Advice - Health and Healing

A week after the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine was cleared for children aged 5 to 11, nearly a million kids had already received their jabs, with another 700,000 appointments scheduled in the days to come.

If your kiddo’s not yet a part of that 1.7 million, check out our info and tips below to set up your appointment and get them protected from Covid-19!

Eligible for a vaccine, but not sure where to begin? Navigating the appointment process can be a bit of a maze, but PSP members have you covered with top tips on what websites to visit, who to call, and how to make it happen.

Face coverings are crucial in keeping yourself and your neighbors safe, but some little ones are having trouble coming around to the idea. If your toddler or young child is finicky about face masks, these tips sourced from PSP members might do the trick!

Getting tested for Covid-19 is a great way to put your mind at ease and keep those around you safe. We’ve compiled the most recent member experiences at a range of Health + Hospitals sites, urgent care centers, and medical offices around Brooklyn, plus general tips to help your testing experience go as smoothly as possible.

Hey all,

I thought it was about time to send an update and some positive energy out into the cosmos and the community. It’s been a rough couple months for a lot of us, including me, and with the election tomorrow and everyone on edge about that, I thought it was extra important to send out a note of encouragement and an update on how things are going at PSP headquarters.

As the pandemic trudges on, I have to find more and more creative ways to

Events, socially distanced ideas, and trick-or-treating updates

Like all other aspects of life, spooky celebrations will look a little—or a lot—different this year. But we at Park Slope Parents are a resourceful bunch, and we’ve got some tricks up our sleeves to help you have a hair-raisingly haunting Halloween despite the circumstances. Read on...if you dare!

Are you a parent in Brooklyn who's not yet a Park Slope Parents member? JOIN US today to

As we get ready for fall, it’s time to make sure that everyone’s health care maintenance is up to date.

As vaccination levels rise and Covid infections drop, the pandemic is undoubtedly entering a more hopeful stage. Still, you may be contending with a range of concerns when it comes to new babies and in-person visits—particularly due to the fact that little ones under 12 are not yet able to be vaccinated. In making decisions on in-person visits, you’ll want to think through a variety of factors from all sides of the equation in order to find a

Hey All,

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve checked in with you all. My social worker brother always seems to come through when I am grappling with my feelings, so maybe you’ll get some comfort from this too (I hope so). He told me about the term crisis fatigue, which pretty accurately describes the state of the world and how we’ve all been constantly pumping cortisol for the past 3 months. As this Wired article points out:

“You might at this

Park Slope Parents and The Motherhood Center have been holding mental health check-ins for expectant parents since 2020. Thanks to everyone who has joined us! Here are some takeaways from our sessions that may be relevant to all of you.

For more, check out the Park Slope Parents Birthing Toolkit, which has tons of resources and words of wisdom to help you through pregnancy and delivery in the time of coronavirus—including a full section on

While the shelter in place has not been lifted, folks may be starting to think about having their house cleaners return. Hopefully you’ve been able to continue paying your domestic workers and have stayed in touch with them during the lockdown. As you reconnect and invite them back into your home, these tips and things to consider can help keep both your cleaner and your family safe.

Hey All,

The Front Steps Project has raised $500,000 for lots of wonderful projects. Not everyone has a front porch, however, but there are some creative (yet safe) ways to get photos taken even without a porch. Here’s a photo of my family taken by Shrutti (https://www.thebabyphotographer.net/the-front-step-project).

If you’re in South Slope, you can find our big rainbow if you are on 7th Ave and 12th Street and look up 12th Street toward the park on the right.

Check with

“Been homeschooling a 6-year old and 8-year old for one hour and 11 minutes,” Shonda Rhimes wrote on Twitter at the start of quarantine. “Teachers deserve to make a billion dollars a year. Or a week.” And that was on March 16—now more than a month in the past, although to many parents struggling to adapt to the demands of remote learning, it feels, much, MUCH longer. We hope these tips and words of advice sourced from the PSP community will

What a strange new world we are living in when a Google search for “love in the time of coronavirus” returns over one million results! Scroll through, and you’ll find endless tales of love during COVID, whether budding (see: the couple who went on a virtual date via their respective rooftops) or breaking apart (divorces in China spiked following the end of the lockdown). Most relationships, however, fall somewhere in the middle of that

Hey All,

I’ve begun hearing from more of my friends, and friends of friends that folks are fighting COVID-19. I’ve heard that some people have fought and are coming out the other side, doing well, and not infecting other family members which is very reassuring.

This seems like a good time to send a message about making aFAMILY PLAN.  While the overwhelming majority of families with young kids will be okay, we all do need to plan.You may never

This article is now a full, downloadable GUIDE available to Park Slope Parents members!

Click HERE for the resource; and if you're not yet a member, click HERE to join us and get access to all of our comprehensive guides, including Daycare, Preschool, Kindergarten, the Nanny Agreement, and more!

On Sunday, April 5, Jay Schulze of HomeWork Solutions joined us for a webinar on the nuts and bolts of nanny pay during the coronavirus crisis, including CARES, FFRCA, retroactively paying on the books, and more. We also had a webinar on April 1st, 2020 and notes from that event are listed here and focus more on the nanny/employer relationship.

Please note that this content is for general informational purposes only and is not a substitute for legal

Park Slope Parents hosted a webinar on April 1st, 2020, to talk through your responsibilities as an employer during the era of coronavirus. When it comes to handling your responsibilities toward your domestic workers, the legal ins and outs can be daunting, but PSP is here to walk you through some key concerns and offer resources to support your nannies and house cleaners during this uncertain time.

WE ARE HAVING ANOTHER WEBINAR THIS SUNDAY!

The Nuts

Park Slope Parents hosted Employee Rights in the Time of Covid 19 with Elizabeth Saylor of Better Balance, Estee Ward of Make the Road, and Kathie Carrol from the New York Commission on Human Rights. They answered questions of employee rights, Paid Family Leave, and Paid Sick Leave.  They also provided the list of materials below. A recording of their webinar is available here. 

Uh oh. You and your teen are cooped up in your apartment. You can’t send them outside, or to school, or even to the movies. Many of us have decided to try to make a schedule (example below). Here’s some scheduling tips to keep your teen occupied-- if you can convince them to keep a schedule, that is! 

The current coronavirus crisis is a constantly moving target, with information and official guidance seeming to shift by the hour. Now more than ever, expectant New Yorkers are in need of reliable advice on how best to promote safety and health during the delivery process and the immediate days after. We hope these questions and answers from Jaqueline Worth, MD, and Julie G. Capiola, MD, IBCLC—sourced from a recent webinar hosted by boober founder

The current coronavirus crisis is a constantly moving target, with information and official guidance seeming to shift by the hour. Now more than ever, expectant New Yorkers are in need of reliable advice on how best to promote safety and health during the delivery process and the immediate days after. We hope these questions and answers from Jaqueline Worth, MD, and Julie G. Capiola, MD, IBCLC—sourced from a recent webinar hosted by boober founder

PSP is helping get out the latest COVID 19 information to people with our Ask The Expert series. These are Q & A sessions with our members, posted to Youtube. See below for our videos thus far. 

Denise and Samantha, 2004

Below is a letter from our Founder and President, Susan Fox, posted to our Listserv and shared here for the benefit of our community.

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Hey All,

I’ve been in touch with the folks from the Carroll Gardens Nanny Association. They had a meeting with nannies who are part of their organization. I wanted to share some of their concerns, as well as some issues that have

As Brooklynites practice hand washing, social distancing, and working from home, many families are wondering: how do I compensate my nanny? A question posted to our Advice List got quite a few responses. It seems that, for those who can afford it, paying your nanny full-time and keeping the channels of communication wide open is the current standard. 

Circumstances making it hard pay your nanny? Consider posting on the PSP Classifieds. Here’s

Given these current uncertain times,we wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the severity of not just the health concerns around coronavirus but also the emotional fallout. We will leave the dissemination of medical information to the best resources (CDC,NYC.gov,WHO,DOE), but we did want to highlight some of the more emotional aspects of the spread of COVID-19 and what you can do to mediate it.

There’s a ton of uncertainty right now…

A PSP member writes: "Our daughter is just over two years old and has had issues gaining weight for the last six months. She has always been around 5th percentile in weight but since her 1.5 year check up it has been off the chart, as in her weight is too low to determine the percentile..."

Do you find yourself hyperventilating at even the work peanut (or gluten, dairy, etc).  Here is a round up of the folks out there who can help!

Ideas to get your little ones to polish their pearly whites! Also included is advice about how not to swallow toothpaste.

“Oops, I think you’re on mute.” “Okay, can you all see my screen?” “Please place your questions in the chat.” At this point, you’re likely all too familiar with the soundtrack of a Zoom meeting—and no, you’re not alone in your fatigue with this format. That’s why we’ve compiled suggestions from our creative community members—plus spilling a few secrets sourced directly from PSP headquarters!

These ideas are equally suitable for opening a

Parents on the PSP Allergy Group have shared their stories to help folks educate themselves and learn compassion for those raising kids with allergies. This article also contains wisdom for those navigating an allergy diagnosis.

If you’re not yet a member of PSP, join us today to get connected to families on the Allergy Group. Already a member? Sign up for the Allergy Group here!

Parents share experiences of their babies and kids refusing to take medicine, and PSP members offer tips to help!