We've posted plenty here about how the iPhone can be a useful organising tool, but babblebaby offers up a useful roundup on applications for Apple's iconic gadget that make life easier for parents. If you've never contemplated using your iPhone as a baby monitor, breastfeeding tracker or nappy-management-tool (really), it's worth checking out the options, if only so you can show off at the next mother's group meeting.

If you're trying to get pregnant, then tracking your most fertile periods is an important step. Pre Conceptions lets you create a personal ovulation calendar to maximise your chances of conceiving -- and unlike many other options out there, doesn't charge anything for the service. If you do succeed in getting pregnant, be sure to check out our sibling site babblebaby for everything you need to know about modern parenting.

If you have an itchy clothing label that you'd like to be rid of but you don't want to risk damaging the seam with scissors, or you want to keep the tag on but decrease the itch factor there is an excellent solution over at parenting blog Parent Hacks:

Why did I never think of this before hacking off a bunch of my daughter's shirt tags? (I inevitably break the thread of the neck and a hole is born.) I got a little piece of iron-on no-sew hemming tape and tacked the tag down. No itching and no chance to ruin the shirt with my over-zealous tag removal.

A tiny bit of no-sew tape, an iron, and no more scratchy tags wiggling about your shirts. Photo by Lin Pernille.

Elmo Live (a super-robotic version of the infamous Tickle Me Elmo) has received masses of publicity and is expected to be a big Christmas seller. Digital Journal TV showed true hacking instinct by grabbing the all-singing, all-dancing Muppet and ripping his skin off to show the workings underneath; check it out in the video above. It's surely only a matter of time before people come up with more elaborate hacks to repurpose Elmo.(Warning: your kids might not like this much.) Digital Journal [via Tough Pigs]

Unlike watching television—which generally reduces conversation between family members in the home—more than 50% of people who live with a spouse and child are likely to surf the web together and share things online with one another according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. (That makes two "the internet can be good for you" stories in one week!)

Lately in my house we've been having trouble getting kids ready for school on time. As the school year months drag on, this becomes a more normal complaint for many of you parents out there. As such we've tried just about everything to get the kids to follow directions and be ready on time. As I observed my kids getting ready one week, I noticed their methods were not consistent. I wondered what would happen if we added some structure to the getting ready process. By creating a visual template, they will be able to see what they're supposed to do each and every day in order to be on time for school. I came up with a template for my kids that lets them check off for each day each step in the getting ready process (pictured above).

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Newspapers get printed on tight deadlines, so tight that enormous rolls of paper are yanked with a good deal of material still on them if there's another roll ready to go in. The Simple Dollar blog points out that buying one of these rolls gives you a good amount of uncut paper perfect for all kinds of kid-friendly projects, including a paper snowflake, paper aeroplane competitions, and 13 other posted ideas—and the giant, firm tube it comes on is a DIYer's dream. From experience, some newspapers are so happy to get rid of their "end rolls," they'll give them to whoever takes them away, so a call to your local newspaper or printing house might make for a cheap weekend of quietly busy tykes. Photo by LizMarie.

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There's plenty of baby naming resources on the Internet, but the majority have a US-centric focus and thus discuss names like Liondrae that with any luck we won't see on Australian shores for a while. One useful exception is the Baby Names Explorer, which lets you see how popular a given name was in each decade over the past 100 years, using data from the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. My own name (Angus) has enjoyed a steady surge in popularity, and I'm pleased to see no Liondraes in sight. If you want to work out whether your future offspring will be the only child in their class with that name, this is a good place to start (though I implore you to resist the other trend of mindlessly mangling spelling to make a name "unique"). Thanks Sean!

A recent survey by airfarewatchdog found that 85% of people would like to see a separate section on planes for people travelling with their kids. While that's both unrealistic and a little selfish, screaming young 'uns can add to what's already a stressful experience for many people. Here's some suggestions for how to survive the experience, drawing on some ideas from airfarewatchdog.

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If you've got a bunch of small stubborn splinters that are evading your attempts with the tweezer, the Parent Hacks blog offers an alternative solution:

Next time your little ones have splinters in their hands or feet, try this: Let them soak well in the bathtub, then use a pumice stone (like you would for rough heels or elbows) to rub over the splinters in a circular motion before they dry off. They can even do it themselves. It seems to work for those playground / deckrail splinters pretty well.

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