My sister-in-law, Grace, and I have been talking about hiring someone to help us both run some errands since it could save us time and money. The holiday traditions that make this time of the year so special also add stress to our already-overloaded schedules. But here's the problem—I'm worried about losing some of the "special something" that makes Thanksgiving and Christmas so memorable. Plus, with the economy the way it is, we have to stick to the budget.

This trend of outsourcing the holidays—hiring help for seasonal errands—has been building the past couple years. It's gotten so big now that you can pay for others to shop for presents, wrap gifts and decorate. As technology improved, we sent holiday cards en masse via e-card sites with just the click of a mouse. But if sending a cookie-cutter, cartoon feels too distant, it's still possible to maintain that personal touch (and keep the convenience) by sending customizable, hand-written holiday cards that you can order online already stamped! (Incidentally, my personal favorite is JackCards.com—run by two amazing ladies.)

Other than concerns of losing touch with tradition, one drawback to outsourcing is the expense—especially with what's going on with the economy. Everyone's a little more cost conscious nowadays. Some argue, though, that it's cost-effective to hire help. If holiday stress is taking you away from your job, you actually save money by hiring help that costs less than you make.

Am I really ready to outsource or use Care Gigs this year? I’m not sure yet. The thing is, I love being able to pick out the perfect gift for Ron or one of the boys! So what if it took me hours of hunting through stores, battling crowds for the last gift box and parking space? What about mealtimes? Does coming together, as a family, for dinner and holiday cheer mean less if I choose not to slave over the stove myself? And with this current economic crisis, we do have to be careful of our bottom line, making sure that every aspect of the holidays—whether that includes hiring help or not—fits into the family budget.

Then again, perhaps hiring a little help would free up more time to spend with the family. After all, that's what the holiday season is about. I sure could use a hand with all of the errands and housecleaning that need to get done before the relatives arrive.

How about you? What areas could you use extra help this holiday season, around the house and out on errands?

P.S. By the way, Natalie, our former nanny, just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Abigail. We all were very excited for her family!

Lately, it's tough to turn on the TV or pick up a newspaper and not be faced with our nation's current financial woes. Many of us know families struggling to make ends meet, and caring for our children during these times can be an even greater challenge. We have heard from many of our members asking for advice about ways to save on child care and more.   

In the first of a two-post series on the blog, I've pulled together some cost-saving tips to address the current crisis without compromising on the quality of care for your loved ones.

Sharing Caregivers
Many of us are going through difficulties right now. You may want to approach another family about sharing caregivers—a great way to help each other out. Perhaps you need a sitter during the mornings but a neighbor needs afternoons? Splitting the price of a full day of care really brings down that hourly rate.

Start a Co-op
If you have kids or pets, many parents need help looking out for the little ones, so why not pool resources? Take turns watching each others' kids (whether they have two legs or four legs)! Set up a system where one day's worth of kid-watching for friends earns you the right to drop off your children at their house when needed. Rotate days, share the load, save dollars. And the kids benefit by having more regular play dates.

Post a Care Gig
If you are looking for ways to make extra cash and flexibility, post a job you're willing to do on Care.com. It can even be something you're already doing! Say you watch your kids on weekday afternoons…maybe others will pay for you to watch theirs, too? Or if you're around town running errands or doing holiday prep work, offer your services as a personal shopper. There are plenty of people willing to pay you to save the headache of doing it themselves.

Have fun, make money
Despite the crisis we are going through, try to find ways to teach your kids a lesson and have fun doing it. For example, take advantage of the few warm weekends left and organize a yard-sale to clean up your clutter. The kids will love getting organized for the sale and being in charge of the cash register.

Are you finding creative ways of dealing with the budget squeeze when it comes to child care? Please add a comment below to give others advice through these difficult times.

My husband, Ron, really enjoys coaching our little guy's baseball, football, and soccer teams, and lately, he's noticed more stay-at-home and work-at-home dads on the sidelines after school.

And, at work, I also seem to notice an increasing number of moms going back to work full-time while their husbands stay at home with the kids. It's fantastic that so many families are figuring out flexible ways to juggle "being the breadwinner" and caring for their loved ones.

According to a recent article on the parenting community Babble.com, there has been a 62% rise in single father households from 1990 to 2003, and the number of stay-at-home dads in the U.S. last year had risen to 159,000 (2.7% of the country's total number of stay-at-home parents), according to an article by the Washington Post.

Both media outlets point out, however, that these statistics ignore the number of work-from-home parents, or parents working part-time, contributing to the ever-changing dynamics of this new style of American parenting.

Two dads who took note of this changing parenting landscape, where families strive for balance, flexibility, and pragmatism over traditional gender roles, were Tom Perrotta, author of the best-selling novel Little Children (as well as the film adaptation starring Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, and Jennifer Connelly), which features a stay-at-home dad as a central character, and Dana Glazer, a filmmaker currently producing a documentary called The Evolution of Dad, following the history of fatherhood and gender equality in parenting from the 1950s to the present.

So, what does this new dad look like? And, is he really taking on the traditional "mommy" role?

"Todd [the stay-at-home dad in Little Children] was a sort of idealized figure, almost the embodiment of the fantasies of the stay-at-home moms at the playground," Tom Perrotta said. "I wanted him to be a nurturing father who was completely masculine…He's a new figure, but not yet an archetype, because the role is still in process. We haven't really figured out what to make of stay-at-home dads yet."

And Dana Glazer agreed, that stay-at-home dads are just a tiny fraction and sub-culture representing what is a much more radical change in the way families are operating these days and handling their approach to child care and childrearing.

"Stay at home dads, at least from my perspective, are a total novelty and something that’s been going on since the early 90s," Dana said. "Typically the stories are fluffy: they claim that [stay-at-home dads] are growing in numbers; and then there's a citation from the Census Bureau; and then there's always the references to the movies Mr. Mom or Daddy Day Care. My perspective on [this trend] is that on the surface, it's progressive, but underneath that, it's the status quo—just a flip in the traditional gender role. You get traditional dads who glance at it and go "ICK!" And you get feminists that say, "Yes! That's it. That's great." But the larger issues at hand, like gender equity and work-family balance, are largely ignored. I think the world is better off not just with one parent at home, but for the kids to get to know both parents. In the best possible world, you have the kids interacting with both parents as much as possible. What my kids get from my wife is very different from what they get from me, and kids are so stimulated by that different kind of interaction. The more the typical gender roles blend, the better. And I think that is happening, but it’s still pretty traditional overall. The stay-at-home dad phenomenon is great, but it tends to overshadow the real progress."

Both men have been work-at-home dads for the majority of their kids' lives, and they both had some pretty strong opinions on why this changing parenting dynamic has come about—and the challenges it also presents both for companies and for couples.

"The obvious answer is feminism—when a woman has a high-paying, rewarding career, why should she have to give up her job to care for the kids?" Tom said. "Why can't the father do the child care, especially if his job isn't so rewarding or lucrative? More and more couples are finding themselves in an economic situation where it seems like the most sensible thing is for the mother to keep working and the father to take over the home front."

But it's not quite as simple as that, as Dana pointed out.

"Women can be territorial around the maternal ground and just push the dads back off to work," Dana said. "A lot of divorces happen because of it, and it's important for couples to really talk about it before the kid is born. What's going to happen? Who's going to do what? And if you don't talk about it, everyone just falls back into those traditional roles. Women are getting the message, "You can do anything! You can do it all!" And if you don't talk about it, a lot of guilt and resentment can come into play. The big picture is how you get all these parts working together, and it's not easy. It takes a lot of discipline to do these things…Fatherhood is really important and we're really making strides, but you start to see that things really haven't progressed as much as we'd like to think we have."

Are you a work-at-home or stay-at-home dad, or do you have a spouse who is? We'd love to hear from you! Share your experiences with the Care.com community by posting a comment below.

What a great summer we’re having so far! We've been enjoying the outdoors as a family: throwing the football around in the yard; walking; gardening; and swimming. Our little guy is loving it.  :)

We sometimes forget, however, to put on sunscreen and insect repellent, or to bring enough water on our walks. And, sadly, a friend of mine recently was diagnosed with Lyme disease. It’s important to be cautious about summer hazards like these.

Check out these blog posts for warm-weather safety tips for the whole family—pets, too!—and be sure to check in with elderly neighbors and relatives regularly:

Summer Health Concerns for Kids

Summer Health Concerns for Seniors

Summer Health Concerns for Pets

Have tips of your own for keeping your family safe, happy, and healthy in the heat and humidity? Share them with the Care.com community by posting a comment!

Last month, the Care.com team joined over a thousand volunteers and fellow Bostonians for a day of service with City Year's annual Serv-a-thon. We worked on revitalizing an urban community garden, and it was a great day of weeding, cleaning, building benches, and painting murals—even in the scorching heat!

My favorite part about it, though, was that our kids all got to experience community service firsthand, and came away with understanding of what it is to give back to their community and to the environment.

For green-themed projects your entire family can enjoy while caring for our planet—not just during City Year, but all year—check out my list of favorites:

• GARDENING
  Ron and I spend as much time as possible in our garden, and love it when the kids want to help out and learn about growing. Get your kids involved by planting a tree, repotting plants or flower beds with organic soil or mulch, or grow veggies and fruit from seeds in repurposed containers to learn about germination and caring for different kinds of plant life.

• PAINTING
  Make a mural with low-VOC, milk or clay paints, or sand and seal a bench or picnic table instead of buying a new one—saving the planet and money!

• TRASH PICK-UP
  Pick up trash around your neighborhood, local park or woods, or local stream, lake, or beach.

• RECYCLING
  Visit a recycling center as a "field trip", and set up recycling programs at home or at school.

• ENERGY EFFICIENT LIGHTS
  Change light fixtures at home to LED or incandescent bulbs, and teach kids about the importance of turning off lights, appliances, and other plug-in devices when not in use to save energy.

• SAVE GAS, GET EXERCISE
  Walk, bike, or take public transportation instead of driving, and teach kids about the impact of fuel on the global economy.

• REUSABLE BAG CRAFTS
  Decorate hemp or organic cotton bags for use at the supermarket, or make your own out of old T-shirts, sheets and pillowcases.

• SAVE WATER
  Inside, teach kids to turn off the faucet and limit running water when brushing teeth, showering, or washing dishes. Outside, install a rain catch for use in the garden—and summer sprinkler fun! Teach kids about the effects of water conservation, especially in areas prone to drought.

• ALL-NATURAL BUGS-BE-GONE
  Make homemade bug repellent from non-toxic ingredients, saving your kids from carcinogens like DEET and the planet from harmful ozone-depleting gases and chemicals.

• ACTIVISM
  Write letters to local politicians and representatives about environmental issues close to your family's heart and values, either locally or nationally.

• OBSERVE
  Have kids start a nature journal, and take nature walks and hikes to learn about wildlife and natural habitats in your area.

• CARBON FOOTPRINTS
  Calculate your family's impact on the environment, and learn about ways you can make big environmental changes through little lifestyle ones.

• ALL-NATURAL FOOD
  Host an all-natural or organic bake sale to raise money for your favorite "green" charity or environmental cause. Or, if you want to start at home with more natural food, create an "organic test kitchen" with your kids, and swap out one food or snack item each week with one that's organic--making it a science experiment. Did they taste the difference? Compare nutrition labels and talk about ingredients.

• DETOX YOUR HOME
  Gather up all the hazardous chemicals in your house and switch to organic or non-toxic cleansers, or make your own! Also, you may want to wean off the plastic sippy cups, bowls, plates, and storage containers you've accumulated over the years. Many of these may contain dangerous PVC and phthalate softening agents, and the ones that don't may nevertheless have trace amounts of endocrine disrupters, all of which are harmful to your family's health.

• GREEN BOOKS & BLOGS
  For more ways to explain and introduce kids to environmentalism, grab a copy of The Down-to-Earth Guide To Global Warming, from the team behind Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, or 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth, that you can read as a family, or encourage your kids to sign up for and get involved with PBS Kids' Zoom Team. I also found a fantastic blog to check out called The Green Guide for Kids you should check out and bookmark.

What are your favorite ways to teach your kids about going "green"? Share them with the Care.com community by posting a comment!

One of the fun parts about running a company that matches families with the best possible care providers is hearing the success stories from both sides and getting positive feedback about our service.

Earlier this spring, we recruited dozens of women—both working and stay-at-home moms—to join Care.com as a screening committee, judging the quality of our providers and serving as a gauntlet of sorts, deciding who gets to be a Care.com babysitter, nanny, home health aide, pet sitter, tutor or housekeeper.

We call them our MomForce, and they certainly are a force to be reckoned with!

These ambitious and passionate women carefully review each and every profile, and work with the individual providers to enhance their pages and standing within our service, also helping them to fill any gaps in their listed experience, qualifications, or references.

At Care.com, it's our mission to provide members with the best possible child care, elder care, educational help, pet care, and home care, and we couldn't fulfill this mission without the dedication and commitment of our Mom Force.

It's with great pleasure that I introduce you to just a small fraction of this powerful team.

Read on to meet the Care.com Mom Force and hear their stories!

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Petra Gianopoulos-Wise

As a stay-at-home mom to a beautiful daughter and stepson, nothing is more important to me than the care of my children! I have a bachelor's degree in Communications and worked in a publishing company as an editor for two years, before deciding to go back to school to become a massage therapist. Working in an office just wasn't for me.  Plus, I wanted to be able to stay home with my stepson, of whom we have full custody, as well as have the ability to have more children.

When my daughter came along in 2006, I was doing massage therapy and freelance editing, but I really just wanted to be able to be home more with the kids.  After searching every avenue I could think of for a job that I could do at home, I finally found Care.com!  It was such a relief to find something I could do that I enjoyed from my home, so I could be with my children.  There are few companies out there like Care.com that you can feel really proud to work for.  It really is a company I can get behind.  And I have used its services myself, so I know that it is a service I can honestly endorse!

I am thrilled to be a part of the Care.com team, helping other families with their care needs, as well as being able to spend quality time with my own!

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Kathleen Ryan

I am a stay-at-home mother and wife to my wonderful husband, Jack.  After graduating from college in 1991, I landed my first job in the banking industry.  In 1997, we bought our first house and soon after my daughter Emily arrived. Financially, I needed to work and enjoyed my job.  As a systems analyst, my supervisor was very supportive in allowing me to work from home three days a week, while my younger sister provided care for my daughter on the other two days.

In 2000, I decided it was time to stay at home to support my growing family, and my son Jack was born in 2001. As time went on, I desperately wanted to use my knowledge and skills and finally work again! Thanks to Care.com, I was given that opportunity. On a daily basis, I'm able to assist with reviewing provider profiles—which gives me the flexibility to work from home and take care of my family. What a great company to be a part of!

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Eileen Messinger

In September 2007, my triplet boys went off to kindergarten and I became a member of Care.com's Mom Force. As a mother of three rambunctious boys, a dog, a cat, and even a messy house, I review each profile as if I were looking for a provider myself.  I am happy to report I have come across many qualified providers!

Working at Care.com is a wonderful experience.  There is such camaraderie and the flexibility they offer keeps me available for my number one job as a mother!  Though I’m lucky to have family close by and a terrific babysitter right next door, I now know exactly where to go if I find myself in need of a quality care provider.

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Rachel Rottersman

I left the paid workforce when my second child was born. I found it difficult to give both my professional life and my home life the attention they deserved.

Now that my kids are in school, I have more time and energy to devote to other pursuits. I'm thrilled to have found a job with the Mom Force that allows me to rejoin the workforce while remaining available for my children.

It's even better knowing that what we do at Care.com enables more parents to work and play knowing that their loved ones are well cared for!

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Do you have any questions for me or the MomForce about how we screen our Care.com providers? Post a comment and let us know your thoughts!

Dear Readers,

I'm saddened by the responses to my previous blog post on helping your kids cope with the loss of a family pet, and troubled both by how it was misinterpreted and feelings that were hurt.  I owe you all a better explanation and an apology.

It's terrible to be faced with the necessity of having to lose or separate from one's family pet, but what I wanted to highlight was the different ways of dealing with the loss, with grieving, and with helping your children heal.  The last part in particular was the mistake I made as a young parent years ago—underestimating our son's need to grieve for the best friend he'd had for the four months that we had Apollo, before giving him to another family we knew (not a shelter.) I was more concerned about protecting my 6 year old from the harsh reality than I was in actually helping him confront it, and I wanted to help other parents not make the same mistake.  Acknowledging loss and giving children a chance to say goodbye is a crucial to step in helping them recover from the loss of a loved one—and it's definitely something I learned the hard way.

Thank you all for sharing your heartfelt and passionate feelings on this subject with me and the rest of the Care.com community. Rest assured that we are passionate about pets and their wellbeing, and, as a team, we value our commitments to our dogs, cats, and other animals as a lifelong relationship not to be entered into lightly.

~ Sheila

Summer is on its way, and with our plans still in flux, I'm feeling a little stressed about our family calendar. I'm a firm believer in the daily planner for our family schedule, and it seems to also work for our nanny, Natalie, and my husband, Ron. The down side, though, is that it doesn't synch up with my gadgets, like my email calendar or Blackberry, and it's hard to always keep on top of it.

I figured I probably wasn't alone in my search for the perfect system for keeping my family organized, so I decided to call up Alicia Rockmore, founder and "Queen Bee" of Buttoned Up for some tips.

Read on for her advice from our interview on wrangling your family's schedule and activities—and keeping on top of it:

What is the first piece of advice you give to people looking to get their lives (both work and family) in order?

Alicia: Use the 80/20 Rule. If you tackle the most critical 20% of your life that needs to be organized, the other 80% will naturally follow.

What is the first step to streamlining your work calendar, your kids' activities, sports, and other family events?

Alicia: Find a system that works best for your family. For mine, it was a "family appointment book" that we keep in the kitchen with all of our most important family obligations and deadlines in it. My husband and I write our big meetings in it, as well as our daughter’s swim lessons or school projects. That way we all know who has what going on any given day.

How do you help people keep track of their various calendars and "little slips of paper" (To-Do Lists, notes, invitations, schedules from the kids' schools, etc)?

Alicia: The best way is to set up a "communication station"—which, again, usually works best in the kitchen—for all of the important incoming and outgoing mail, permission slips, and schedules. Each person in the family gets their own color-coded magazine box with folders labeled incoming, outgoing, and needs to be put on calendar. A simple system can go a long way in keeping your family "buttoned up!"

As a working mom, how do you streamline your daily planner and your Outlook calendar so you never miss a business OR a PTA meeting?

Alicia: You have to set a time that works best for you each day to sit down and fill in your obligations. I am an early bird, so I match up my planner and my Outlook calendar every morning before the rest of my family gets up.

What are your tips for setting up a simple and effective central calendar?

Alicia: Use overhead projector pens on a laminated calendar. Dry erase pens will get erased too easily, and then everyone will be in a pickle.

What are your favorite online systems and tools for organizing your life and your calendars?

Alicia: Google calendars are great. You can set them up by month or by week with all of that month’s activities, or make one just for your workout classes. Then you just print the neat, easy calendar. Best of all, it's free!

What are your favorite "real world" systems and tools for organizing your life and your calendars?

Alicia: I have to be biased here, but the whole concept of [my company], Buttoned Up, was to get people organized in a simple yet highly effective manner. Our current 25 products do just that, and we are launching 20 more products this fall.

Is there one single system you have for staying organized everyday? Or does it change by season, by life event, etc?

Alicia: The most important thing to remember about organization is that it’s not cookie cutter. Each person and each family is unique, so you have to find a system that fits with your personal style and schedule. And remember, being organized does not mean everything is perfect, it means everything is easier for your lifestyle.

What advice would you give to parents living in The Sandwich Generation—keeping tabs not only on themselves, their spouses, and their kids, but also their aging parents?

Alicia: Every family needs an all-inclusive binder containing their most critical family paperwork, from medical to legal to insurance. We created one for Buttoned Up called Life.doc that does just that. Systems like it will help you to be prepared so if someone gets sick or your car needs repair, you have everything you need at your fingertips. If you take care of aging parents, this is also extremely helpful as you can fill out all of the medications and legal information that you would not know off the top of your head.

We all start off with great "best-laid plans" for getting organized. How to you help people to stay on track, or come up with red flags for when it's time to get back on track?

Alicia: Everyone falls of track, but it's important to set aside a day each week to assess which organizing goals you've accomplished and which goals you fell short on. Sometimes you'll have a system that works great in the winter but horribly in the summer. The best way to stay on track is to be flexible and to keep trying.

Similarly, how do you know when you've outgrown one calendar or system of organization and it's time to create a new one?

Alicia: If you are using a system and still feeling overwhelmed, you need to switch it up. Again, be flexible. Use systems that are the most time efficient and easy. If it has too many steps or rules, ditch it. You shouldn’t have to spend more than 30 minutes a day on your system to stay organized.

Where do you draw the line on "perfection" or trying to be Wonder Woman?

Alicia: Women too often allow themselves to feel guilty or upset if they aren’t perfect, but the truth is, No one is! Know your own boundaries and set achievable goals. Organizing is supposed to help your state of mind, not add another level of stress to it.

What's your one area of disorganization? (C'mon—everyone has to have one!)

Alicia: I admit that my car is almost always in disarray. Between my daughter's juice boxes and cracker wrappers, my water bottles and work stuff, and the other random items, my car often looks like tornado aftermath. However, my car is emergency ready with a Collision.kit, which has pre-printed cards with all of the most important information in the event of an accident and a disposable camera with a flash. So, my car may look messy but I am still organized for safety.

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To read more of Alicia's tips or browse her company's catalog of products, check out www.getbuttonedup.com, www.seejanework.com, or Target Stores nationwide.

Have your own tips for getting—and keeping—your family's various activities and events organized and headache-free? Share them with the Care.com community by posting a comment!

When our big guy, Ryan, was about 6 years old, we decided to give away his black lab, Apollo. We were going away for a few months, and we realized we really weren't at home enough to have a dog. We really blew it, though—we decided not tell Ryan about our decision until after we had already given Apollo away.

Ryan never got to say goodbye, and he was devastated. To this day, whenever we see a black lab he'll remind us of how hurt he was.  Ron and I learned our lesson, and now we always make sure to communicate with our kids about the loss of a pet, whether through an illness or a voluntary separation.

For advice on how to talk to your kids about the sensitive topics of pet care issues and coping with the loss of a pet, we interviewed Dr. Shoshana Dayanim, a developmental child psychology expert. Here are her tips:

• If your pet has to be euthanized,…
  "Make sure your child understands that even though you're "putting the dog to sleep", your pet will not in fact be sleeping, and that this is being done to save your pet from pain," Dr. Dayanim said. "This may be a good time to discuss your personal beliefs concerning death, if you deem your child old enough. Whatever you choose to discuss, keep it as simple as possible. If your child wants to know more, she will ask."

• If your pet dies in its sleep,…
  "It's important to remember that, as a parent, you know your child best and know how much information your child can handle," Dr. Dayanim said. "However, try not to underestimate your child by buying a 'replacement' pet to hide the truth that her pet has died. You should also remember that details are not necessary. A good rule of thumb is that if your child doesn't ask, don't tell them.  A young child may ask "why did Max die?" Replying "because he was very, very old and very, very sick" may be enough. When an older child inquires about their pet's death, he may want to know more details about the pet's illness, and may even ask why the pet had to go to the Vet to die."

• If you have to give your pet away,…
  "If your pet can no longer live with you for whatever reason, explain to your child as clearly as possible that the pet needs certain things that you can't give him, and that he will be happier with another family," says Dr. Dayanim. "Be careful not to blame the pet's behavior as the reason for the separation. Another thing to be sensitive about is that your young child may not understand their pet—who may have been a member of the family for as long as they can remember—is any different than they are. It's important to be careful when using terms like "put to sleep" or "getting rid of." You don't want your child to be afraid that they, too, will be "put to sleep" if they are sick or that you will "get rid of" them if they do something wrong."

Plus, if you're currently dealing with the loss of a family pet—or might be soon—check out these wonderful books, selected by our animal-loving editorial team:

Dog Chapel by Stephen Huneck
Reading level: Ages 4 to 8

A wonderfully illustrated book about the real-life animal memorial built by author Stephen Huneck in his hometown of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, Dog Chapel celebrates the love, memories, and adventures we share with those beloved family members—our dogs. A tear-out frame is included in the back of every book, which your kids can fill with their own pet's picture and send to the chapel to join his or her fellow canine comrades on the chapel's Remembrance Wall.

Good-bye, Baby Max by Diane Cantrell and Heather Castles
Reading level: Ages 4 to 8

Students in a Texas kindergarten class have a sad day when they find out that Max, one of the three baby chicks they've been watching as classroom pets, has died. Written by a former kindergarten teacher and family counselor, this book moves through several valuable lessons for kids about life, death, and the responsibility of caring for a pet.

I'll Always Love You by Hans Wilhelm
Reading level: Preschool to 2nd Grade

Describing the circle of life with sweetness and humor, this book follows the life of Elfie, a dachshund, as she moves from sprightly puppy to senior dog alongside the boy who loves her, and who tells her every night "I will always love you." When Elfie doesn't wake up one morning, the family buries her in the backyard, and the boy promises that one day, when he's ready for another dog, he will make that dog feel just as special.

Saying Goodbye to Lulu by Corinne Demas and Ard Hoyt
Reading level: Preschool to 2nd Grade

An accessible story about Lulu, a black-and-white mutt, and the little girl who loves her, this book follows a family as they care for an aging and then very sick dog. When Lulu eventually passes, the family reminisces about their memories with Lulu, and validates the little girl's feelings of grief and loss. Since most kids' books have a boy as the central character, this is an especially great kids' book for anyone with daughters dealing with losing a pet.

Jasper's Day by Marjorie Blain Parker and Janet Wilson
Reading level: Kindergarten to 3rd Grade

This story follows a family and their dog, Jasper, who is close to death from cancer--he's lost his sight, his hearing, and can't move around all that well anymore. The parents, knowing the dog must be euthanized, plan an outing to visit all of Jasper's favorite places, before going to the vet together as a family to say goodbye and then burying Jasper in the backyard.

Goodbye Mousie by Robie H. Harris and Jan Ormerod
Reading level: Ages 4 to 8

A preschool boy loses his pet, Mousie, when the mouse dies in his sleep in the middle of the night. The boy plans a funeral, filling Mousie's coffin with keepsakes from their life together, but still doesn't completely understand the meaning of death. With the help and comfort of his parents, the boy starts to understand and vows to get another pet someday—"but just not yet."

Best Cat in the World by Leslea Newman and Ronald Himler
Reading level: 1st Grade to 4th Grade

A fabulous story about a boy named Victor who loses his best friend—his cat, Charlie—and has to learn to bond with his new kitten, Shelley. It's hard for Victor to move past his grief and learn to love Shelley. Eventually, Victor starts to realize that just because Shelley is different from Charlie doesn't mean they can't be friends, and they bond.

Have a favorite book that heals the heart and the home after losing a pet? Share it with the Care.com community by posting a comment!

Little did we know that while we were focusing on our plans for National Care Provider Day and Mother's Day, we missed "Poem in Your Pocket Day" on April 17th, in honor of National Poetry Month.

Felice, our editorial guru, shared with us a poem her son Max wrote for Care.com, so that we would all have a poem to keep in our pockets that day.

Max's poem is an adorable reminder of the fact that we're not just a company whose mission is to help families find care--we're a company supported by our own caring families and caregivers, and absolutely couldn't be successful without them.

So, thanks, Max, for reminding us of what's important! Read on for Max's poem to Care.com:

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There Was a Tiny Company
an ode to Jack Prelutsky's "There was a Tiny Baker"

by Max B.

There was a tiny company

That had a tiny dot (.)

They help you find a babysitter

And we like that a lot.

They work so hard

From dawn to dusk

And when they're finally home,

They kick their shoes off

to relax

and give their dog a bone.

(because they do pet care, too.)

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This Mother's Day, we're also celebrating family members and caregivers by inviting you to share a story about the care heroes in your life.

To learn more, please check out  our Celebrating Care Heroes Contest.

Happy Mother's Day!

~ Sheila