The first week of school is a magical time. When else does the smell of freshly sharpened pencils and feel of crisp folders spark excitement in kids across the nation? Unfortunately, there’s one thing that typically elicits kids to groan rather than smile during the first week of school – cafeteria lunches.

Yes, school lunches have kinda, sorta improved over the years, but seriously – nothing beats a homemade lunch. Make back-to-school week groan-free by preparing a few of these easy-make school lunches.

You don’t brag about it, but you’re relatively certain you’re the greenest mom on the block. You tried to get fellow moms to use cloth diapers. You also make your own baby food and only use homemade cleaning products. And the car? Pshaw! You’re a human-power type of gal. You use your bike or feet to get from point A to point B. And you absolutely can’t wait to get your kiddo a bike. Unfortunately, the tike is too tiny to peddle on her own just yet.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) honors remarkable food visionaries every year with their Growing Green Awards. 

“These vanguards are serving up a food system with generous portions of workplace justice, economic viability and ecological integrity,” said Jonathan Kaplan, Director of Food and Agriculture at NRDC. “They are living proof that we can grow and eat food that is good for us, our communities and the planet.”

One of this year's award winners is 25-year-old Andrea Northup, founder of the D.C. Farm to School Network. Passionate about local food and children's health, this young woman is responsible for connecting local D.C. area farmers and food producers with over 200 public schools and 90 charter schools in the D.C. school district. 

Two new studies, reported in the journal Appetite, have found that if you want your kids to eat their veggies, you need to serve water -- not sugary soda, juice or sports drinks -- with meals.

It might be one of the most frustrating moments in a young parent's life: your once-amiable baby who would eat anything you spooned into their chubby cherub mouth suddenly clamps her jaw shut, shakes her head and shrieks, "NO!" at everything you offer. Turns out, your picky eating problem might be a sensory problem, especially if your child has shown signs of having sensory sensitivities in other situations—like reacting poorly to loud noises, strong smells, or getting gook on their hands.

The good news? You can teach your way out of this kind of picky eating habit.

Thanks to a recent TIME Magazine cover that features a young mother breastfeeding her three year-old child, there has been an elevated amount of online buzz about the appropriateness of public breastfeeding in a civilized society.

Knowing the "right" thing to feed your baby is a little bit like knowing what is the "best" diet: low-fat, low-cal, low-carb, high-protein... breast milk, formula, baby food, fresh food... At the end of the day, though, both things boil down to common sense. As with feeding yourself, when feeding your baby, all-natural is best. Here are some tips on making sure your baby has everything they need.

When toddlers reach the stage of wanting to feed themselves, it's tempting to reach for those squeeze packs of pureed fruits and veggies, or baby-friendly crackers and crisps. But you don't have to go processed to give them great finger foods. Try these healthy alternatives instead.

Theme parties are fun opportunities to get creative, whether you’re 5 or 35. An under-the-sea theme offers a lot of ways to re-create a seascape with easy-to-find or recycled materials and some imagination. Kids can join the fun with crafts and homemade decorations inspired by their favorite marine life. Just in time for summer birthdays, here are some do-it-yourself ways to turn your living room into a mermaid’s den.

All throughout my childhood, the focus of kids' snacks was on portability, ease, convenience. Snack packs and things of the sort were all over supermarket shelves and in the pantry of any kid I knew. That being said, everyone always wanted to come to my house after school. Instead of ready-made snacks, my mom made ours, like, herself. Nothing fancy, mind you: a few sliced vegetables with dipping sauce or cut up fruit. But, for some reason, those extra two minutes made us famous in elementary school.