Itchy eyes and chain sneezes are already in full force on the west coast, where temperatures and pollen counts are skyrocketing. It won’t be long before the entire country is bloodshot. Ugh. So we asked our pediatric expert, Dr. JJ Levenstein of MD Moms, for some helpful tips on how to provide seasonal allergy relief for the littlest sufferers among us.

We’re not usually the preachy types, and we’re definitely not writing this email from atop a soapbox. It’s just that every mom we know seems to have the same thing on her mind this week—the children traumatized, displaced, and orphaned by the disaster in Japan. So we thought it would be helpful to round up some of the easiest ways to lend a hand.

Squirmy, wiggly kids can really try a mom’s patience. Sit still. Pay attention. Be polite. Uh-huh. Good luck with that. “Scolding a child probably won’t get him to sit quietly,” says Carol Kranowitz, author of The Out-of-Sync Child. “It’s frustrating because they’re not doing what they’re supposed to do, but wiggly kids are just trying to get their bodies organized; they’re seeking sensory input. So let’s get them some input.” With that in mind, here are Kranowitz’s tips for getting the wiggles out.

In a perfect world, skincare products made for babies would be, you know, safe for babies. Fortunately, the industry has taken a giant step in that direction over the past few years, but there are still plenty of land mines out there—not to mention plenty of confusion. To clear things up a bit . . . .