depressed and feel like you’re failing. One thing will go wrong in the day – you’ll drop their lunch on the floor or you’ll forget to pack their soccer kit right and instantly the self-doubt and judgements flow through your mind. You’ve got to somehow be able to rationalize these things out – because no matter how seemingly perfect some other mom’s lives look, we all struggle with these nightmare days/weeks/years at some point on our journey through motherhood. At the end of the day if your children are healthy, happy and falling into bed healthy and happy after another day of just being young then you’re winning.
You’re beautiful inside and out and so are your children
Any mom who loves her children can’t help but glow when they smile. It’s compulsive! You’ve placed them in a happy environment so that they feel able to be themselves, shine, learn and grow so you should be smiling too. Take the compliment that you’re a beautiful soul, even if you feel like a beautiful mess inside, you’re not. You’re loving a human being and guiding them through life. Big job, big smiles for doing it.
You’re loving for two and that’s amazing
The overwhelming love that hits you when you look at your child, you’re feeling that for two people. I don’t buy that it’s one person less. You could love them enough for ten million people and still wake up the next day with more love inside of you. That’s the miracle of childbirth and having children to me. Where all this love comes from I don’t know, I just know that if you’re reading this it’s because you feel it. I’m sending out all of these positive love and hug vibes to every mom out there single or not, we may not know each other personally but we’re bonded by this love and respect. That’s powerful enough to move mountains for our children and also enough to make me stop typing now because I have to go and pick them up from school.
I'm a working mommy, my family worked hard last year to create DiaryZapp - a creative journaling app where kids can boost their literacy and share memories every day - from making dens to going to the zoo. I love meeting other parents and sharing tips to make every day special.
IKEA’s modular furniture can sometimes seem bland straight out of the box, but the beauty of the simplicity is that you can easily customize it to fit your own family’s style and needs. Here are a few of the best IKEA hacks to get you started and inspire your own creative makeovers.
Light up Your Room With Style
Play Chair Do-Over
Handy Hamper
Kids Art Gallery
Laundry Room Helper
Spice up Your Bookshelf
Toy Hideaway
Off to the Race Track
What are some ways you’ve reimagined this Swedish furniture? Share your own IKEA hacks in the comments below.
