Raising children is the most rewarding job I have ever had. It is also hands down one of the hardest. As a parent, I want to make sure my children are eating right and exposed to lots of different types of food. I want to make sure they play well with others and get exposure to all different types of activities, and I want to make sure we find the best school for them. I want the world for them, and anytime I can get help in any of these areas it is a good day.
Between the Internet, blogs and social media sites, there are a lot of places to find information. I always love when I stumble across what I like to call a “parent’s must-know” website. Below are three local websites that I think every local parent should know about.

A Little Yumminess (www.alittleyum.com) was started by two local moms, Simran Singh and Stacie Dong, who love to cook and share food adventures with their children. Whether you are looking for a simple new recipe to try for dinner or you want to try a local hot spot in a neighborhood across town, this is a wonderful resource for parents. I have tried dozens of their recipes, including the curry chicken with carrots and the pork dumplings, and both have become family favorites in our house. Their goal is to help inspire parents to branch out beyond mac ’n’ cheese and expose children to diverse flavors.

The website’s food adventures are based on the philosophy that food can be a wonderful way to explore the world around you. One of our family favorites last year was taking the children to a community garden in the Mission. Our children were able to touch, smell and even eat a few of the garden’s gems – this inspired my daughter to start her own garden at home, where she planted mint and basil (two easy herbs to start with). Another one of our favorite adventures was going with my daughter’s class to Kasa Indian Eatery in Cow Hollow. For many of the children and parents this was their first experience with Indian food, and the peer encouragement to sample different things made this a highlight, especially for those of us with picky eaters.

Playplanit (www.playplanit.com) is San Francisco’s complete calendar of children’s activities. It was started by two local moms, Laurel Kellam and Allison Howard, who found themselves wasting a lot of time researching things to do with their children instead of actually doing them. Parents can search the site for activities based on age, location, cost, availability, or type of activity – since there can be close to 400 events on any given day, the filters do come in handy (examples include story time, music class, prenatal yoga, or weekend festivals). The site is also a wonderful resource for new parents who are looking to meet other parents or get advice about sleep training or breastfeeding.

What I have found most appealing about this website is not only the free content, but that it gives parents one central place to find out about all the wonderful things happening in their neighborhood and in the City. We used it to find out about Kids Night at the Republic in the Marina, where every Tuesday night they show a family-friendly movie on the big-screen TV and offer happy hour specials for the parents. This month, Playplanit has some great family-friendly activities to celebrate Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year.

The School Boards (www.theschoolboards.com) is a website created by local parents Bonnie and Will Pan. They were starting the daunting kindergarten application process in San Francisco and were seeking real answers from real parents about the schools where they were applying, and quickly realized this resource did not exist. The School Boards is a free online resource where parents can ask questions, provide answers, or offer advice on schools in their community. Having talked to hundreds of parents and now having gone through finding a preschool in San Francisco (and now a kindergarten), I know this can be an overwhelming task. What I like about this site is that it allows you to ask questions or raise topics anonymously. It also is a space for honest, thoughtful discussions that go beyond the glossy pamphlets the schools provide.

This is a busy time of year for many parents making decisions about preschool and kindergarten, and from the looks of things, this is definitely a resource more parents are using. Recent topics creating a lot of buzz:
• Are there such things as “feeder” preschools?
• What happens at a kindergarten assessment?
• How does the public school lottery work?

And if the lottery process scares you out of the city (hopefully it doesn’t) they also have information for schools in Marin, the East Bay and the Peninsula.

Ultimately, what I find the most inspiring is that all of these parents have found an incredible way to combine something they are passionate about (whether it is food, education or simply having fun) with their love of parenting. I hope you find these as helpful as I have.

Happy parenting!

Liz Farrell lives in San Francisco and is the mother of two young children. She was formerly a television producer in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. E-mail: [email protected]