These sweet kid sunglass provide vital sun protection for children’s eyes, while also starting them down a long path of sun safety. The sunglasses are attached to a neoprene band which holds the glasses closer to the child’s face, more securely in place, and, ultimately, minimizes peripheral light that can lead to eye damage. These shades will help children decrease the risk of sun damage to their eyes that can eventually lead to impaired vision, cataracts, and blindness.

My First Shades incorporates a fun, fashionable design that will appeal to children of all ages while still protecting their eyes from the sun. These sunglasses can be purchased in an array of colors and baseball team logos, taking children’s fashion to the next level. My First Shades integrates children’s safety while also allowing for the child to maintain fashion and functionality. Their products can be found at myfirstshades.com and are sold online at this site.

I just love the design and quality of the glasses, my toddler is alwaying dropping his shades! Not anymore. The Go-To Mom gives MY FIRST SHADES a thumbs up. For more great designs, click on the shades below...

Fast Recipes and Fun Ways to Feed Even the Pickiest Eater

The Toddler Café -- Every toddler goes through the stage where they want nothing but "O"-shaped cereal.

The challenge for parents is getting kids to ask for fruit salad instead of cupcakes. Faced with this seemingly impossible task with her own child, Jennifer Carden has created The Toddler Café, a guide to making mealtime with children fun and interactive. It offers simple, creative ways for kids to identify with their food, like saying tuna salad is what mermaids eat, or making Minty Pea Pops in ice cube trays. Carden has created over 50 unique recipes that encourage families (including toddlers) to work together to prepare, eat, clean up, and best of all, look forward to a healthy, delicious meal.

The Go-To Mom's Favorite Kid Snack with Style:

Happy Trails Mix

Tell the children it’s time to be important explorers who need some healthy snacks to bring with them on the trek. This is a great way to use up all those half-empty packages in your pantry. Dehydrated foods are healthy and easy for small hands to pick up and eat. Portion out small amounts into reusable containers and store for a grab-and-go snack. Get adventurous—look around and buy different kinds of dried fruit for this.

Makes as much as you choose!

Use ingredients such as:
Large-flake coconut
Dried kiwi
Dried pineapple
Dried cherries
Dried raspberries
Dried blueberries
Cashew pieces
Any leftover cereal

Mix all the ingredients together and store in an airtight container or snack-sized bags, for grab-and-go convenience. Keep one in the car for hunger emergencies.

Variations:
• Add dehydrated veggies such as peas, corn, or sun-dried tomatoes for a savory surprise.

Be sure to come back soon to see what Jennifer has cooked up next from

The Todder Cafe...

Jennifer Carden is a one of our Go-To Mom chefs and author of “The Toddler Café” (Chronicle Books, 2008). She is also a food stylist, teacher, artist and mom. Carden's innovative ideas and humorous slant on feeding children have led her to develop well-received books and products that help parents feed their children healthy, quick and uncomplicated food.

Matthew Carden is a photographer in the San Francisco Bay Area.

We all need summer vacations,especially those of us with kidlings, but every now
and then I find myself fantasizng about leaving them home and running off to Cancun
with my hubby...

The reality is our little boy is too young to be left overnight with a nanny or babysitter, however,
our 7 year old is the perfect age for a waterfront beach excursion. So a compromise had to be made.
We'll if you ask my hubby, maybe it wasn't truly a compromise.

Maybe it was more like, "pretty please, can we go and will you stay home with the baby?"

Daddies are great - and that is how I see my hub bub. If it brings joy to our eyes, he's always supportive.
So I packed my bags and took my 7 year old to swim with the dolphins in the Bahamas this week. We kissed daddy and baby good bye and then traveled 10 hours to the island of paradise.

The travel was tough but the rest was amazing. I rarely get to hang out for that period of time with my older boy and it was so much fun. It sure beats chasing after my 22 month old and wondering if he's jumped off the hotel balcony. It was so relaxing and refreshing. I actually got to build sand castles, swim in emerald green waters all while drinking a pina colada.

Thank you daddy for staying home with baby boy and not calling your friends and saying,

"I'm the nanny this week."

With love, your wife....aka The Go-To-The-Bahamas-Mom!

I don’t know how moms make time to get their personal errands done. I know I have to plan weeks in advance.

For example, I really needed some PJ’s and underwear, and do you think I have time to do this? No way! And I'm not willing to buy my panties online, because this is one of the fun items I like to shop for in person ;-D I’d also like to have lunch with a friend to get a break from the frenzied world of toddlerhood and work -but do I have time?

All the more reason to make the time. So, If I need to buy new underwear, I have to put it on the family calendar. If I want to have lunch with my friend, I have to put it on the calendar or it simply won’t happen. When I do get the chance to venture out I’m so happy and often wonder why I don’t take the time to do it more.

I decided to get a two for one. I had a fabulous time last week having lunch (awesome sushi) and shopping for undies with a dear friend of mine who has a child too. We made it a festive time! Sometimes all a mom might need is to run away for a few hours. So next time you plan errands, tack on a mommy playdate for lunch while you're at it.

Mommies need time away, to breath, relax, have fun and shop. And yes, I got some cool stuff ;-)

Submitted by The Go-To Mom