Sarah Bregel

Birthday parties are something all kids look forward to. But as a parent, let's face it -- they basically suck. If your kids aren't old enough to have any opinion regarding their birthday parties just yet, consider yourself lucky. Here are five reasons to have a blow-out party for your child's first birthday.

Getty Images

As a suburban-born 20-year-old college student, living in the heart of the West Village of New York City for a whole summer is probably the best thing that ever happened to me.

Clint Edwards

I have three kids ages 8, 5, and 1. Each one of them has woken me up in a million different ways. But as I reflect on those many long, weary nights, and early, early, mornings, I've noticed a few trends. Here is a list.

Apeloga via Getty Images

These rules to friend-making from me, a verified friend professional (aka a random human who survived college with minor damage), will help you find your true BFFs and begin the ~best years of your life~.

Jennifer Wolfe

Make life pleasant -- listen to the birds, fill a hummingbird feeder or watch the butterflies land on the flowers. Admire your hard work. Hug your children tightly, tell them you love them and watch them grow into amazing creatures. Your efforts will pay off, I promise.

DamienHR | Flickr

Many religious people have been through events of different kinds that have led them to a crisis of faith for whatever reason, and I suspect that I can speak for at least some of us about what goes wrong in the process

Cort Ruddy

I relearned an important lesson this week: With kids, sometimes you have to follow through on all those threatened consequences. This may seem obvious. It's straight from the parenting 101 books that I failed to read when I first started taking this experiential course in child-rearing a dozen years ago.

One night many years ago I was lying in bed, waiting for sleep and reviewing my day. I hadn't had a bad day, but I could not decide whether it had been a good day.I realized then that my problem was that I did not have any standard for measuring the success of my day. I needed a Good Day checklist.

You know that doctor who saved your life? She had a first grade teacher, who encouraged her and shaped her to glean her gifts and use them with appropriate and balanced judgment. Years later, she had a teacher who observed her making incisions and providing emergency care to save lives-yep, yours.

They frolic! They play! They chase and tumble. And you will never be so excited by the idea of puppy breath! Check out this video and watch the painfully adorable afternoon adventure through a meadow with 21 Golden Retriever puppies.

Lakshmi Iyer

I follow her blog. She follows mine. We follow each other on Twitter. We are Facebook friends. Our relationship is complex. She is American. I am Indian. She is Christian. I am Hindu. She eats meat. I do not. She lives in the Southwest. I live in the Northeast. Neither friends nor immediate family, we are linked by our children. She gave birth to them. I raise them.

Joyce Shulman

August is around the corner. If we aren't careful, we will miss the chance to create Summer 2015 memories. What better way to do that than with a Surprise Family Playdate?

Alyssa Ramos

Unless you're purposely trying to be alone, or on a deserted island, the chances of you actually being alone when you travel solo are quite skinny.

As an athlete my entire life, a true tomboy growing up, I thought I understood the draw of sports. But it wasn't until I spent a few days with Special Olympics athletes that I realized just how powerful -- and empowering -- sports can truly be.