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As the school year approaches and schedules get crowded, it might be overwhelming on the homefront. Guest writer Amanda Henderson has some ideas. Life as a busy parent can be overwhelming – juggling careers, kids’ schedules, household chores, and budgeting. Staying organized is key to maintaining your sanity amidst the chaos, and fortunately, it doesn’t

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Why arts and crafts play is so important for kids and some of the best products of 2023

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The New Movie is an Instant Classic…With Classic Influences Leaving the theater after seeing Barbie, the Movie, I was upset. This is a good thing. Great art, particularly when it deals with challenging themes, is supposed to be unsettling. It’s supposed to stay with you and stimulate reflection. Well, Greta Gerwig’s brilliant movie certainly does

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The back-to-school season is on us, and for the second year since the pandemic, kids are really going back—to real schools, in classrooms, with each other in person. That means a lot of household spending on goods related to the season, making it one of biggest retail seasons of the year. It’s also a big

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One of the most entertaining things I get to do every holiday season is play with the hosts on Live with Kelly & Ryan! If memory serves, 2020 is my 25th year of playing on this exceptional show. Of course, what you see is only the proverbial tip of the iceberg. One of the reasons

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Today’s global toy business is a distinctly modern phenomenon. The first New York Toy Fair in 1903 was nowhere near the massive show that it is today. In fact, the American toy industry was virtually non-existent. Many, if not most, toys were home made, or locally crafted. Real toys came from Europe. In those early

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I can’t tell you how many people over the years have introduced a product to me saying, “This is going to be a huge fad.” (It’s a lot.) I can, however, tell you how many of those ended up actually becoming fads. Exactly none. A fad is an anomaly in the world of toys. No

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What are kids going to be putting on their lists to Santa in 2019? (And asking for throughout the year?) Well, nobody really knows the answer to that, but in the high stakes toy business, inventors and manufacturers have been placing their bets since last year. And now, it’s go time. The first months of

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