Friday, August 26, 2011
Kathy Zucker took stock of her condo disaster kit to make sure her family could outlast a Category 1 hurricane.
Last winter, I wrote about how the Great Blizzard of 2010 caught me off guard, which led to me putting together a disaster kit in the event of blizzards, blackout and hurricanes. Guess what? I forgot to include earthquakes in the list. One of the side benefits of having a completely childproof house is that it is also earthquake-proof. L-brackets secure all my bookshelves and tall furniture to the walls with L brackets, so nothing fell over during Tuesday's quake. However, that event was an excellent wakeup call for disaster preparation. I didn't realize quite how quickly I would need my disaster kit until Wednesday evening when the Movie Under the Stars got canceled due to pre-hurricane winds (the kids were disappointed to not see Toy …
Friday, August 5, 2011
Kathy Zucker had to decide whether having a third child would derail her newly revived career. See how she handled her career and fertility both peaking at age 40.
Every day I meet moms in Hoboken who tell me I am some kind of superwoman because I have two toddlers and a entrepreneurial business. I'm not. I'm just a regular Hoboken mom struggling to balance work and family life. Women my age were told that we could have it all. We were taught to study hard and get good educations so we could have careers and then families. Hillary Clinton's generation fought hard so Generation X could have equal opportunities at work. And we can have it all; just not at the same time. Tina Fey recently highlighted the conundrum faced by many American women; that our fertility and career both peak at age 40. In the last two years, I have gotten my life back. My children have become increasingly manageable, and the …
40.74051
-74.04065
2nd St & Jackson St, Hoboken, NJ
/articles/having-a-third-child-in-hoboken-means-lots-of-self-analysis
/locations/5017968
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Kathy Zucker got an expensive surprise with the hospital deliver bill for her first child. See how she is planning ahead for baby #3.
Bringing home a newborn is like Christmas morning. Between the newness of being a parent and the intense wristband security at the hospital, you get the distinct impression that your baby is a precious commodity. One of my cousins once said to me, "I can't believe we get to keep him!" in reference to her newborn son. The first month is a euphoric time of getting to know the new family member, before the effects of long-term sleep deprivation really set in. And then the medical bills arrive. We have health insurance through my husband's employer. We had quite good health insurance when my daughter was born; United Healthcare. That's why it was such a shock to receive medical bils for several thousand dollars. I had a fairly routine vaginal …
40.74051
-74.04065
2nd St & Jackson St, Hoboken, NJ
/articles/bracing-for-newborn-medical-bills-in-hoboken
/locations/4860233
Friday, June 3, 2011
Kathy Zucker got expert advice on the knotty issue of paid care for three kids.
Over the last four years, I have cobbled together child care from daycare, babysitters and family members. I arrange for one full day each week to attend business meetings and focus on intense work projects, and then grab two-hour stretches during the rest of the week. Most of my work gets done in the middle of the night. My marketing consulting business has grown up with my children; as the kids get older and more manageable, my work demands increase proportionately (basically, I never have any free time). Having a third child will reset the clock to zero; if I want to continue to work at my current level, I have to make different child care plans from the tried and true ones I used with my older two. Or do I? I am a huge proponent of …
40.74051
-74.04065
2nd St & Jackson St, Hoboken, NJ
/articles/crowdsourcing-child-care-for-three-children-in-hoboken
/locations/4503215
Friday, May 13, 2011
Kathy Zucker's four-person family has settled into a manageable routine. Is it time to add a fifth member?
Throughout our ten years as Hoboken residents, my family has changed from being a pair childless renters with a dog, to homeowners with a dog, then homeowners with a dog and two infants crammed into a two-bedroom, and finally ending up as a family of four in a four-bedroom apartment (sadly minus our beloved dog). This is the point where most people would stay put, both with their family size and living situation, but I always like to explore my options. There comes a point after the arrival of each child where you wake up one day and realize, life is manageable. You have your childcare routine down pat, sleep schedules have stabilized, and the household finances have settled into a holding pattern after the shock of the additional …
40.74051
-74.04065
2nd St & Jackson St, Hoboken, NJ
/articles/preparing-for-a-three-child-family-in-hoboken
/locations/4318100
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Kathy Zucker's toddlers will both be in school this fall. What will she do with all that free time?
With one kid in pre-school and the other entering kindergarten this fall, it's time to take stock of the future. Do I head back to work full-time? Have another baby? Or take the middle road and keep working part-time from home as a marketing consultant so I have the flexibility to accommodate sick kids and go on school field trips? I started staying home five years ago to provide work-life balance for my family. I also launched my marketing consulting business, beginning with one regular client. Over the last three years, my client list has quintupled and my work hours increased from ten per week to 20 to 25. I have also learned which clients I like to work with; large small businesses with assets ranging from $1 million to $3 million. …
40.74051
-74.04065
2nd St & Jackson St, Hoboken, NJ
Hoboken Entrepreneur Mommy central
/articles/a-hoboken-mom-at-a-crossroads
/locations/4255523
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Kathy Zucker's 4 year old daughter did not get into one of the town's charter schools. With a surging toddler population in Hoboken, this situation is about to get a lot more commonplace.
The odds of winning the New Jersey Megamillions Lottery are about one to 40. The odds of getting into a Hoboken charter school for kindergarten are about the same. When my family made the decision to stay long-term in Hoboken, I spoke to other moms and received positive feedback about local traditional public as well as charter schools. I knew that the charter schools had relatively small enrollments (22 per year at Hoboken Charter, 32 at Elysian and 44 at HoLa) but received assurances from older moms that spots opened up throughout the year with many families trying out multiple programs before finding the right fit. Nobody has factored in, however, the population bulge that has caused a crisis among the parents of four year olds …
40.741446
-74.03084
The Hoboken Charter School
158 4th St, Hoboken, NJ
/articles/kindergarten-krunch-in-hoboken
51235
/locations/3137250
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Kathy Zucker's toddlers landed NYC modeling contracts at very young ages. It is a fun and relatively easy way to add to their college savings accounts.
I spent the morning on Friday at a photo shoot in Manhattan, watching a professional makeup artist, hair stylist and wardrobe mistress transform my four year old daughter into a miniature Asian Heidi, complete with sundress and coronet of braids. In the last four years, my kids have modeled for Pampers, Volkswagen, Parenting, Parents and Kiwi Magazines, Toys R Us, and Sears. They have modeling contracts with FunnyFace Today, one of the top child modeling agencies in Manhattan. How did I manage my kids into being child models? By sheer, dumb luck. Seriously, my older child got "discovered" by the owner of FunnyFace Today, when my mom was watching her in the waiting area, when I was getting an ultrasound for my second pregnancy. When I …
40.74257
-73.98455
381 Park Ave S, New York, NY
FunnyFace Today
/articles/baby-modeling-with-hoboken-toddlers
/locations/3065796
Monday, January 3, 2011
2010 was a life-changing year for Kathy Zucker's family. The past year provided lots of data for her to plan for 2011.
December has been a month where all our family members have been cycling through the same illnesses (it's like Pokemon trading cards; gotta get them all). Most families experience ongoing infections when their kids start school. This winter marks the first that our oldest child has been in full-time pre-school so we have been thoroughly inducted into the unpredictable world of sick parents and children. As I look to the year ahead, January serves as an excellent reminder of how to plan for the new year. My main tip: always have backup plans and stay flexible. At the moment, our child care arrangement includes a mix of babysitting, daycare and school, with my mom as a last resort. I work the first half of the week, so our babysitter …
40.74051
-74.04065
2nd St & Jackson St, Hoboken, NJ
/articles/family-strategic-planning-for-2011
/locations/2929641
Friday, June 25, 2010
Kathy Zucker and her husband saved for over ten years to buy their dream home in Hoboken.
About a year ago, I was contacted by Sam Eaton, host of NPR's Marketplace segment, about a piece he was working on titled, "The New American Dream." Sam was interviewing young families across America to get their perspective on the future, and the choices they are making now in anticipation of it. Sam interviewed me because he found a local newspaper article about my family's trade up from a Hoboken two-bedroom to a four-bedroom. He liked the theme of raising a family in an urban setting with the intention of sending our kids through the local public schools, and our frugality in managing on a single income. However, he ultimately opted not to go with us in favor of an urban Chicago family who chose to rent rather than own their home. Most…
40.74051
-74.04065
2nd St & Jackson St, Hoboken, NJ
/articles/the-new-american-dream-long-term-planning-to-own-a-home
/locations/1704864
Kathy Zucker
9:30 am on Friday, September 2, 2011
Gratitude to My Community - After Hurricane Irene, I owe thank yous to a lot of people. http://momcondoliving.com/2011/09/02/gratitude-to-my-community/ more ›