The 10 best purchases for parents in 2025

Happy New Year!

With the start of 2025, I thought I’d share the 10 most impactful parenting-related purchases I made in 2024.

1. Polaroid camera: child-lead capturing of moments

As parents, we ask our children to pose for pictures all the time. These polaroid cameras allow them to flip-the-script and be in control of capturing moments, without you having to give them a phone.

It’s great because they feel ownership of the entire process: from asking someone to pose, taking the picture, to patiently waiting for the picture to print.

Watching your kids take their first set of pictures is truly a magical moment.

I’m a huge fan of the Zink Polaroid Snap.

2. Preply: language learning

Preply is a marketplace that pairs you with a language instructor. We used it for Juniper to learn Japanese. While the absolute best way for your child to learn a language is through language immersion in a classroom, Preply is still a solid investment because of the selection of teachers, ease of payment, and schedule flexibility.

I’ve found that the best way for my children to learn a language at home is to do 2 30-minute Preply classes per week, plus add daily Duolingo sessions.

3. Love of reading: Magic Tree House book series

I bought Juniper a ton of “Who was” books, such as Who was Abraham Lincoln and Who was Harriet Tubman, but she never got too into them. Then our friend recommended the Magic Tree House book series and she’s been reading them non-stop on her own.

Some other good books include The Wild Robot and Bible Stories for Kids.

Loser: the big loser for us this year was the Dogman series. Yes, every kid loves them, but our Montessori teacher specifically recommended that we push long-form chapter books at home instead of kids comics. Don’t get me wrong, the kids absolutely love Dogman, but they’re not the best in terms of building their vocabulary, reading skills, or knowledge about the world.

4. Learn to code: Typing club

Ok, here me out. I understand that learning to type is not learning to code; however, here is my plan:

1. Teach my kids to type with Typing Club

2. Go through Code Academy together

We’ve tried many “coding apps”, such as Coding Safari and the Osmo Coding Kit. While all of them are fun, I don’t believe my kids are learning to code. Yes, they’re learning logic, but logic is easily learned through maturity and everyday life.

I was close to liking Scratch, but Juniper just ended up making characters talk to one another over and over again.

If I’m going to sit down next to my daughters and teach them something in real time, we might as well go through Code Academy together. And if they’re going to learn through Code Academy, they need to know how to type.

5. Math and English: Kumon workbooks

In my opinion, you just can’t beat the grind of working through math and English workbooks. I prefer the Kumon Workbooks, but there are a ton of good ones out there.

I call it a grind because that’s what it is: it’s drill-and-kill; it’s instilling all the basics of English and math into their heads.

They’ll get bored of it, but it’s a good lesson: sometimes you just have to grind through and do the necessary work.

Loser: the big loser for us in math this year was Synthesis Tutor. I tried it out with the kids and they were so bored. It was largely due to the intros for each lesson — they just dragged on and on.

6. Good for absolutely everything: a whiteboard

I’m telling you — the whiteboard was probably the single best investment this year. It’s great for everything:

• Developing a plan

• Scheduling the week

• Pros and cons list

• Explaining complex concepts

We pretty much use the whiteboard every single day for something valuable. This is the one I bought.

7. Learning responsibility independently: Timer

The absolute best way that I’ve found for my kids to pay attention when it’s time to eat, time to brush their teeth, time to sleep, time to go home, or time to do anything, is to give them the responsibility with a timer.

I ask them: how many more minutes?

10 more minutes!

Ok, go put it on your timer.

When the timer goes off, they immediately do what needs to be done.

It’s great because it puts the stress of getting them to do things off of me and it gives them the responsibility to do it. Here’s the timer I recommend because it’s very visual.

8. Board game: Monopoly

We have a ton of kids board games at home. I play them with the kids because they have fun, but to be honest, I get bored of them pretty quickly.

However, we played Monopoly with the kids over Christmas and I had a blast. I seriously hadn’t played Monopoly since I was a kid and forgot how fun it was. But not only is it fun, the kids learn about math and investing as well.

9. Eat your veggies: roasted broccoli and cauliflower with olive oil, salt, and pepper

My girls can be pretty picky with their veggies, but they will absolutely devour roasted broccoli and cauliflower dipped in olive oil with salt and pepper.

If you’re having trouble getting your kids to enjoy eating their vegetables, do this:

1. Get them to cut up broccoli and cauliflower in small pieces

2. Roast them in the oven for about 15 - 20 minutes at 400 degrees

3. In a small dipping plate, add olive oil, salt, and pepper

4. Have your kids dip their broccoli and cauliflower “chips” in the olive oil and watch them enjoy it

10. Vacation: 5-weeks in Japan

Absolutely nothing beats cultural immersion.

We spent 5 weeks in Japan this summer and it was one of the greatest times of our lives.

I know it’s incredibly difficult for most families to take 5 weeks off of work; however, if you’re somehow able to do it, maybe take a sabbatical, I believe it will be one of the most important things you do with your family.

Hope this was valuable to you.

Let me know what have been some of the most important and impactful parent-related purchases that you have made.

God bless,

Jun Loayza