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I just came back from our annual beach vacay. I hauled all our stuff in reusable grocery bags, so I was envious of other beachgoers who breezed along the sand with beach carts like this one.
This unique 2-in-1 wagon and beach chair folds flat when empty for easy storage. The large basket holds everything you need for a day of sun and fun, while the rugged wheels roll easily over pavement, grass, and sand. After you take everything out, the wagon becomes a comfortable lounge chair with a built-in headrest and adjusts to 4 positions.
Mac Sports’ combination chair and wagon is available at Amazon for under $140.
Sales of note for 9.10.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; up to 50% off everything else
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off wear-to-work styles; extra 30% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40-60% off everything; extra 60% off clearance
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Extra 40% off sale styles
- Talbots – BOGO 50% everything, includes markdowns
- Target – Car-seat trade-in event through 9/28 — bring in an old car seat to get a 20% discount on other baby/toddler stuff.
- Zappos – 26,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – Birthday sale, 40-50% off & extra 20% off select styles
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off all baby; up to 40% off all Halloween
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Extra 30% off sale styles
- Old Navy – 40% off everything
- Target – BOGO 25% off select haircare, up to 25% off floor care items; up to 30% off indoor furniture up to 20% off TVs
Anonymous says
ooh, i love this! i bought a wagon way too late, really wish i’d bought one years before we did.
anon says
We have this one and it rocks. We only have 1 kid so we didn’t need a massive beach wagon
Anon says
Ugh…we were lucky enough to get an infant daycare slot for next year at a small daycare in the basement of a church with a nice, although not pristine, outdoor space and an OK location for where we live. We just heard last week that the daycare is moving to a “larger space,” which sounded great on face, but we drove by the construction site and it’s not only a longer and worse drive for us, but it’s in a strip mall with a saloon literally next door, a couple of drunk guys “hanging out” on the curb, directly on a major four-lane boulevard, and less than 1/4 mile from the freeway. I don’t know where the “outdoor space” is going (they say there will be something) and I’m now hoping the permit doesn’t get approved. I’m in the Bay Area where there are only enough infant spots to meet 10% of demand and there is NOTHING else, plus this locally owned childcare company does have a great reputation in the community. Going to hope for the best but why does it have to be this hard…
Anon says
That sucks. I would encourage you to keep looking and consider a nanny. It’s really hard to trust a daycare with your first baby, and you clearly don’t feel good about this place. I think the commute and setting does matter.
Anon says
If it helps at all, it’s not that important for infants to have an outdoor space. They are fine inside as long as it’s clean and well run. You probably have until 2+ yo to find a better outdoor situation.
That said, we didn’t like our infant daycare options and ended up being really happy with a nanny share. I hadn’t liked the idea of leaving my baby with an unsupervised nanny, but with two other parents and several grandparents dropping by it never felt like she wasn’t supervised and our kid enjoyed having a playmate. We also didn’t deal with daycare illnesses.
Anon says
I’m so enraged by JD Vance saying the “whole purpose of the postmenopausal female is to raise grandchildren.” It’s not enough for us to raise kids and deal with all the career setbacks that come from being a working mom to young children, now we have to drop out of the workforce as soon as one of our children has a baby??
Anon says
I’m reading a historical fiction book set in 1100s France and England and he’d have fit right in – women are nothing more than “vessels” to “beget heirs” and can easily be discarded if they don’t fulfill that role. The root of women’s oppression is their biological capacity for pregnancy, perceived or real, and Vance knows that full well. It drives him.
Anon says
His wife and mother-in-law are highly educated and have successful careers, in addition to being mothers/grandmothers/wives. His wife is a lawyer and his mother-in-law is a biology professor. How can he belittle them in that way? Great if they prioritize family in a big way, making sacrifices, but they clearly are well-rounded people with more to offer than just child care.
Anoon says
So disingenuous. These facts just make it so obvious that he is pandering– saying whatever he thinks people want to hear to endear himself to this voting bloc even when the facts before us tell a different story. Cf. espousing white supremacy views while being in an interracial marriage with biracial kids.
Anon says
I think in this case it actually does apply to his own family. His MIL apparently took a sabbatical to care for his kids, and he said that it was more valuable for her to do that than to keep working and give them money, because domestic work is more valuable for older women (ughhh). I think it’s great if the MIL wanted to do this (my mom is also a professor who retired in large part because she wanted to move to my city and help with my family) but JD reducing her to a caregiver and saying that’s more valuable than being a professor at a top university is just beyond gross.
Turtlemania says
This (MIL taking care of his three children) is also the massive privilege that allows him to talk sh*t about daycare/non familial caregiving as harmful to children. While his wife was working in biglaw. It makes me incandescent with rage.
anon says
Evolutionary biology should never mix with politics!
anon says
I have no kind words for this douchebag.
Budgets says
How do you budget monthly for elementary school kids’ needs? Our oldest will soon be in public kindergarten. While I’m excited to drop the costs of full time daycare, I expect there will be more costs than I realize, like hobby classes and sports, more expensive clothes, more expensive gear like bikes, etc. I currently budget about $250 per month (some months less, some months more when he needs a new coat or seasonal gear) but I’m curious what others budget for slightly older kids.
Anon says
Mine is in first grade and we have not yet spent major money on clothes or activities. Activities I think we’re around $200 per month on average, although it does vary. The big ticket items are swimming for $75/month, ninja gym for $99/month and art classes for $80/month, but we don’t do all of those at the same time. Art classes we sign up for on a monthly basis, and the other ones we can pause the membership. Other activities (rec dance, soccer, Girl Scouts) are quite a bit cheaper. I wouldn’t expect the clothing budget to increase for a while. I think our clothing budget has actually gone down in the last couple of years because things aren’t outgrown so fast. My daughter still uses the winter coat we bought her in the fall of Pre-K. I offered to buy her a new one this year since it’s getting a bit grungey but it still fits and she didn’t want to part with it.
Anon says
we don’t budget monthly for stuff for kids bc there is too much variation. like I might spend a lot more in July/August when I pay for fall activities than I do in September. plus there is summer camp. I will also admit that we are fortunate that we are in a position where we don’t really need to budget specifically for these types of things. i’d give it a year, saving that “daycare payment” in case you need it and see what you spend and then try to adjust accordingly. There is also significant regional variation.
Anon says
Same. We don’t budget monthly, although we did some quick math to see what portion of the daycare payment was going to be eaten by camp and aftercare (it was about 1/3 for us), and then we upped our savings by about half the remaining portion and figured that the other half would cover increased activity and entertainment costs.
Anonymous says
This is us too. We have 3 the youngest just started Kinder. It varied so much I just stopped budgeting. There is the seasonality of it all, and then needs change- growth spurt and new shoes anyone?? Outside of summer season it looks to be about $100/mo/kid. Each kid only does one extracurricular.
AwayEmily says
It’s hard for me to estimate on a monthly basis because the costs come at different times. Like, my kids took a session of swim lessons that cost a few hundred dollars but that was for three months and then it’s over. Soccer for the year is $70, but it’s just one payment. Etc. Also, for us the clothes aren’t noticeably more expensive (we bought 90% of toddler/preschool clothes at Target and now buy 90% of big kid clothes at Target, but we need fewer big kid clothes because they don’t spill on themselves quite as often).
anon says
Our biggest expenses are before/after school care and summer camps. It’s still less than daycare.
Activity fees vary wildly. I think most people get to at least mid-elementary before dropping serious money on activities. And, that’s definitely not a requirement for a good childhood, I just have to say!
octagon says
Oh – I didn’t even factor camps into my other comment. We live in a HCOL area and summer camps are about $500/week (Even cheaper camps like the Y are about $400/week). My entire DCFSA reimbursement at year-end is for summer camp enrollment.
AwayEmily says
At this point I shouldn’t be but I am always so surprised by how the cost of these things differs from place to place. The Y day camp that my kids go to all summer (all outdoors, with a lake and a pool, hiking, archery, horses, all the traditional camp stuff) is $250 a week. And I get it! Real estate is cheaper here, labor is cheaper here — but it really sucks, because I don’t think salaries always differ by quite the same amount.
Anon says
I can beat that – Midwest college town and our parks & rec camp is $150/week for 55 hours a week of care. It was $120 until this past summer and people were outraged about the price increase. I don’t think there’s a single day camp in my city that costs more than $200 per week, except maybe something like horseback riding. My friends in the Bay Area pay $800-900 for day camp. The regional differences are staggering (much moreso than with daycare, IME, where we paid less but significantly more than half of what my Bay Area friends paid).
Anon says
i wish we had a camp like that near us! even if it cost more. i grew up going to camp like that and it just doesn’t exist where i live now
octagon says
Our budget is $500/month for a very active 9 yo. That covers sports (swim team year-round, soccer in fall, basketball in winter and baseball in spring) and scouts. He’s got one more year at the non-serious level for soccer and baseball, but if he does a travel team next year that’s something like $1500 per season (team fees plus hotel/travel costs). One area I had not expected is birthday party gifts — he’s invited to 1-2 parties a month and the standard gift is usually between $40-50 (something like a lego set). Then tickets to sporting events, movies, friend outings, etc. We don’t have much of a clothing budget because he wears uniforms to school and we get a lot of hand-me-downs from friends, but shoes for bigger kids are $$$, especially if you need nice shoes for church or weddings plus sneakers.
Anon says
Birthday gifts around here are usually $20 or so and sometimes less (a $12 craft kit is common). Just another vantage point.
Anon says
Wowza, $40-50 for a birthday gift at a large party where 15-20 kids are invited is nuts to me. We do $10-15 for most of my kid’s friends/classmates, occasionally a bit more for a BFF, and that seems to be the norm in our area.
Anonymous says
OMG that birthday gift budget is nuts! Here it’s $15-20 for friend birthday parties, often on the lower end. $50 is about what my kid’s grandparents give to their grandchildren.
Anon says
that is obscene for birthday gifts! in preschool we were invited to and attended like 30 bday parties a year (i have twins), also you must have a popular 9 year old, because in public K we were invited to very few bday parties through school. i spend like $10 per gift. most of these kids have more than enough.
Anon says
In our public elementary school, many people still invite the whole class in K-1. My first grader had 15+ parties last year and most of them were for classmates. But agree it seems unusual for fourth grade – I’d expect most parties to be 10 or fewer close friends by that age.
octagon says
Interesting perspectives here! I think it’s a function of being on so many sports teams, which have kids from other schools. Around 2nd grade things shifted from being whole-class, $10-20 gifts to smaller parties, mostly single-gender, and the gift expectation seemed to increase at that time.
Anon says
Wow! Is this a subset of very affluent people? I’ve never heard of $40-50 being the expectation for a kid friend bday.
Ouch!! says
Are you sure it’s really the expectation? Is this based on gifts your child receives or something else? I just can’t imagine that being the norm in most places.
Anon says
Guessing this is a rich pocket of the Bay Area or a similar place. My BFF lives in Palo Alto and has been invited to children’s birthday parties that cost more than my (admittedly modest) wedding. And yeah $50+ is the gift expectation in her circles.
Anon says
Almost all birthday parties my 7yos go to are no present parties, so I’ve probably spent $50 total on presents in K and 1st.
TheElms says
I think it depends on where you live. For us in a HCOL maybe VHCOL area, soccer for a 5 year old (if you pick the not parent coached option) is $400 every 2 months; gymnastics is $350 every 2 months; swim lessons are $160 a month. It definitely adds up.
Anon says
The costs for sports or gear or hobbies won’t be that noticeable in kindergarten, in my opinion. The bigger ticket items will be summer camps and coverage for days off, if you don’t have that covered with some kind of after-school program.
Anon says
+1 aftercare and summer camp are likely to dwarf the activity budget in early elementary school (but still be significantly less than daycare)
Anon says
We host an annual gathering for our friends each summer. Usually it is around midday, and we grill brats and hot dogs, and the sides are potato salad, coleslaw, etc. Very easy. This year the party is shifting a little earlier due to one family’s schedule, so from 10 am-1 pm or so. Should I shift the menu in more of a brunch direction? People will be hungry when they arrive, because the drive is around 1 hour for everyone. Should we serve the brats and hot dogs for lunch but have muffins and fruit for when people arrive? It will be four families with mostly young kids.
AwayEmily says
I would just plan on an early lunch — start serving food at 11:15. Have chips and guac, fruit tray, veggie tray out for snacking beforehand.
Anon says
This is what I would do too.
AwayEmily says
And just to clarify, by “start serving food at 11:15” I meant that’s when to start serving the mains (hot dogs/potato salad). Have the chips and veggies out beforehand for snacking.
Anon says
i’d say yes. kids will eat snacks at anytime. i think either you shift the whole menu to brunch, OR you put something out for people to graze on until 11:30/12 and you can start grilling.
Anonymous says
To the prolapse anon from last week, consider joining the Prolapse Postpartum Mom’s Club group on Facebook. Facebook sucks, but this is a great group for younger women with prolapse. They can answer any question you can think of and then some. Also check out postpartum_pop_pt (she has a surgery highlight) and mypopsurgery on Instagram.
Anon says
my 6 year old first graders have gotten super into audio stories we primarily listen to them through spotify on my phone. they have discovered a series where someone reads books out loud and shows the pictures as they read them, so my kids like to “watch.” i can’t decide if this type of screen time is as “bad” as watching tv, video games, etc. It is very very slow moving and has no moving images, but it does still involve looking at a screen. they seem to prefer it to me reading them books, which i don’t love, but it does seem to calm them down and prevent them from trying to kill each other at bedtime
Anon says
I would put that in a different category than TV/movies, personally.
Anonymous says
This sounds exactly like the reading portions of Reading Rainbow!
OP says
ok i guess i am not going to beat myself up about this “screen time” for now.
AwayEmily says
The only possible red flag is if blue light before bed affects their sleep. I’m a little bit of a weirdo about light, though — it seems to affect my kids a TON (if they look at screens at all in the two hours before bed they struggle to get to sleep). Some kids seem totally unaffected by it.
Walnut says
Searching past threadjacks is failing me! Does anyone have a hotel recommendation for a family of five in London? Preference is not to have two rooms unless they are guaranteed to connect. Happy to pay $$$ for a great location and great room.
Anonymous says
I asked about this in May if that helps your search at all. I ended up with a 2 bedroom AirBnB so no specific advice. I did look at Collingham Serviced Apartments and Citadines which both had family of 5 options at some locations I think? Someone recommended Ampersand but that was for afternoon tea so not sure about rooms and sleeping 5.
London Zoo also offers sleepovers which we couldn’t make work with timing but it on my list for the next trip.
Anonymous says
I was probably the person who recommended Ampersand, since we both stayed and had the dinosaur themed tea there. We loved their suite for our family of 3, but I think 4 is probably the max that would work in one suite comfortably. (The arrangement was a king-sized bed in the bedroom and a queen-sized sofa pull-out in the living room.) That said, on their website they mention accommodating connecting rooms for families, so it might be worth calling and talking to them.
Anon says
Just putting this out there. Pretty sure my kid has some type of ND thing going on – he’s constantly making noises/yelling, loves fidgeting with things, currently is fascinated by looking at the microwave clock changing numbers, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if OT is in the future because his pen/pencil/drawing skills and interest is just not there.
Likely on the milder/highly functioning side as he’s been in some type of preschool setting since he was a baby and doing fine for now, potty trained, no social issues that we’ve been told of, etc. DH thinks all is fine because of his age, sex, and since school or ped hasn’t noted anything.
I’m waiting to see what the school says with the next round of parent/teacher conferences before bringing this up again and suggesting any next steps if we need them. I also know there’s a chance that some of these behaviors may stop with age (he is 3-and-a-half), but I want to make sure if he needs it, we’re getting him the supports he needs.
Anon says
“his pen/pencil/drawing skills and interest is just not there. ”
Are you the one who posted about how to get your 3 year old to draw? Many NT 3 year olds have zero interest in drawing. In fact, I would say the majority don’t. My 6.5 year old daughter is an art fanatic now, but really could not have cared less about drawing or using a pencil until she was 5 and in her second semester of pre-K. If he’s potty-trained and socially fine, it all sounds normal to me.
OP says
Yeah that was me. He switched to a new classroom recently and I see the other kids “art” and his and…there’s a huge discrepancy. He’ll be 4 at the end of the year.
There are some other things – he has a phrase he repeats constantly (like while washing his hands this AM, or pointing to something in a book where it doesn’t apply – when I redirect him he’s fine and can contextualize, but still…), and loads of noises/yelling when we’re at home, even after reminding him to lower the volume or stop. Again, I could be wrong, and it could be an age thing.
Anonymous says
“loads of noises/yelling when we’re at home, even after reminding him to lower the volume or stop”
As a mom of two boys, this is pretty much ages 3 to 15.
Anon says
Yeah loud noises at home is just some kids’ personalities. Probably more boys than girls, but some girls too. My first grader is still that way, and no one has ever suggested she’s neurodivergent, although she does seem spirited/emotionally intense.
Anon says
The difference between almost 4 and almost 5 is huge in many ways, including with respect to drawing and writing. I wouldn’t worry about what the other kids are doing at all. At 3.5, it’s still extremely normal to be terrible at drawing and to have no interest in it. Even if he’s always going to be crappy at art, it doesn’t make him neurodivergent.
Anonymous says
I was like ‘maybe there is an issue’ until I got to the end where he was 3 and not 6 or 7, you’re fine.
Anon says
Obviously you know your kid best, but none of the examples you’ve given seem very concerning for a 3.5 year old. I would keep your eye on it, but in the meantime, don’t try to create a “problem” that doesn’t exist.
Anon says
I think putting a 3-year-old into unnecessary services is a risk in and of itself and one people discount. My daughter is in speech therapy for articulation and it’s hard work! You don’t need to borrow trouble for a kid who’s doing fine. If he needs support you can get it when he needs it. Not ahead of time in case it turns out he needs it down the line. This is how kids end up in therapy designed to make them “normal” that feels abusive by the time they’re adults.
Anon says
I 100% agree that people discount the risks of unnecessary therapy. I often see people say there’s no downside to it and better safe than sorry, and I don’t agree.
Anon says
There are also non-therapy options that you can try first. For fine motor skills, things like playdoh, Wiki sticks, Plus Plus blocks and Legos can be great. For large motor skills, gymnastics, soccer, and dance can be helpful. For low tone, try swimming and a bounce house or trampoline.
If a kid clearly needs help, then absolutely get a diagnosis and therapy. For skills that are a bit weak and you’re monitoring, there are fun ways to introduce the skill and encourage the kid to practice.
OP says
Thank you! I just bought the Wiki sticks and plus plus blocks – I think he’ll like these. Kiddo currently does soccer (which he loves), and will start swim later this Fall, earlier if we get off of a waitlist.
OP says
My kid is in ST as well – and I agree with your sentiment. I definitely don’t want to put kiddo in services they don’t need. The wait and see is just tough.
Anon says
i say this gently, but i believe you have posted on here a bunch of times about your kid’s speech delays asking for reassurance, etc. this board is very happy to support people etc. but may i suggest you seek some therapy for yourself and/or speak to your pediatrician about your concerns. you seem overly anxious about your kid. perhaps your kid is ND, and yes, early intervention can do wonders, but right now it doesn’t seem like there is anything to intervene for. as a parent of twins, i get how easy it is to compare kids and i think maybe you have an older kid who did things on a different timeline. as a parent of twins, I can also tell you that there is a WIDE range of normal for skill development, personality, etc. i understand the fear of feeling like you are failing your kid if you don’t notice something until it’s ‘late,’ but as humans all we can do is make the best decisions we can with the information we have at the time.
OP says
Thank you for speaking to me gently. I’m clearly really struggling. I’m in therapy but I still struggle with various spirals – some days are better than others.
It’s the fear of feeling like I’ll fail my child. I’ve raised things here and there to the ped after finally finding one that I trust and value, and she hasn’t had any concerns to date.
Anon says
Agreed. I only have one kid but the range of typical development is so wide and that’s been clear just from observing her and other kids.
Fwiw, I have a kid who has done pretty much everything from walking to potty training to reading at the later end of the normal range, in many cases right at the very end of the normal range bordering on delayed. She scores extremely well on standardized tests, is beloved by her teachers and has a large circle of friends. I think for whatever reason she’s just slower to take to new things.
AwayEmily says
Seems like you are making the a great call by talking to his teachers about this! I agree this all sounds pretty normal but we are internet people who don’t know your kid. His teachers not only know him well but also have a very good sense of the range of normal. I had concerns about my kid (for very different reasons), had a long talk with his teacher, and left immensely reassured. Maybe the same will happen to you — or perhaps they will recommend further testing/intervention. If you find yourself spiraling, maybe worth setting up an earlier meeting with them?
OP says
Thank you. He’s only been in this specific class for a 1.5 weeks. His last teachers adored him, no issues noted. A brief chat with new teacher didn’t indicate she had any concerns/thoughts. So I’ll have to wait, but glad to hear that you had a good experience going this way :)
Anonymous says
If both teachers, your DH and your ped have not noted anything, I do think you should look if this is a you issue and not a kid issue.
Anon says
+1
Anonymous says
Your 3.5 year old is loud and always plays/fidgets/investigated things? He also doesn’t have proper pencil grip at 3.5? Congratulations – you have a perfectly normal child. He does not need OT. Proper pencil grip develops at 4.5/5/6/7 years old. All he should be able to draw right now is 2 lines that cross. Possible a circle for a “head” and 2 lines for “legs”. My 5yo boy has no interest in drawing but when tested by child find he’s perfectly normal.