Play it safe
Ah, summertime. There really isn’t a better time in Chicago. We have fairs, festivals, parades and fireworks.

Play the games from the good ol' days
It’s a great summer day until the kids start whining that they’re bored.

Make your own cool treats
With the heat of summer fully upon us, the last thing you want to do is turn on the oven

Make a kite
The windy city is a great place for kite flying, but what’s the fun in buying a kite when making your own is so much better.

Make Kool-Aid playdough

Build a better sandcastle
You’ve always dreamed of building a truly impressive sandcastle with the kids,

Make ice cream

Teach a kid to ride a bike
Teaching your child to ride a bike can be challenging, back-breaking work,

Ease the burn
At some point in our lives, we all get a painful sunburn that changes our sun safety habits for good.

Beat bug bites
We can all agree that insect bites are aggravating. The constant itch, splotchy bumps,

Find the sunshine on a rainy day
Summer should be filled with plenty of colorful flowers, abundant sunshine and a heat wave

'We had to do it for him'
Mack Downey cannot stop staring at himself in the mirror.

Sometimes it's more than the wiggles
Imagine being at a loud rock concert for six hours.

The up side of simple chores
You’re struggling with eight bags of groceries, all by yourself, because your loving children have disappeared inside

Surviving a theme park marathon
A trip to the theme park mecca of southern California that included six parks in seven days proved to be exhausting

Smelling poison
The red straw from a can of Dust-Off was still near Kyle Williams’ mouth when his mom found him one morning.

Better than gold
While her daughter was a patient at Illinois Masonic Medical Center’s neonatal intensive care unit,

Can-do kids
In just two years, Reid Colliander of Glen Ellyn has raised thousands of dollars for brain tumor research

Get wet this summer
Summer swelter got you hot under the collar? Dive into south suburban outdoor water parks and feel like you’re on vacation

What’s in your neighborhood?
South suburban resource guide