Amigas Vecinas is an online group for parents in the Northern VA/metro-DC area, who are interested in raising their children bilingually (in Spanish). Group members meet once a month to read stories, sing songs, and converse in Spanish with their children, usually in a library in Northern VA. Contact them to meet Spanish bilingual families in the area and provide opportunities for your children to meet others who are having a similar bilingual experience. Visit the website for more information and to join the group.

Flexible Family Fitness is a personal training center for families - your kids can work out with you. The Physical Education Center provides the individual care and attention that each child needs to feel comfortable, while simultaneously directing and guiding a healthful nutrition and exercise program and fitness routine for all members of the family. By combining quality time and healthy time, Flexible Family Fitness strives to build healthy bodies, healthy families, and healthy relationships. Classes and field trips offered include alternative yoga, bowling, music lessons, acting lessons, horseback riding, chess, golf, hiking, and weight training.

Let's face it: when it comes to local parenting support groups, dads get a raw deal. Moms have all sorts of clubs and organizations to choose from, but dads often just have a small circle of friends and family to lean on...and sometimes they don't feel comfortable talking to non-daddy friends about daddy-related incidents. That's where FrederickDads comes to the rescue! FrederickDads is a support group for area fathers (living in Frederick, Montgomery, Washington, and Northwestern Carroll Counties), offering online forums, chats, playdates for kids, face-to-face events for members, and more.

The group serves as a chapter of The Mommies Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping parents find support and friendship in their local communities. Members get to place names with faces during regular meet-ups around town.

C'mon dads! It's your turn to network!

FrederickMommies is a support group for area moms (in Frederick, Montgomery, Washington, and Western Carroll Counties), and offers chat, forums, playdates, mommies' nights out, and more.

The group serves as a chapter of The Mommies Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping moms find support and friendship in their local communities. Members get to place names with faces during regular meet-ups around town.

The Georgetown Early Learning Project at Georgetown University seeks to better understand how infants and toddlers learn and remember information in various social situations. In particular, they look at how the media environment (music, books, and infant-directed TV) play a role in a child's life. Interested parents/caregivers of children between six and 30 months old can set up a time for researchers to come to their home and "play" for about half an hour. Participation in the study is entirely voluntary; they rely solely upon the generosity of parents and children. In return, they make our visits as fun as possible for the children and supply a small toy and certificate of completion.

HowsMyNanny.com is a nanny-reporting service: Parents purchase a license plate for their stroller, and the public is encouraged to anonymously report good or bad nanny observations. Registered parents receive emails alerting them to reports about their particular nanny.

Lindamood-Bell is recognized as an effective treatment for learning difficulties, including the symptoms of dyslexia, AD/HD, hyperlexia, and autism.

The center works one-on-one with individuals ages five through adult. Lindamood-Bell offers diagnostic evaluations, individualized treatment programs to address the specific needs of its students, and community education events throughout the year.

Maryland Mommies is a free group for mothers all over Maryland. The group is comprised of mothers of all backgrounds - work full time, stay home full time, work part time, are local, new to the area, mommies of multiples, single mommies, A/P mommies, and more.

Maryland Mommies uses private message boards to provide members an outlet to find support, friendship, to seek advice, and more. The message boards include a whole variety of topics such as pregnancy, motherhood, and recipe exchange database. An active group, Maryland Mommies plans weekday, weeknight, and weekend activities including playdates, Moms Night Out, and more.

Mocha Moms, a national organization with chapters throughout the DC Metropolitan Area, is a support group for mothers of color who have chosen not to work full-time outside of the home in order to devote more time to their families.

An accessory that keeps us organized? We're so there.

The ingenuis momAgenda was created by a busy mom (is there any other kind?) who was frazzled by keeping track of her own schedule, along with her four children's appointments, lessons, playdates, and parties. Her solution is a refined day planner that provides a way to track multiple schedules with week-at-a-view spreads with rows for each child and mom, monthly views, and places for notes, dinner ideas, and other necessities. The colors range from all-business chocolate and black to vibrant lime or fuschia.

Take it everywhere, or check out the kitchen folio version for "command central".

Because stay-at-home moms need support, too. This club, a nonsectarian nonprofit with chapters across the United States and the world, offers support and activities to moms at home and a chance for their kids to socialize with others kids.

Goings-on include playgroups, moms' nights out, park days, and other activities, as determined by a chapter's membership. Kids are always welcome at eveything, and all activities (except for the monthly moms' night out) happen during the day.

The club has dozens of chapters in the DC area.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers a Child Safety Seat Inspection Station Locator on its website. Searches can be done by zip code or by state, and can be filtered to include only stations with Spanish-speaking technicians.

The Onesies DC program is designed to bring moms and babies together and form lasting relationships. The program exposes new and experienced moms to a variety of opportunities available to them in the community, combining trial classes with other informative and entertaining activities.

Different activities are offered each week during the six-week program session, such as fitness for mom and baby, music, mommy and baby yoga, infant massage, photo shoots, painting pottery (baby footprints), and advice from pediatricians, lactation consultants, sleep coaches, nutritionists, and CPR and first aid instruction.

The Parent Encouragement Program, popularly known as PEP, provides parent education and support through classes that cover a wide variety of parenting topics and issues for parents of children of all ages. Classes are offered throughout the DC metro area.

There are more than 245 Ronald McDonald Houses in 26 countries, offering support and practical assistance to families with very sick children. It's a safe bet that your local chapter can always use volunteers.

The Russian Church Children's Center provides Russian language cultural programs for children who live in the DC metropolitan area, including Saturday School in DC and Falls Church, a full-day Russian preschool in Falls Church, an afterschool program for children up to 12 years old in Falls Church, a Russian-American Sunday School Christian education program in DC, and many special events open for all kids.

The Center also offers a Summer Saturday Program for children from four through 14, featuring Russian language and literature classes, art and craft activities, Russian music and dance classes, outdoor games and activities, and field trips.

The Center's mission is to help Russian-speaking children learn and maintain their Russian-language skills; to enhance their love of Russian literatue, culture, and traditions; and to help children remember their spiritual heritage.

Sister's Keeper Resource Center (SKRCI) is a non-profit organization geared to focusing on healing, restoring, building, and guiding women to a healthier and productive lifestyle while achieving their personal and professional goals through information, education, referral, networking, and spiritual growth. SKRCI offers workshops and seminars throughout the Maryland, Prince George's County area, including programs in hip-hop/jazz, liturgical dance, building self esteem, choices, health and fitness, finance, and job training and parenting classes.

The TABS website has listings of hundreds of schools and the database is accessible at no charge. The write-ups are sketchy at best, but do typically include contact information.

The Breastfeeding Center for Greater Washington is a non-profit organization founded to promote breastfeeding in the community. It provides a comprehensive lactation education and support program for women, their partners, and other significant family members; hands-on assistance and instruction in use of breastpumps and breastfeeding supplies; and skilled technical management of lactation related problems.

In addition to regular weekly classes, such as Breastfeeding in the Early Weeks, Breastfeeding Basics, and Baby wearing and Breastfeeding, one-on-one consultations with a lactation consultant can be scheduled either in the office or in your home. The lactation consultants are International Board Certified, and are extremely knowledgeable, reassuring, and helpful.

The Center also offers a huge selection breastpumps, nursing bras, and other breastfeeding and baby accessories.

Tottoos.Org creates personalized temporary tattoo-like decals called "Tottoos" for children's safety. Decals can be printed with a parent's cell phone number in case the child and parent become separated. Parents choose the personalization that gets printed on the decals, such as "If I am lost, please call (phone number)" or "To reach my parents, call (phone number)." These decals are recommended for children six and under, who may not have a parent's cell phone number memorized, who would become afraid if they were lost.

Medical Tottoos are available for people of any age to alert to conditions such as peanut or bee-sting allergy, asthma, diabetes, autism, seizure disorders, multiple food allergies, Alzheimer's, allergies to medication, and more. They are a highly visible and waterproof way to provide vital information in case of emergency, and can include emergency phone numbers and special instructions such as "use EpiPen" or "heart medication in purse."

Also available are Be Visible, Be Safe Glow Lights, created to keep kids safe after dark. They are pre-printed with the phrase "Emergency Contact Number" and you can write whatever number is appropriate at the time of use. The lights can either be worn as a necklace or attached to clothing. Use with young children to help keep an eye on them at night and have your phone number visible in case you get separated, or with older children and adults when they go out after dark to ride a bike, go camping, or even when boating or out on a hiking trip. The light glows for 12+ hours and not only adds visibility, but enables your emergency contact to be reached if you become injured or lost.

When struggling with thoughts surrounding divorce people often look toward external support from friends, family, and sometimes professionals. These individuals provide powerful external observations that compete against your own perceptions. A major difference between the observations of family/friends and a coach are the values used to create them. The coaching approach to solutions moves beyond the reactive, and focuses on how to move the individual into proactive practices. Coaching recognizes that everyone already does a great deal of things right, and that those strengths must be capitalized on to close the gap between where they are and their ideal image. True Wind Coaching allows individuals to make the right decisions to harness the power of their strengths to build, achieve, and exceed their desires.