Parenting & Family | Blog Category Archives | Meraki Lane

30 Days of 10-Minute Meals for Busy Moms | What’s for dinner tonight? If you’re looking for simple and easy family-friendly recipes you can create in 10 minutes (or less!), we’ve curated 30 healthy dinner recipes you’ll love. Perfect for adults and for kids, we’ve included ideas for meat lovers, low carb enthusiasts, and the vegetarian in your life. Some of these recipes have only 4 ingredients, making meal prep a breeze! #10minutemeals #10minuterecipes #10minutedinners

What’s for Dinner? 30 10-Minute Meals for Busy Moms

18 Back to School Hairstyles for Girls | Looking for a simple hairstyle for your little one’s first day of school photos? Need easy updos for kids you can do on the daily? We’ve got you covered! Perfect for straight, curly, or wavy hair, these cute hairstyles and hair tutorials are for short hair, medium hair, and long hair. From ponytails, to braided hairstyles, to messy buns, your little one will love these fun styles! #backtoschoolhairstyles #backtoschoolhair #schoolhairstyles #schoolhair

18 Simple and Easy Back to School Hairstyles for Girls We Love

38 Easy Breakfasts for Kids to Kickstart The Day | If you’re looking for quick and healthy breakfast recipes to kickstart your mornings, these ideas will inspire you! We’ve included make ahead ideas you can enjoy on the go, high protein breakfasts that double as fabulous after school snacks, as well as gluten free breakfast ideas and dairy free breakfast recipes for kids with allergies. #kidsbreakfast #kidsbreakfastrecipes #easybreakfast

Morning Fuel: 38 Easy Breakfasts for Kids to Kickstart The Day

11 Secrets of a Happy Marriage | If you want to know how to have a happy marriage, we’re sharing our best tips to teach you what sets happily married couples apart from the rest. Whether you’re celebrating your first anniversary or your 50th, the keys to a happy marriage are the same. Perfect for newlyweds, tired parents, and empty nesters, we hope these ideas give you the inspiration to keep the magic alive in your marriage today – and every day! #marriage #newlywed #kids #parenting

Happily Ever After: 11 Simple Secrets of a Happy Marriage

How to Raise Happy Kids | If you want to know the secret to having happy children, we’re sharing 9 simple ideas to help. Perfect for the single mom who is stretched too thin – and for big families with busy schedules – these positive parenting tips will help foster a positive mindset, teach kids how to remain calm and mindful, and help them live their best lives every single day. #positiveparenting #parentingtips #mindfulparenting #raisingkids

How to Raise Happy Kids: 9 Simple Tips for Parents

27 Cooking Activities for Kids | Looking for easy and healthy recipes for kids you can incorporate into your classroom lesson plans? These fun ideas will inspire you! From taste tests and edible science experiments, to no bake recipes, to simple and creative ideas that have an education component, these recipes kids can make will teach important kitchen tips and life skills, and hopefully turn picky eaters into aspiring chefs! #cookingactivities #cookingintheclassroom #recipeskidscanmake

Cooking in the Classroom: 27 Cooking Activities for Kids

Kindergarten Readiness Checklist | If you’re looking for an assessment to see if your kids are ready for kindergarten, this post is for you! While some parents like to track their child’s progress and ensure they have mastered every single skill they need for school, others just want basic ideas of which lessons to focus on. Wherever you fall on the spectrum, this is a great guide, and we’ve included 11 fun kindergarten prep activities to boot! #kindergartenreadiness #kindergartenprep

Kindergarten Readiness Checklist: 27 Tips and Activities For Parents

28 Meals Kids Can Make By Themselves | If you’re looking for easy, healthy, and fun recipes kids can make for breakfast, school lunches, and/or for dinner, look no further! Mornings and evenings just got a whole lot easier with this collection of tips for getting kids excited about cooking and simple recipes the whole family will enjoy. While these may not be low carb (LOL), who can pass up a pot of mac and cheese made by your own child?! #mealskidscanmake #cookingwithkids #kidsrecipes

Cooking with Kids: 28 Meals Kids Can Make Themselves

20 First Day of School Icebreakers for Kids | Attention teachers! If you’re looking for fun and engaging ‘getting to know you’ team building activities to help your students transition back to school, these ideas will not disappoint! Perfect for kids in kindergarten, elementary school, and middle school, we’ve included ideas for small groups and activities that can be enjoyed with the entire classroom. #icebreakers #backtoschool #backtoschoolactivities

Getting to Know Each Other: 20 First Day of School Icebreakers for Kids

Family Meal Planning on a Budget | Whether you’re looking for ideas to help you create a healthy weekly menu even the picky eaters in your life will enjoy, want to know how to create and stick to your grocery lists so you aren’t throwing away unused produce each week, or need kid-friendly recipes you can throw in the crockpot on busy weeknights, we’re sharing 5 simple meal planning tips to help you stick to your clean eating goals while still saving money! #mealplanning #familymealplanning #howtomealplan

Family Meal Planning on a Budget: 5 Money-Saving Hacks

$Teaching Fractions to Kids | Learning about numerators and denominators is a pretty abstract concept, and can be confusing and frustrating to children. If you want to know how to teach fractions to kids in first, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and/or 5th grade, there are tons of manipulatives and visuals available to help, and we’re excited to share 20 fractions games and fractions activities to keep kids engaged and learning! #teachingfractions #fractiongames #fractionactivities$

Teaching Fractions to Kids: 20 Math Games and Activities that Work

5 Natural Diarrhea Remedies for Kids | Whether it's a stomach flu, food poisoning, or a virus, diarrhea in children (especially babies and toddlers) is not fun. Knowing the causes of diarrhea can help, and having tips and natural remedies up your sleeve to relieve discomfort is always a good idea! From essential oils, to ginger, to eating the right foods (aka the BRAT diet), these tips and natural treatments will help keep your child comfortable at home! #diarrhea #kidshealth #stomachflu

Feel Better Sooner: 5 Natural Diarrhea Remedies for Kids

How to Lose Weight While Breastfeeding | Postpartum weight loss, exercise, and diets should not be an immediate concern for a new mom, and if you’re breastfeeding, weight loss too fast and too soon can decrease your milk supply. Of course, many women are eager to get back into a workout routine after pregnancy, and we're sharing 9 of our best tips to help you get back in shape without losing your milk supply! #breastfeeding #postpartumweightloss #increasemilksupply

How to Lose Weight While Breastfeeding: 9 Tips for Postpartum Moms

18 Working Mom Tips | Struggle to balance work and parenting? You aren't alone! Many of us deal with working mom guilt and I'm sharing my best time management and meal planning tips, plus simple morning routines for working moms to help you be more intentional. These simple life hacks and ideas will help you feel more organized and in control, allowing you to be a mom boss by day and spend quality time with your kids by night! #workingmom #workingmomtips #timemanagementformoms #workathomemom

Time Management 101: 18 Working Mom Tips to Help You Find Balance

35 Healthy After School Snacks for Kids | Looking for simple, clean eating snacks for children to keep them full until dinner? We’re sharing our favorite make ahead snack recipes, easy grab and go ideas, self-serve snacks and options for older kids, and gluten-free recipes for kids with allergies. From a delicious trail mix with chocolate chips, to super simple DIY granola bars, to almond butter energy balls, even your picky eaters will love these recipes! #afterschoolsnacks #makeaheadsnacks

Easy and Delicious: 35 Healthy After School Snacks for Kids

11 Problem Solving Activities for Kids | If you want to help build your child’s social, critical thinking, conflict resolution, and anger management skills, these fun and effective ideas are for you! We’ve included worksheets, team building activities, task cards, and other creative challenges for small groups that can be used at home with parents or as a team in the classroom. #problemsolvingactivities #conflictresolution #selfregulation

Critical Thinking: 11 Problem Solving Activities for Kids

Baby Led Weaning for Beginners | Starting baby with his or her first foods at 6 months can be scary, especially if your babe has no teeth! It used to be that starter foods consisted only of purees - baby oatmeal and mashed banana and sweet potato – but many moms are opting to go straight to table foods. If you want to know how to get started with BLW, as well as the best beginner foods and recipes to start with, we’re sharing 25 tips and ideas to inspire you! #babyledweaning #BLW #starterfoods

Baby Led Weaning for Beginners: 25 Tips and Recipes for New Moms

How to Make Homework Less Stressful | Looking for tips to make learning at home fun for your children? Whether you have kids in elementary, middle, or high school, these homework hacks will help maintain motivation and avoid power struggles with your kids. From creating a dedicated homework station and a planner for greater organization, to establishing a good homework routine, to teaching time management tips, these ideas really work! #homeworktips #homework #parentingtips #backtoschool

How to Make Homework Less Stressful: 11 Tips for Parents

15 Natural Ways to Boost Your Energy | Want to know how to kickstart your energy naturally? We’re sharing 15 tips and ideas to help you feel more energized in the mornings and beyond without relying on coffee and other sources of caffeine. Diet and fitness are great natural energy boosters, but there are tons of other simple tweaks you can make to your daily routine to help you feel more alert and productive. Click to find out more! #energybooster #wakeup #wakeuprefreshed #havemoreenergy

Energized and Awake: 15 Natural Ways to Boost Your Energy

How to Be a Happy Mom | Whether you’re a stay at home mom, or you work outside the home, you probably look at other mothers (and families) and wonder what their secret is. How do they maintain a positive attitude no matter what life throws at them? How do they get their children to behave so well? Where do they find the time and energy to do fun things with their kids everyday? If you want to be a happy mom (and wife), these parenting tips are for you! #happymom #momlife #parentingtips

How To Be a Happy Mom: 9 Tips to Find Joy in Parenting

How to Get Kids to Stop Sucking Their Thumb | Perfect for toddlers and older children, these thumb sucking alternatives and behavior strategies will teach you how to get your child to stop sucking his or her thumb (or fingers) once and for all! From reward charts and products that make it impossible for kids to get their thumbs in their mouths, to less invasive DIY gloves and solutions to help curb bad habits over time, these parenting tips work! #thumbsucking #parentingtips #positiveparenting

How to Get Kids to Stop Sucking Their Thumb: 11 Tips that Work