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Best Places to Shop for Children's Stuff

Hello, lately I have been all over the Internet searching for the best places to buy everything from Sony ps 3 games to pajamas for the children, and the following is what I came up with...

Magic Kids & Company www.magickidsusa.com

If you aren't particular about names, although there are some bran name items, and are more interested in price and selection, then go to this site. What you will find is both boys and girls clothes from all categories from newborn to 8 years of age. I have paid as little as $2 for a quality sleeper for my baby and as much as $10 for a jump suit for my bigger boys. Now that is a steal! Also, if you are one of those folks who love flea markets (also known as swap meets) then may I suggest you start your own weekend business by purchasing a lot of clothes in advance and selling them to market-goers?

Amazon.com

Those gaming systems and video games to go along with them are too expensive in brick and mortar stores and the corny games (dare I say it) are what is on sale. Forget about them! Amazon has hundreds of private sellers like you and I selling new and pre-owned games, you might as well check for your titles there before anywhere else!

Walmart.com

Now you are just shopping the entire site for your goods --- no way! Go straight to the clearance rack online. Type in "clearance" and you will find a host of items on the clearance rack in all categories. Now let's say you don't see anything worthwhile on Monday, because most of the items were out of stock from the weekend, don't worry wait a day or two and come back, you just might get lucky!

Upromise.com

Now Upromise has a database that includes many of the on and offline retailers that you may be familiar. If you have an account with them, you might as well use it so that your children gain some money in their college savings account for what you bought.

Etoys.com

I was surprised! But I really liked there selection for toys and the prices were reasonable. They are also listed in Upromise as well as the other stores mentioned so as I said before you might as well gain some money back on your purchase.

Now stores I was very disappointed in this year were as follows:

Toys R Us because I noticed online that many of the toys I wanted I had to pay shipping, so they didn't make any money off of me this year. You either have free shipping or you don't!

Sears wasn't happy with their price on clothing and the selction of toys were not unique enough for my taste. Go to the brick and mortar store and you might do better on the clearance rack in the back!

JcPenny same thing as I said about Sears.

Target had a great selection of toys, many I hadn't seen offline, but $20 plus for many. I don't think so, not for a baby or a toddler who will just look at it and on to something else!

Gap had some very nice clothes for the young men, but was it just me...I don't know but I wasn't impressed with some of the styles and could we say free shipping?

Old Navy good for the teens and young adults not good for the little ones. They grow entirely too fast to pay more than $10 on anything!

Burlington Coat Factory's sister site for Babies what's it called again? Not happy with the older children's line of clothing, but for a newborn you might be pleasantly surprised.

Kmart you would do better going inside their brick and mortar store. I wasn't impressed with the price of the toys or the clothes online. You would do far better with children's clothes dealing with private sellers and wholesale companies.

Kb Toys saves their best toys and prices for their retail stores, so don't bother shopping online. I saw a significant price difference between what I saw on the Internet and in the store fliers, so if you can shop their brick and mortar store.

Just remember if you do any shopping online check using Upromise first and also consider Paypal for their buy now pay later system -- definitely useful for those items you simply forgot to buy for others!

Written by Nicholl McGuire http://nichollmcguire.blogspot.com

I Don't Always Like My Children

I don't know about you but there are those times that I dislike my children, more than I love them. I know this is a bold statement, but it is true and I believe in honesty not lies or half-truths. They can get on my nerves to no end!

The whining, the arguing, lying, yelling, and other out of control behavior that shows up when you least expect it. A good talk and a threat of violence doesn't consistently help matters, sometimes it makes things worse.

I guess just like adults, children get into their unexplainable mood swings where everything in their world is tough, terrible, depressing, and miserable, so we are the unfortunate ones that catch their wrath. I guess if you put yourself in their shoes, it can be a bit challenging. I mean when they are newborns, they can't lift their neck, roll over, raise their arms, or barely see, I guess that is a good enough reason to scream their head off. Then when they are able to do the basic things, they still have to face the challenges of raising up, rolling over, sitting without support, making sounds, and digesting new foods. Later, the other difficulties of cutting teeth, saying bye to parents, seeing new things and experiencing strange places while trying to get some control over their bodily functions...whew! These are plenty of reasons for them to want to snap on us on some days too!

I guess I can't complain too much, I think I like them again!

Written by: Nicholl McGuire

Looking for a simple way to start saving for college?

I don't know about you, but I try to avoid shopping at stores that don't offer benefits. What I mean is savings cards, coupons, discounts, and other incentives to keep me coming back. I found a company that not only offers discounts, but helps me save for my children's future. If you would like to know more, just click the following link:
Click Here!

Educational Toys Are Good… But Don't My Children Need Some Toys Just For Fun?

Okay, so this opinion might not be the most popular. But please, don't crucify me. I'm a good dad. I got my kids all the toys my wife found to help the kids’ "development." You know, educational toys. The kind you have to drive twenty miles out of your way to tiny store in a strip mall in West Nowhere to find, or order from some obscure catalog or website based in Canada.

And believe me, I'm glad my kids have things like mini computers that teach spelling and math, crystal-growing science project kits, memory games, puzzle cubes and problem-solving computer CD-ROMs. But I sometimes wonder, when I see those toys strewn all over the living room floor, abandoned and neglected while Katie and little Mitch are sticking balls of Silly Putty in their ears, maybe kids should have some toys just for fun and nothing else?

After all, when I was a kid we didn't have all this stuff. We had little red wagons and toy cowboy pistols. We had Lincoln Logs, Matchbox cars, building blocks and our imaginations. I can remember a summer when I was 6 when my only new toy was a stick my dad helped me turn into a fishing pole. And that kept me busy seven days a week!

I'll tell you this much. I would rather see my kids play with a toy that they enjoy, that inspires them to run around and have fun and explore the world than some "educational" toy that they're going to sit around playing with for a few hours until they tire of it and never touch it again.

Heck, I'd even rather see them chase each other around the back yard with toy guns than sit inside with some pseudo-egghead puzzle or game that's supposed to make me feel better about spending fifty bucks!

You can’t open a newspaper or turn on a TV news program without somebody saying that today’s children are obese and inactive. And I see it all the time. My kids’ friends come over to play and I can’t help but notice that a lot of them are pretty chubby. And they come from good families, not the kind where the parents are feeding them Twinkies and plopping them in front of the TV for hours at a time. But a lot of these kids are coming over and playing with our “educational” computer math games, and just sitting on their butts!

This is what I’d like to see. I’d like people to let go of this idea that a toy has to be clearly “educational” for it to be worthwhile. I’d like people to consider other factors, like if the toy will get our kids moving around and playing actively, or if it will turn them into little couch potatoes. I’d like people to think about whether their kids will actually enjoy the toy, or whether it will sit untouched.

Let’s put away all these silly ideas about what’s right for our kids and just them be kids and have fun the old-fashioned way.


About the Author
A Canadian online toy store featuring educational toys such as lego, lego Mindstorms, aquadoodle, science toys, outdoor toys, music toys that will help your child learn while having fun. http://www.mastermindtoys.com/

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