I love stories about parents turning their kid's crazy artwork into something even cooler because it's both a sweet bonding story and an art exercise with heart.

I also adore making plush toys because kids love them and they make an adult's inner child go squee, so the plushies created by Wendy Tsao really made my heart sing.

Wendy turns kids' doodles into 100% accurate plushies, which really look like kid art come alive, and through her studio Child's Own she's bringing children's creativity to life for parents who don't have the sewing skills to do it themselves.

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This video by Daily Fun Facts showcases some of Wendy Tsao's most impressive plushies, and now I know what I'm gonna do with my son's artwork when he's old enough to draw silly stuff!

They say raising boys and girls couldn't be more different, since each sex requires a different form of parenting, and parents will say boys or girls are harder to deal with depending on their experience.

There may be no real answer to this question, since each kid presents their own challenges for a parent, but there is one thing we know for sure- boys tend to play differently than girls.

Boys like to roughhouse more than girls, they make getting dirty into a full-fledged sport, and when it comes to getting into trouble boys are always ready to lend each other a hand.

Arlington, Texas-based photographer Sara Easter has been documenting day-to-day life with her three boys, ages 4, 7 and 9, and her photos reveal not only all the brattiness found in young boys but also all the love these brothers have for each other.

See 20+ Photos Reveal What It's Like To Raise Boys here

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Vikki Gasco makes a living as a ventriloquist. She sat down talk to several young children and explain what she does. Most of the kids had no idea, but they really got into the idea that you can play with puppets as a job! Then they all wanted to try it out. This is really cute, thanks to their enthusiasm. -via Laughing Squid

First off, this is a difficult quiz about pregnancy, not a quiz about difficult pregnancies. The questions take a deep dive into a natural process that billions of women have experienced, yet most never knew these things. Whether you've given birth or not, you'd have to be pretty well read to get them right. Take the quiz here. It was written by our own Jill Harness, who read quite a bit on the subject before she gave birth to her son last year. I scored a mere 48%, which is unsurprising, as I've never been pregnant and haven't studied it much. Maybe you'll do better.  

Longtime Neatorama readers might remember Hanan Levin of the erstwhile blog grow-a-brain. Hanan gave that up in 2009 to focus on his new daughter. Adora became a muse for Hanan's many artist friends around the world, who drew, painted, and sculpted her in over 2,000 artworks (so far). You can see those works at Instagram. Adora is now eight years old, and has been writing poetry and song lyrics since she was four. Well, Hanan has musical friends, too, so musicians began writing tunes to Adora's lyrics. That led to a new site in the Adora Project, in which musician Doug Haines sings some the songs from Adora's life.

Check them out here. -Thanks, Hanan!

 

A parent's twist on the classic game of hide-and-seek is to be the seeker who doesn't seek. How many times you can get away with that depends on the age of the kids, but it works best when they're just old enough to think that they win when you can't find them. Mom and Dad will let them think that, so everyone's happy. No need to tell them you weren't looking all that hard! This comic is from Chris Grady at Lunarbaboon.

This cute video shows us the power of persistence. Theo Riddle wanted to learn how to do a backflip on his dirt bike since he was six years old. As you can imagine, it take a lot of falling to accomplish a trick like that. Along the way, he also learned how to fall without hurting himself, which is a valuable thing to know in iteself.

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Theo is eight now, and his practice and determination finally won out. The joy of accomplishment is something wonderful to see. His twin brother was pretty happy about it, too! -via Tastefully Offensive

Every parent has their own way of dealing with a child who doesn't want to play by the rules of the house, their punishment more or less severe depending on how bratty and disobedient the kid is being.

But when you're dealing with an entitled teenager you have to approach punishment differently and hit them where it really hurts- in their wallets.

Heidi Johnson had issues with her 13-year-old son Aaron's attitude after he started lying to her about finishing his homework.

He claimed he didn't have time to do it because he had a job making videos on YouTube, so she wrote him this letter to inform him he'd now be treated as a roommate rather than a kid:

It's ridiculous how many kids think they're going to be a YouTube star just because a few of their videos get some views, don't they know the real money is in eSports?

-Via Shareably

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New parents often ask more experienced parents for advice on how to cope with the trials and tribulations of raising a kid, and no matter how much you prepare before your kid is born there's always more to learn.

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My wife and I recently had our first child so I'm grateful for those parents who share tips and tricks online that make our rookie parent lives easier.

And unlike the advice we've received from the grandparents these are tips and tricks we can actually use.

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I look forward to tricking my kid into drinking medicine by telling him it's Pepsi, and I'm sure we'll need to divide the dog and the baby in the back seat at some point, but bringing a fitted sheet to the beach is the most brilliant idea of them all!

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See 10+ Of The Best Parenting Hacks Ever here

Three-year-old Isabella doesn't want her daddy to leave her. The ukulele was right there, so she stalled by singing a little song for him. She made it up as she went along. The rhymes aren't much, but it's adorable.

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That's pretty resourceful for her age. And now Bella's got a viral video to put on her resume when she's trying to get into a performing arts school in about 15 years. -via Digg

Matthew Inman used to have a hard time thinking babies were cute. He says so in his latest comic, right there in the first illustration where he shows how he once saw babies. But he found a workaround, and now he can play a trick on his own mind to see anything as cute, if he wants to. Maybe you could do the same. Read Inman's strategy in the full version of the comic at The Oatmeal.

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I just can't get enough of those face swap pics people post online, because when the swap works out right the pics look so damn funny it's criminal.

We've seen people swap faces with their dogs and various animals, their shirts and their buddies with hilarious results, but when you use a baby as the main subject of a face swap the results go from hilarious to terrifying.

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The face swap app seems to trip out whenever a baby's involved and therefore tries to swap features with anything in the scene around the same size, including the dials on an oven or daddy's nostrils, creating some incredibly odd images.

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And when the final images aren't strange in a good way they end up looking like a waking nightmare. At least they're both potty trained!

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See 25+ Times People Tried Face Swap On A Baby And Regretted It Immediately here

One of the great things about having a baby is that every occassion is a "first" and every first is special. The baby's first Christmas is particularly special, which is why you might want to go out of your way to buy something to remember the holiday and Etsy is full of cool (often custom) products to help you do just that. Here are 8 particularly fun ones:

Ornaments

No baby's first Christmas is complete without a special ornament to celebrate. This embroidered design by EmbroideredWorld is an especially charming way to mark the occassion.

A Special Outfit

Sure, you might not keep your kid's first Christmas outfit forever, but the pictures you'll take of them in the clothing will keep those memories alive forever. For little girls, this red and white tutu ensemble by PrincessKeepsakes is a fun, festive way to celebrate the season.

Bibs

Paul Duane shared the written transcript of an interview his daughter Gabi conducted with her cat Coco. Any cat owner can relate to the absolute accuracy of the cat's responses, but the little girl's construction of the story is the real gem here. You can see a picture of Coco in the article at Digg.

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I've said it before and I'll say it again- I really appreciate Jordan Watson, creator of the How To Dad series, because he's great at dadding and great at explaining how to dad in a way that works for me.

I'm not a very experienced dad so I have no idea how to handle taking kids to a restaurant but the dude from How To Dad does, and both his different dad styles and his rules are golden.

The 'Woah' Dad and 'She'll Be Right' Dad styles present a perfect balance to parenting, and Jordan's rules about farting are just good rules in general when eating at a restaurant, even if it's just McDonald's.

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Now in a year or three when my wife and I are actually able to leave our house and eat at restaurants again I'll know what to do with my little man.