Hi, I’m Meghan. And thanks for joining me on the Playground Parkbench!
A former hedge fund professional, I never planned on being a stay-at-home mom. Once I was, I found myself in a town I didn’t grow up in, thousands of miles from my family. And since the hospital doesn’t send you home with a parenting manual, I quickly discovered there is no one like a fellow parent more willing to help another mom out. My best information came from other moms, dads and grandparents I met on the park bench as our kids played in the sandbox.
I launched Playground Parkbench in 2014 to share all those real mom tips, ideas and sanity savers with parents, both locally and beyond. Playground Parkbench is a savvy mom blog, publishing practical parenting tips, kids learning activities, and family financial savvy.
If you are a family-friendly brand or business who would like to share what you have to offer with my followers, please see my Work with Me page to download my media kit or email me at [email protected].
Practical Parenting
Practical parenting is ways to survive this crazy adventure that is motherhood, with all the sleep-saving, sanity restoring tips you wish someone had told you BEFORE you had to learn it through trial, error and experience. It’s parenting tips, without judgement, from one real mom to another. Every child and family is different, so I don’t pretend one-size fits all – but I share what works for our family with 3 kids, of varying genders, personalities and temperaments!
Looking for a a good place to start? Check out my Sleep Series to establish routines and habits for great sleepers, beginning with newborns through preschool. My Early Childhood Transitions series offers tips for all those constant changes over the first few years of life – from starting solid foods to transition to a big kid bed. And because we have to feed all these hungry mouths, be sure to check out my Real Mom Meals – with quick, easy and family-approved recipes and meal plans.
Looking for something for you? My best piece of practical parenting advice is be sure you don’t lose site of taking care of YOU! Join Mom’s Book Nook, my virtual book club, to mingle with other book lovers and get great book recommendations every month.
Kids Learning Activities
As the daughter of a kindergarten teacher, I grew up in a house full of ‘projects,’ which I now know was my mother’s way of letting us learn through play. It was an invaluable childhood that I now love sharing with my kids. I share play-based learning activities for kids, appropriate for toddlers through early elementary aged children. While I don’t homeschool, I do encourage exploration of my kids’ varied interests and creativity with hands-on learning through play at home.
An avid book-lover, many of my kids activities are book-inspired. We start with a children’s picture book, and an activity is inspired by it or created to reinforce its message. Others take a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) bent. Working in finance before motherhood, I was all too often the only woman in the conference room – as a mother of two daughters, I love sharing my passion for math and science with them even at this young age.
Some of our most popular kids activity series include Art History for Preschoolers, Architecture and Engineering for Kids, and our most recent, inspired by my 5 year old’s fascination with the night sky, Studying the Stars.
Family and Personal Finances
In my daily life as a SAHM, I regularly encounter financial dealings – credit card offers, insurance premiums, investment decisions – that basic education does not prepare you for. There are even aspects I find confusing AFTER a degree in finance and nearly a decade working in the investment industry.
Financial literacy is incredibly important for families, and sadly, is something far too many adults only gain through costly experience. I share family finance tips to help you navigate and understand the financial decisions you encounter in your everday, home life. I want to help you do more than just budget, get out of debt and save – I want to help you be financially savvy, and make good financial decisions now and for your and your family’s future. You can follow me on Facebook at Family Finance Mom to see all my family finance content.
Want to ask your personal family finance questions in a more private setting? Come join my closed Facebook group, Family Finance Tips for Savvy Mamas. You can also catch my weekly LIVE sessions on Instagram addressing your most commonly asked family finance questions every Friday at 2PM ET.
Start by learning some of the basics of finance, then move on to preparing for life’s unexpected, your future (retirement!) and your children’s future (college savings plans!). You can also learn more about my background in finance.
About Meghan
I am still a stay-at-home mom, now with two girls, Big M (7) and Lil’ M (5) and a boy, Baby J (3). As the kids grow up, the Playground Parkbench evolves to the sidelines of soccer practice, the dance studio waiting room, and the pick-up line at preschool, but my original discovery still holds true. Over the last three years, I have connected and learned from so many other real moms, who share, support one another and collectively help one another succeed at this daunting job called motherhood. If you’d like to be a part of our savvy mom community, come grab your seat on the Playground Parkbench!
Photo Credit: Jaimee Soto Photography