DFWChild

DFWChild The ultimate parenting resource for raising kids in Dallas-Fort Worth since 1986.

DFWChild | Award-winning free monthly parenting magazine that addresses the concerns and needs of families, with a special focus on children from prenatal through adolescence. The magazines offer a well-informed, local, and relevant perspective on issues affecting families and serve as both a strong voice in the community and a staunch advocate for children. At DFWChild, we inform, educate, entert

ain, inspire and provide a provocative forum among parents, the community and professionals who work with children.

03/05/2025

Early childhood is a critical period of development that comes with long-term impacts. These are the years when we get to witness firsthand as our babies become little people. For some insight into this time in your child’s life, check out these must-read stories & resources in our special issue of Guide to Early Childhood:

🦠 10 Common Childhood Viruses: Prevention & remedies
🎓 Preschool Perks: Its immediate and long-term benefits
🎨 More Than a Mess: How art processes help littles learn
📖 Raising Young Readers: How to instill a love of reading early
💔 The Preferred Parent: Coping when your kids play favorites

02/27/2025

OK, now we’re squealing. 🐷😆 After many months of anticipation, a new Peppa Pig Theme Park Dallas-Fort Worth will open its gates this Saturday, March 1. This British invasion of friendly piglets has landed in North Richland Hills, right next door to NRH2O Family Water Park. (And it’s only the second location in the whole U.S.) But the magic of this theme park is that the rides and play areas are specifically designed for kids 6 and younger. 🎈

02/19/2025

🗳️ Our final voting round is now open!

We’ve tallied your nominations for our Best for Families 2025—and now we want to know your absolute favorites. Between February 18 and March 16, cast your final vote for the best local family-friendly businesses or services in these categories:
😁 Best Places for Family Fun
🎼 Best Places for Kids’ Classes
⛺️ Best Camps
🚚 Best Family Services
✈️ Best Family Travel
🍕 Best Local Dining
🥳 Best Party Services

And we’ll announce the winners in our May 2025 issue of DFWChild.

02/14/2025

In our new column Mentally Strong Kids, Kate Jennings, LPC-S, DFWChild Mom Approved counselor at The Bug and Bee in Fort Worth, helps parents navigate everyday mental health topics with their children.

This month, Jennings shares her informed advice on how parents can respond when they’re hit with this big one: first love—or at least that first “boyfriend” or “girlfriend.”

02/12/2025

🍼 When it comes to caring for a baby, it truly takes a village—and our readers recently shared the best of theirs in our 2025 Best for Moms & Babies survey. Thousands of parents voted for their favorite services, businesses and necessities for moms and babies in Dallas-Fort Worth—from hospitals and birthing centers to swim classes and infant photographers.

🏆 Here we reveal the winners and why our readers voted for them—and the runners-up too. 👀

02/05/2025

Pick up our latest issue on newsstands or flip through it online for:

🏆 Best for Moms & Babies 2025
🧘‍♀️ Allayya app founder on prioritizing moms’ mental health
🎢 Inside the new Peppa Pig Theme Park
🍼 The pros & cons of using family for child care
🥺 When your kid hurts your feelings
💦 Bedwetting: Why some kids can’t stay dry at night
😎 32 Coolest kids’ events in February & March
✅ Mom-Approved OB-GYNs, Midwives & Fertility Specialists

Our February/March 2025 cover kid is Kelsey, 20 months, of Frisco, selected from DFWChild’s annual Model Search.
Photography: Nick Prendergast
Hair/makeup: Gary Parson

02/03/2025

We’re looking for local parents (Moms AND Dads!) to share the:
✅ Pediatricians
✅ Family doctors
✅ Pediatric nurse practitioners
✅ Physician assistants
And other pediatric specialists who’ve made a positive difference in your child’s health and well-being.

Nominate them as Mom Approved, now through March 2, and leave a review!

🤔 What’s “Mom Approved”? That’s our term for healthcare practitioners who have gone above and beyond to earn the trust, admiration and respect of parents. This could be because of their bedside manner, flexibility, professional acumen—you tell us!

📍We’ll be adding them to our growing online directory, which you can use any time of year to find trusted healthcare practitioners near you.

🚫 Please note that no nominations will be accepted from the health care professional’s family members, co-workers, marketing reps and industry colleagues. We are only looking for parents and caregivers who can give unbiased opinions.

01/29/2025

When we were growing up, families typically sent their school-age children off to the nearest elementary campus, one that was often within walking distance. Today, we have many valuable public and private school options that go far beyond what’s offered within our zip code.

Navigating the educational landscape means deciding between elementary schools of all types—charter, magnet, Montessori, parochial, STEAM, dual language—there’s even a new biomedical prep school in Dallas that starts with preschool.

So how do we—with mindfulness and intention—choose the right elementary school to set up our students with a foundation for a love of lifelong learning?

We take a look at some of those determining factors—and not just the cost.

01/25/2025

Time’s almost up for the nomination round of our Best for Families survey!

🗳️ Give a nod to your local favorites at https://dfwchild.com/best-for-families-voting/, open until midnight on Sunday, January 26.

🏆 Then check back here next month. The top businesses and services nominated in each category will advance to our voting round, February 17–March 16. And we’ll announce our readers’ top picks in the May 2025 issue of DFWChild.

🎁 Gift card giveaway: Nominate in 25 or more categories and you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a $250 Target gift card.

01/23/2025

It’s no secret that motherhood is life-changing. It shifts your identity, priorities and relationships, and brings about new stressors and, of course, new love.

But is there an ideal time in life to become a mom? A time when women have the emotional, financial and professional foundation, along with the energy to carry and care for a little one? For many women, that time is changing.

Amanda Enberg, now 42, always wanted to be a mom and suffered two miscarriages in her 30s. As she rounded up on her 40th birthday, she began to accept that motherhood might not be in her cards.

Then suddenly, after a whirlwind of life changes, she was pregnant. “It was sort of like, ‘Oh, I don’t know when that happened. It was really exciting, and it was a really big shock. We had kind of resigned to the fact that it might not happen.”

📸: courtesy of Archer + James Photography

01/16/2025

The 2025 Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo returns January 17–February 8 for its annual run of rodeos, livestock shows, live country music concerts, and loads more.

So what’s in it for the kids? For starters:
🐮 Milking Parlor: Hourly demonstrations between 10am and 6pm, except for a break at 1pm.
🐥 Children’s Barnyard: Full of sweet mommas and their babies—calves, goats, piglets, lambs and hatching chicks too.
🐑 Mattress Firm Petting Zoo: They’ve got furry Scottish Highlander cows, llamas, baby goats—just bring your $2 for feed cups.
🐴 Pony Rides (so long as your kids are under 75 pounds). The ponies will be saddled and available from 9am–7pm daily.
🎢 Carnival & Midway: For ease of use, splurge on the Magic Money wristbands for your little adrenaline-junkies.

Plus, save the date for Kids Gone Wild Day 😝
🗓️ Sunday, February 2, 11am–6pm
Only on this day can you enjoy even more action with animals, like catching fish in the catch tank, getting an up-close look at wild birds like hawks, and trying out archery.

📸 courtesy of Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo

01/06/2025

Give a nod to your local favorites!

🗳️ Now through January 26, nominate your fave family-friendly businesses or services in Dallas-Fort Worth in our Best for Families survey.

🏆 The top nominees in each category will advance to our voting round, February 17–March 16. And then we’ll announce our readers’ top picks in the May 2025 issue of DFWChild.

🎁 Gift card giveaway: Nominate in 25 or more categories and you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a $250 Target gift card.

12/31/2024

Now on the cusp of a new year, when many of us are evaluating what’s important and worthy of our focus for 2025, we look at the common reasons why kids may want to walk away from a sport, dance class or other activity they previously enjoyed.

📖 In our latest feature, Erin Hayes Burt takes a closer look at when and why parents may take a step back and support your little one through the decision-making process. 🤔❤️

12/23/2024

The Night Before a Parents’ Christmas—a new poem on the late-night adventures of wrapping presents, by our humor columnist Josh Farnsworth:

‘𝘛𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘴
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨
𝘔𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 (𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴) 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨.

𝘐 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱,
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘣𝘦𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳.�
𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵, “𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸,”�
𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳.

12/17/2024

Only a few days left to vote for your local favorites! Visit https://dfwchild.com/best-moms-babies-survey/ to tell us about the:
🍼 Best Mommy & Me Class
🍼 Best Child Care Center for Infants
🍼 Best Hospital to Have a Baby
🍼 & more essentials for having and raising a baby in Dallas-Fort Worth
🎁 Share your favorites in 5 or more categories before December 20, and you’ll be entered to win a $200 Target gift card.
Then stay tuned for the winners as they’re announced in our February/March 2025 issue of DFWChild.

11/28/2024

Santa, Scrooge, the Nutcracker Prince, and an ice queen who can’t yet control her powers … All these holiday characters are heading to local stages this weekend. Check out the full schedules for our 5 favorite shows for kids at https://dfwchild.com/things-to-do-this-weekend/

11/20/2024

Jenny Anchondo—host of CW33 TV Inside DFW & the No Gifts (Please) podcast—is still settling into life as a mom of two.

The birth of her second daughter, Gemma, earlier this year wasn’t just the start of a new chapter, it marked the end of a painful period of loss and loneliness as she waded through infertility.

“I think I’m still coming out of it,” she says of the time and tears it took to complete her family. “I am a completely different person. I aged decades over the course of this fertility journey.”

Jenny Anchondo shares her personal story, from her challenges to her triumphs, with us.

Photo courtesy of Lori Sapio Photography

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Videos

This is a whole new Omni Theater at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. After 18 months and a $22 million renovation, this immersive digital dome with 8K resolution—and the world’s largest LED dome display within a museum—opens the audiences this Saturday, December 14. Learn more about the theater, which shows you’ll get to see here with the kids, plus details on more kid-friendly theaters around DFW at https://dfwchild.com/coolest-movie-theaters-for-kids/. #DFWChild #OmniTheater #thingstodoinfortworth

Read our annual Guide to Education issue!

What is a microschool? Which local private schools serve your child’s age group? Get answers to these and many more questions in our annual Guide to Education issue.

Your child could be our next cover kid! Sign up at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VTNBX7Q

DFWChild’s calendar editor shares her picks for the top 5 fun things to do with the kids January 12–15. See all the details at https://dfwchild.com/things-to-do-this-weekend/.

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DallasChild | A local, award-winning, free monthly parenting magazine that addresses the concerns and needs of families, with a special focus on children from prenatal through adolescence. The magazine offers a well-informed, local and relevant perspective on issues affecting families and serve as both a strong voice in the community and a staunch advocate for children. At DallasChild, we inform, educate, entertain, inspire and provide a provocative forum among parents, the community and professionals who work with children. To Like our other pages, visit: facebook.com/FortWorthChildmagazine facebook.com/NorthTexasChildmagazine facebook.com/DFWThrivemagazine facebook.com/pages/DallasChildbaby