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Summer vacation plans? These mess-free markers will keep your kids (and you) happy.
This handy coloring kit from Crayola comes with 30 blank pages and four markers. The neat thing is the colors only show up on the included Color Wonder paper, so you don’t have to worry about scrubbing little hands, carpet, or furniture. We used Color Wonder products on almost all our early family trips for hours of easy entertainment.
Crayola’s Color Wonder Stow & Go Coloring Studio is $11.89 at Target.
Sales of note for 4.18.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 50% off full-price dresses, jackets & shoes; $30 off pants & skirts; extra 50% off sale styles
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything; extra 20% off purchase
- Eloquii – 50% off select styles; 60% off swim; up to 40% off everything else
- J.Crew – Mid-Season Sale: Extra 60% off sale styles; up to 50% off spring-to-summer styles
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Spring Mid-Season Sale: Up to 50% off 100s of styles
- Nordstrom: Free 2-day shipping for a limited time (eligible items)
- Talbots – Spring Sale: 40% off + extra 15% off all markdowns; 30% off new T by Talbots
- Zappos – 29,000+ 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 – Up to 70% off baby items; 50% off toddler & kid deals & 40% off everything else
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off spring faves; 25% off new arrivals; up to 30% off spring
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Up to 60% off sale styles; up to 50% off kids’ spring-to-summer styles
- Old Navy – 30% off your purchase; up to 75% off clearance
- Target – Car Seat Trade-In Event (ends 4/27); BOGO 25% off select skincare products; up to 40% off indoor furniture; up to 20% off laptops & printers
New Job says
Hi All! I’ve posted a few questions recently about interviewing for in-house positions after being with a law firm for about 12 years. I have a call scheduled for later today to discuss an offer. Unless any major red flags come up, I intend to eventually take this position after some negotiation. I have two (somewhat related) questions.
First, as I mentioned I’ve been out of law school for 12 years. I worked for 4 years between undergrad and law school. I am 41. How much vacation time should be my goal?
Second, although my general sense is that this company is reasonably flexible, I’ll be coming from a law firm of about 25 attorneys where no one cares what my schedule is as long as the work gets done and clients are happy. I am worried that losing some of this flexibility will be hard on my kiddo, who is 7. Can folks weigh in on how you make sure time spent with your kids is quality? I don’t necessarily mean every moment, but the things you do on a daily/weekly/monthly/etc. basis that make your kids feel connected to you and generally satisfied. In addition, any book recommendations on the subject specifically aimed to working parents would be welcomed.
Thanks in advance!
Boston Legal Eagle says
I’m in house. We have flex PTO that increases with your seniority. So it starts at 3 weeks + 3 floating holidays, and maxes out at 5 weeks + 3 floating holidays, with the ability to carry over 40 hours per year. I don’t know if vacation time is negotiable but maybe at your seniority you can ask for more.
FWIW I have a ton of flexibility now, post Covid and given my tenure here, so you may get there soon. I try to spend time in the few hours after work before bedtime focused on my kids (phone away, computer closed) although sometimes things get in the way. It’s harder to do one on one time with two kids when the other parent is making dinner or something else around the house but with one you should be able to. An activity you both enjoy on the weekends would work too – bike riding? hiking? Going to Starbucks?
Anon says
I’d be a little cautious about negotiating vacation time. I’ve done it (successfully) but I think it can lead to a perception that you’re lazy or not serious about the job in a way that asking for more money doesn’t.
anon says
I’d try to get something commensurate with your years of experience. You shouldn’t be starting with the same PTO as a new college grad, and I can’t think of anyone judging that.
Anon says
I feel like at many companies, PTO is less about years out of college and more about years at the company, so it’s not necessarily something you get more of just because you’ve been in the workforce a while. I definitely agree you *should* be able to negotiate it without stigma, but that hasn’t been my experience unfortunately.
OP says
Thanks! I appreciate this comment, but negotiating vacation was a specific recommendation I received from a former employee at the company who is now in legal career services at my old law school. I am not too worried about negotiating generally because of that and will likely reach back out to this person after I receive an initial offer. But I’m also interested in what is typical. Thanks!
Anonymous says
Definitely negotiate. For context I just switched jobs from a place with 4 weeks PTO to a place that offered me 2 and I negotiated to 3. And I do think more senior positions should come with more PTO. My European colleagues with 30 days vacation by law would laugh a lot at the idea that trying to get more than two weeks makes you lazy.
EDAnon says
My husband had the same experience (also a lawyer). They were totally fine with moving him up a week in vacation time right away.
anon says
Huh, I hire a lot of people (F50 bank) and I wouldn’t judge anyone for trying to negotiate vacation time. I feel like actually getting to take vacations is one of the best things about moving in-house. (That said, it’s not negotiable at my company – all legal roles get 3 weeks vacation, plus federal holidays, plus sick time; you get an extra week if you’ve worked at the company 30 years.)
anon says
Our company routinely offers new starters 1 week of PTO, but those in legal negotiate it up to 2 weeks of PTO. I’m not aware of anyone getting more to start. You don’t earn more PTO until around 14 years of tenure.
My in house schedule is far more flexible that it was at a firm. I am higher up the food chain so I’m far more likely to be able to choose the time for meetings.
Anon says
1 week of PTO, omg that’s so stingy!! Does that have to cover sick days too?
anon says
Yes, that covers sick days, too. It’s also use it or lose it, so you can’t roll over any time and it accrues during the year, so you can’t take a week of vacation in Q1 without seeking approval from your skip manager.
We do get a week of shutdown over the winter holidays + 8 federal holidays + 2 floating holidays, as well.
Boston Legal Eagle says
What industry is this? Seems both generous (week shutdown) and stingy (14 years to earn more?!)
Anonymous says
I just wouldn’t take that job and I think your company sucks
Anonymous says
Yeah, that’s bananacrackers and would be a dealbreaker for me. Not just because I need a vacation, but also because it creates a powerful incentive for people to come in to the office sick and get me sick.
anon says
People work remotely when sick with minor things. You only need to use PTO if you’re too sick to work at all.
Anon says
What about things like doctor’s appointments and kid OT/speech/doctor’s appointments? I’m rarely “too sick to work” but I use a week of sick leave each year, easily, covering all our various appointments.
Anon says
I flex time to cover appointments. I’ll just start early, skip lunch or work for a bit after kid bedtime. Those aren’t a big deal and all.
PTO gets used for major illnesses and vacation.
Anonymous says
So if you get the flu or bronchitis or COVID or a stomach bug you basically lose out on vacation for a whole year? Hard pass.
Anon says
+2 I can’t imagine taking a job with that little time off. I would expect a minimum of 3 weeks of PTO, which is very standard for even entry level corporate jobs in the US.
Anon says
One week of PTO? If I had any other options at all, I wouldn’t hesitate to laugh on the phone during the negotiation and say hell no, bye.
N says
+1. Even with the week shutdown over the holidays, that would be a hard pass for me. What industry is this?
Anonymous says
INAL but I had several JD compliance staff report to me. It’s based on seniority. I’d say at a minimum you should expect 3 weeks but if you are coming in at a VP level or higher you can push for 4. I’m a VP but sort of functionally an SVP and I have 5 weeks. But I’ve been here a long time.
Anon says
I think it’s industry dependent. I’m in higher ed and we get 5 weeks + a holiday shutdown right off the bat, but the only other industry I know that gives that much time off is biotech, and I think it’s because many of them are headquartered in Europe.
anonM says
Answer to your 2nd question – this is so personal, but a few things that help me are putting down my phone, longer chunks of time for nighttime reading (not every night, but sometimes it’s nice to put aside extra time and separate it from the clean-up-bath-bedtime routine/struggle), library runs (about monthly). Lately we have actually been going on family bike rides, and we all LOVE it. I love biking and did it a lot before kids, so it gives me a lot of joy and the kids have really picked up on that I think. Is there something you can do with your 7yo that you really truly enjoy for yourself, because it is such gold if you can find that. Kids are smart, they know when we are genuinely having fun ourselves.
Anonymous says
What I define as quality time is doing ordinary stuff together without drama and conflict. So homework battles, bedtime battles, dinnertime battles, kids screaming at the park, etc. are not quality time. Calm family dinners, grocery shopping and Target runs with cooperative kids, kids playing happily at the park, reading aloud with a cooperative audience, etc. are all quality time. I’d figure out what the screaming dramatic times tend to be and outsource those, then take on the non-screaming non-dramatic things myself. In our family that would mean a nanny to supervise homework, and kids grocery shopping with me on the weekends because homework is always a battle but the kids love errands.
Isabella says
Ugh. Riding the struggle bus into the end of the week. LB (15 mo) was utterly unable to sleep last night and the night before. He’s crying and screaming like he’s in pain but during the day he’s his usual happy self, maybe just a little subdued (with the exception of this morning, he’s obviously exhausted). I’m wondering if maybe he has a head or neck ache from playing rough? How do you guys figure it out when there’s no signs except mood and behavior?
Anonymous says
Tylenol
Anon says
Sounds like teething – 15 months is prime molar time and teething is usually worse at night. Have you given Tylenol and/or Motrin?
You might get his ears checked too. Ear infections always made my kid miserable even when awake, but some kids handle it better I think. And ear pain gets worse when they lie down.
Isabella says
Unfortunately I have a pretty good idea how he acts with either of those. We have been giving him Motrin and Tylenol but it isn’t really helping much.
Anon says
I would take him to the ped. Ear infection symptoms can definitely vary, just because he hasn’t acted like this in the past doesn’t mean it’s not an ear infection.
HSAL says
Get the ears checked. Three kids with (conservatively) over a dozen ear infections between them and they were exclusively bothered by them at night.
TheElms says
Kiddo #2 is 15 months and is a perfectly average sleeper but has very rough patches for generally no discernable reason. She’ll go a couple months of sleeping through the night just fine and then randomly stop for anywhere from 1 day to 2 weeks and she’s not sick or teething. Our approach in these times is to let her cry for 30 minutes to see if she can figure it out herself, go in and replace pacifiers and her small stuffed animal (not a best practice but it seems to help her sleep so at this age I’ve decided I’m fine with the minimal additional risk). If that doesn’t work then we fairly quickly give her motrin and a cuddle for about 15-30 minutes to give it time to work. We give her another 30 minute or so and if she’s still awake we give her a small bottle of milk and some more cuddles. Sometimes that doesn’t work and at that point I turn on my sound machine and do my best to ignore her and go back to sleep. I don’t feel the best about that but both my husband and I work and its really hard to do your job on less than 4 hours of sleep.
Isabella says
Hah, that’s almost exactly what we did last night, down to the minute. I laid down next to the crib and fell asleep while he was still screaming.
anon says
Get his ears checked! Sounds just like my daughter when she’s had ear infections
GCA says
Just want to say that mood and behaviour *are* the signs! Get his ears checked. Hope he feels better soon.
Anon says
Definitely get the ears checked. But also, my daughter seemed to have similar episodes off and on. In hindsight, they usually occurred while she was having a developmental leap (physical or mental).
anonM says
I made basically a DIY version of this and it is awesome. We grab both for the kids for longer car rides, restaurants, etc. I wish I’d seen this first tbh. Great idea.
Anonymous says
My mother DIY’d something like this with a Tupperware sheet cake box in the 1980s. I loved it, as kids tend to love all self-contained kits.
Help says
I have two preschoolers. Only one was invited to a birthday party at a local park. They are in different classes at the same school. Is there any non-rude way to ask to bring them both with me? I suspect the answer is no but it would make my life so much easier if I could figure out a way to say yes. It’s not a dropoff party and we also have an infant at home, so if he doesn’t come he will be stuck at home with the other parent and baby. (I know that is part of life but it’s hard when he also knows the child and wants to play at the park too.)
Mary Moo Cow says
I would say no, because you said that your child knows Birthday Child, which suggests to me that Birthday Child’s family knows you have 2 kids and only invited one of them. They may have reasons or Reasons. Of course, it could have been an oversight or poor communication (like both kids are actually invited but neither was named on the text). However, it could be that they had to manage Birthday Child’s expectations and guest list by a strict only-your-class policy and now you are upsetting that by asking to bring an extra, and if they say yes, and another family with two kids shows up with just one kid and sees you and gets upset, it is a thing.
FWIW, in this case, since they know you have two kids and only invited one, I wouldn’t have heartburn about declining the invite.
Anonymous says
Just wanted to weigh in here that it could easily have slipped the host’s mind or maybe they don’t know who is a twin. I have made this mistake!!
Anon says
Or they just sent invites home from school and your other kid didn’t get one because they’re not in birthday kid’s class? That’s what we do. I think it’s a leap to think they don’t want the other kid there.
AwayEmily says
As a parent who hosts informal birthday parties, I have gotten this request several times and it’s always fine! And sometimes people bring siblings without asking and it’s also fine! So, I certainly would not consider it rude or even surprising but I know that rudeness is a matter of opinion and culture and area so I can’t speak to how the person hosting the party would feel. good luck!
Spirograph says
To a non-dropoff party at a local public park? I would expect siblings to be welcome and usually specified that they were on my own invitations. Just reach out to the host and say “invitee is looking forward to the party! Sibling will be tagging along with me to play at the park, too, but isn’t expecting to be part of the organized activities.” then the host will likely say “great, sibling is welcome to join in the games too, and we’ll have plenty of snacks for everyone.” or alternatively, an acknowledgement that they needed to keep the guest list small for Reasons, in which case you should probably bring a small distraction and snack for the uninvited kid to head off any reaction to being excluded.
I’ve been on both sides of this conversation many times and don’t consider it a rude request at all!
Spirograph says
oops thread fail. but I agree with you, AwayEmily. :)
Anon says
I agree with you that 1) it’s fine to ask if the sibling can come and 2) that by far the most likely scenario is the host says “Great!” But if for some reason the host makes it clear your other child is not invited, I would not bring the sibling to the park. Mainly because I think that would be hard on your kid (what kid wants to watch a bunch of their friends play without being allowed to join in?) but also because i think it’s a little rude to the host if they’ve told you in so many words that your other child is not invited. But as I said, I think that’s a *very* unlikely scenario, and I can’t imagine anyone caring about siblings at a party in the park.
anonM says
I’d ask, but give an easy out. At our daycare, I am not always sure about who are siblings vs neighbors etc., so I’d feel bad if someone didn’t just ask about a sibling at our same school attending! Maybe just ask something like “Hey so-and-so! Trying to figure out logistics for this weekend. No pressure, but would it be ok if Sibling X also attends (she’s in Teacher X’s class)? If you are trying to limit guests/only invite the Kiddos in Teacher Y’s class etc, I totally understand and won’t be offended. Sibling Y will be there regardless and is so excited!”
Anonymous says
Normally I’d hesitate to bring a non-invited kid to a party, but this is non-drop-off, in a local park, and they know you’ve got other kids, including a baby, so I think it’s fine. Maybe prep your non-invited kid beforehand that they might not be able to get a goody bag/cake/etc.
Anonymous says
I wouldn’t ask. I’d either decline the invitation or take the invited child alone and have the other parent take the other two kids to a different park.
Anonymous says
I have never been to a park birthday party where extra sibling weren’t welcome. In our first or the default seems to be you bring whatever siblings need the adult to supervise them that day. Many people have brought siblings to our parties too. I would just say “hey, any issue if sibling accompanies?” and I’d be pretty shocked if they said no at a preschool age party. I think this changes if it’s a pay per kid party or a max-capacity party. For teenagers too I would say they have to include someone they don’t know well or like but preschool?? At a park?? ? I’m shocked people are suggesting not even to ask.
Anon says
Same. I just commented below, but I have an only child so I’ve never been in this situation as a guest, but I’ve never attended a preschool age park party where siblings weren’t welcome. The cost to the host is extremely minimimal. I would definitely ask.
N says
I agree. If the party were at a gymnastics place or somewhere else that charges by attendee or had capacity limitations I would understand your hesitation, but at a park birthday for preschoolers, I cannot imagine there being an issue.
Anon says
I have an only child but as the host I think it’s no big deal at a park party. Honestly I didn’t even mind people asking to bring siblings to our recent indoor play place party where I had to pay per kid. It was like $8 per kid, not a big deal. What I consider extremely rude is bringing siblings with no notice and potentially embarrassing the host who may not have enough food or goodie bags. If you ask permission, you’re doing better than most!
Anonymous says
“I have all 3 kids by myself this weekend. A is j happy to join but I would have to bring B and baby C along too. Since it’s a park I was thinking that’d be no big deal but please let me know if you think it’ll be a problem and we can skip it. Happy bday to Kiddo!”
I have 3 kids and this is just part of life. Keep it light and don’t worry about asking. Happens all the time!
Mnf says
Does anyone have experience with slumberpods? I will be taking my 3 month old on vacation for 2 weeks and she will be staying in my room in the pack and play bassinet. Tia!
AwayEmily says
The slumberpod is the absolute best! seriously it is a game-changer, worth every penny.
Anon says
I’d definitely buy one if I had another baby. We put the pack n play in the bathroom and it worked ok but the slumperpod seems a lot more convenient.
Anona says
Love! We took one on vacation recently where we shared a room with my 8 month old’s pack and play, and it was great. Naps were the best we’ve ever had, and seemed to create a routine that we’ve managed to keep at home without it, when we’d previously only had crap naps.
Anon says
I would totally use it at home if I had one.