Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: What are your kids dressing up as? How do you pick Halloween costumes? And have you ever run into the situation of your kids wanting to dress up as something you don't approve of? ---- Michele Gorham: So, as …

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: How do you enforce bedtimes? Or do you just wait for the kids to become tired on their own? Any tips for dealing with kids who just won't sleep at night? ---- Michele Gorham: You know, I really lucked out with …

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. And this is conversational, so you are encouraged to join in the discussion. This week's question: The topic is potty training. What are your tips for potty training? What worked for you? What didn't? ---- Michele Gorham: Okay, best …

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: Now that kids are back in school and at day cares, germs are everywhere. What do you do to avoid having your kids bring home germs, or do you just let it ride as a fact of life? ---- Wendy Bulawa Agudelo: Ugh, I…

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: How do your kids behave when you bring them out to eat, and what tricks/tips might you have for managing kids' behavior at restaurants? ---- Michele Gorham: My oldest loves going out to eat... and I love going …

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: How did you and your family fare with the storm? What did you do with the kids to keep busy and keep from getting cabin fever? Were the kids scared, and if so, how did you calm them down? ---- Michele Gorham: We…

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: This week's topic will be about child "showcasing." There are so many shows out there now about toddlers and children in pageants and dance contests, and so many online "cutest kid" contests. What are your …

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: When you need a few hours off from parenting, and you have someone babysit, what are the guidelines you have for selecting someone? Back in the day, adolescents used to babysit. It seems these days people are …

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: What are your thoughts on breastfeeding in public? ---- Wendy Bulawa Agudelo: My feelings on this are simple. Breastfeeding is a completely natural thing for a mother to do with her infant. All mothers I know …

North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: What do you (or should someone else) do if their child wants to sleep in mom and dad's bed all the time? And what age do you ween them off of that habit? ---- Michele Gorham: Unfortunately I am one of those people! Our youngest, now 4, has been a wall in our bed since the beginning. At most, we've …

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: How do you prevent sunburn on your kids, and when they get a sunburn, how do you treat it? ---- Michele Gorham: I smother them maybe 2 or 3 times per day with 50 SPF (70 on the face), but all in all sunburns are…

North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: When you're at a store with the kids, and your child insists on you buying him or her something, how do you say "no," and what do you do if they start crying or won't take no for an answer? ---- Michele Gorham: My kids are pretty good with the "no's," actually (mostly because I'm more stubborn than …

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: What are your thoughts on young kids (say, kids under 10 years old) going on diets? Some moms today put their young kids on aggressive diets insisting that kids need to learn to be fit at a young age, while …

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: How did your kids take the news that there would be no fireworks? And on a second note, how was the Fourth for you and your kids? ---- Michele Gorham: I was under the impression the fireworks were going to be on…

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: There has been a growing debate nationwide debate over baby circumcision, a movement to ban the practice and a counter-movement to preserve it. From religious to hygienic to philosophical, people seem to have …

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: How do you handle kids party invites? Do you invite the whole class? A select few? How do you make invites tactfully? What do you do if your child isn't invited to a party? ---- Michele Gorham: Our parties tend …

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: What is your favorite beach in the area, and how often do you go in the summer? ---- Wendy Bulawa Agudelo -- Sadly, we have yet to "beach" as our kids are just now learning to swim. We are on our way to Martha's…

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: Have you seen any movies lately (with or without the kids)? Which ones, and what did you think of them? Also, if you watched any with your kids, which ones did they like/dislike? ---- Michele Gorham: We actually…

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: Summer time fun for the kids. Do you send them to camp, or take them on a vacation, or both, or none of the above? And what are you looking forward to most this summer? ---- Wendy Bulawa Agudelo: What truly …

Moms Talk is part of a North Andover Patch initiative to reach out to moms and families. North Andover Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in North Andover. Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions. This week's question: Oprah is ending her show this week after 25 years. Are you a fan? What are your thoughts on her show and the fact that it's ending? ---- Darcy Rubino: My daughter Jessica often uses the phrase "I am a fan" when …