A Mother's Haven is a store/education center with a knowledgable and helpful staff and great classes.

It offers a number of pre- and post-natal, infant, and child development classes (including Kindermusik), as well as new mom and breastfeeding support groups.

In addition to the curriculum of classes, A Mother's Haven has a boutique that features nursing clothes, bras, pillows, slings, pumps, baby items, and more.

The Altadena MOMS Club supports stay at home moms through organized monthly activities including playgroups, park days, family days, moms night out, and more. Monthly meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month.

BabyAttuned is an infant-parent health promotion program offering a variety of services for new parents.

Programs include Mom/Baby support and education groups, groups for mothers of multiples (twins and triplets), prenatal classes, sleep classes, assistance in developmental screening, and individual consultations.

Great one-stop shopping for women between the expectant and "harried breastfeeding new mom" stages, Bellies, Babies, and Bosums offers a range of products to help with pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and infants.

Stylish maternity clothing, breast pump sales and rentals, nursing bras and pillows, baby proofing items , baby and toddler clothing, diaper bags, books . . . the inventory seems endless. Attentive customer care makes the trip to Glendale all the more worthwhile.

The store also invites pregnant women and new moms to a free 30-minute breastfeeding support session, which offers advice and valuable information about techiniques, nutrition, and more; call ahead to schedule. The store's Lactation Center serves as an uuthorized Medela retailer; consultants are available to observe breastfeeding sessions and offer advice.

Recording artist Deborah Gibson teams up with Hollywood acting coaches Howard Fine and Cynthia Bain to create Camp Electric Youth. The performing arts summer camp offers a variety of classes for kids ages seven to 17 in acting, voice, dance, songwriting, and more.

As the high-powered names imply, this is a camp for kids serious about performing and interested in a career in the industry. The two-week camp culminates in a final showcase in front of casting directors, agents, managers, and producers. Seminars are also offered for parents who would like to broaden their knowledge of the business and how to emotionally protect young performers.

Chabad of Burbank is a branch of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, offering Jewish family programs as well as religious services and education to the community at large.

The Chabad of Pacific Palisades is a branch of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, offering Jewish family programs as well as religious services and education to the community at large. Chabad operates the Palisades Jewish Early Childhood Center and offers a summer camp program at Palisades Elementary School.

The Chabad of South Bay is a branch of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, offering Jewish family programs to the community at large.

Amy Kaplan is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), in practice for over 10 years in west Los Angeles. Currently in private practice, she specializes in providing therapy for children, teenagers, and their parents.

Cosmikids is a combination enrichment program, indoor play space, discovery center, and party space. Programs include music, yoga, and acting classes, parenting support workshops and groups, parent and child activities, and a homeschooling club.

The Early Childhood Parenting Center hosts weekly parent/infant/toddler groups with child development trained leaders and specialists, and evening programs for working and single parents. Fees are on a sliding scale.

ECPC also operates a free parent coaching telephone line through which child development experts provide guidance and support for typical parenting concerns. The Parent Coaching line is accessible by leaving a message on the main line; calls are returned within two business days.

Empowered Parenting is an organization that offers parenting courses based on the philosophy of redirecting children's behavior. Class topics include raising kids with healthy self-esteem, dealing with tantrums and power struggles, setting limits, and promoting sibling harmony.

Family First is a full-service domestic firm that helps families manage their children, home, and personal life. Domestic referrals include experienced nannies, babysitters, doulas, personal assistants, estate/home staff, and more.

All candidates must have over three years of experience in related work. An extensive background screening is also completed by a Private Investigation Firm (DMV, criminal, civil litigation, worker comp, credit, Social Security, etc). Candidates also must have verifiable professional references, work experience, a valid Driver's license, CPR and First Aid Certification, and some also have collegiate experience.

The one-time fee is 15% of the candidate's first year gross annual salary. Family First LA provides a five-month satisfaction guarantee for all positions. Should the employee/employer relationship end within five months from the date of hire for any reason, the company provides an equally qualified replacement at no additional charge.

The process is easy. Simply call to speak about your child, family, or personal care needs. Family First LA listens and even arranges an in-home consultation to begin the search. When clients have selected a carefully pre-screened Family First candidate, the firm arranges and handles all aspects of the hiring process.

This non-profit organization offers support, information, and referral services for families and children with special needs. Serves the San Fernando Valley (818.677.6854), the Santa Clarita Valley (661.250.3943), and the Antelope Valley (661.225.9598).

The Family Resource Counseling Center offers affordable, comprehensive psychotherapy services. Services include individual, couples, group, child, and family therapy, as well as psychological testing and assessment. Some specialties are ADD/ADHD, adoption, body image, eating disorders, divorce, parenting, and substance abuse.

Services are available in English and Spanish, and the practice accepts PPO insurance plans.

Family Safe specializes in emergency and disaster preparedness workshops, with an emphasis on families with children and their caregivers. Workshops seek to empower parents and caregivers with the tools and knowledge
that they need to feel prepared with disaster kits and emergency plans that incorporate the needs of young children.

Workshops are offered at various children's and baby stores,
as well as privately and for schools. Because of the sensitive nature of the material, the classes are recommended for adults only.

Burbank is one of LA's most family-dominated areas, so it's not surprising that there are loads of opportunities to have fun without upsetting the budget.

Local parks abound, and one of the town's hidden gems is Stough Canyon, where the nature center is the site of free nature programs and family hikes. And George Izay Park not only has a delightful and shady playground with plenty of nearby picnic tables; it's also home to the Burbank Historical Society's Gordon R. Howard Museum, which is open free of charge on weekend afternoons.

Other parks with playgrounds include Johnny Carson Park, Verdugo Park, and Brace Canyon Park. Tennis anyone? McCambridge Park not only has a shady playground; it's also home to the Burbank Tennis Center, where Burbank families have free use of the courts on weekdays from 11am to 3pm.

The LA area's largest park comes right up to the edge of Burbank; Griffith Park offer families a variety of playgrounds, hikes, and other activities without touching the wallet. The park is also home to the Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum, where kids can ride on miniature trains for a suggested donation. Another museum in the park is the Autry Museum of the American West - also known as the Cowboy Museum - where admission is free on the second Tuesday of every month.

Near Griffith Park, on the Burbank side, is the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, where kids going through their horse phase can get a great fix. The center has horse shows going on most weekends, and watching the displays of equestrian expertise usually costs nothing.

Burbank's own Philharmonic Orchestra gives free concerts at the Hall of Liberty at Forest Lawn. The concerts are sometimes preceded by family programs during which kids can 'test drive' the instruments. Keep an eye on our calendar for upcoming events.

Some local outdoor festivals have become annual favorites. The Magnolia Park neighborhood hosts a few each year; plus there's the annual Burbank on Parade, the Fine Arts Festival, and several holiday events, all of which can be enjoyed at no charge.

What Johnny Carson immortalized as Beautiful Downtown Burbank is dominated by the huge shopping center Burbank Town Center, home to periodic family events, holiday celebrations, and other seasonal festivities. The mall also has a great play area for kids under 42" tall, with big, soft shapes for jumping and bouncing. The Barnes and Noble offers weekly storytime on Saturday mornings.

The natural place to head for storytelling, of course, is the city's public library, which has three branches: the Central branch, Buena Vista, and the Northwest branch. All three have loads of free programs, including story hours, kids' clubs, magic shows, plays, films, concerts, homework help, holiday events, and monthly family nights.

And speaking of Johnny Carson, Burbank is still famous for its television studios. Watching a live taping of a TV show is always free and can be just as educational as it is entertaining. Ticket companies like Audiences Unlimited and TV Show Tickets specialize in recruiting audiences for the studios.

The community enjoys its weekly farmers market in the center of town; the Burbank Farmers' Market may not be full of bells and whistles, but the live music, fresh fruit, and colorful flowers make for a fun morning without fanfare.

Home Depot offers popular workshops for kids on the first Saturday of each month. Participants get little orange aprons like the big guys wear and work on kits building neat things like bird houses and fire trucks - all for free. Another shop worth mentioning is Ikea, which is amazingly kid-friendly for a giant furniture store. Free, of course, entirely depends upon individual will power, but in addition to playing freely in the kids' section of the store, little ones can also sign in to the store's play area and ball pit for supervised play time while the grown-ups shop.

Finally, a day's freebie-searching can be completed with a free dinner at Island's on a Tuesday, El Torito on a Wednesday, or one of several other nearby restaurants that offer kids a free meal on some nights of the week. Now that's free thinking.

Know of more free stuff, events, and activities for kids and families around Burbank? Add a comment below, and we'll get right on it!

Neighborly, centrally-located Larchmont is only a stone's throw from Hancock Park, Koreatown, and the Miracle Mile, offering several ways for families to seek out fun for free.

One of LA's oldest communities, Larchmont Village is not most people's idea of budget shopping. Browsing, however, is free, and window shopping in Larchmont is a real delight. Two spots definitely worth a stop are The Little Seed and Flicka, both of which which have fun, enclosed play areas for little ones. Local tots particularly enjoy bonding here on Sundays after the Farmers' Market.

Speaking of the Farmers' Market, Larchmont has a fine one, augmenting the fresh produce and flowers with live music for kids and weekly pet adoptions, featuring puppies and kittens ready and waiting for a passing cuddle.

Not far away is Saint Sophia Cathedral, a feast for the eyes and absolutely worth a (free) wander. The church holds periodic community events.

Local playgrounds range from the very popular Robert Burns Park to Harold A. Henry Park and the large and rolling Pan Pacific Park. The latter has an amphitheater with occasional free entertainment.

The Page Museum, also known as the La Brea Tar Pits, is a short hop from Larchmont and offers free admission on the first Tuesday of each month. The park around it is always free, of course, and includes the life-sized display of an ill-fated woolly mammoth family trying unsuccessfully to rescue one of its kind from the sticky depths. There is plenty of room to run around (though after a while the sulphur smell gets to most people), and during the summer there is a free viewing station open for watching the still-active excavation of the pits.

Next to the tar pits is LACMA, the LA County Museum of Art. LA's hub of art and culture invites the public to explore its collections for free on the second Tuesday of each month, and every night after 5pm visitors may pay what they wish. Even better, though, is the NexGen membership program, which gives kids under the age of 18 free admission with a parent at anytime. Applications are available at the box office. For more free stuff, Target Free Holiday Mondays at the museum offer family programs on Monday holidays like Veterans Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, etc...

Libraries are always a good source of free programs; storytimes, kids' clubs, bilingual programs, puppet shows, films, and homework help are all on hand at the Pio Pico - Koreatown Branch (The Wilshire Branch Library is nearby but closed for construction in 2008.) Free storytimes take place in the village every Saturday morning at Chevalier's Books, too.

A free outing to Larchmont Fire Station is great for younger kids, allowing an up close peek at the inner workings from ringing bells to sliding down poles.

Know of more free stuff, events, and activities for kids and families around Larchmont? Add a comment below, and we'll get right on it!

There is plenty to do around Santa Monica without having any impact on the weekly budget.

One of the first places to check for free fun is always the Santa Monica Pier. Admittedly, a latte costs more on the Pier than anywhere else on the Westside, and kids might get drawn in by cotton candy, arcade games, or amusement park rides. On the other hand, the Pier offers a cornucopia of free entertainment, particularly during summer and autumn months when there are weekly evening concerts for families, morning concerts for kids, and free movie screenings. Also worth a mention are the historic carousel which is free for kids (adults spend $1 to accompany them) and the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, where a donation of $2-$5 is asked (but not required). Both are at the beginning of the Pier - well before any of the pricier attractions pull focus.

Of course what Santa Monica has in abundance is beaches, and families love biking or blading along the incomparable coastal bike path. The free way to do this is to bring your own (as opposed to using one of the ubiquitous bike rental places along the path) and park for a price at one of the beach lots, for free at a two-hour city lot, or on the street. Heading south from Santa Monica leads to the increasingly busy and ceaselessly entertaining Venice Beach area; more open space and breathtaking views lie ahead on the northern route to Malibu.

Some beaches have terrific playgrounds - most notably Ocean Park Playground and Santa Monica Sate Beach's Muscle Beach, which has miniature versions of much of the equipment frequented by the big guys. This is also were to find the only set of traveling rings on the west coast - irresistibly fun and totally free.

Speaking of playgrounds, Santa Monica is full of them. Kids love the ducks and the seasonal water play at Douglas Park and the giant tower in the playground at Clover Park. Mothers who want a gated pay area frequent Joslyn Park and Reed Park, while Virginia Park has both seasonal water play and a weekly farmers' market.

The community also enjoys weekly farmers markets on Arizona at Third Street and on Main Street, where families flock for festivities that generally include music, face painting, pony rides, and other treats for kids.

Libraries are always a good source of free programs; storytimes, kids' clubs, bilingual programs, puppet shows, films, and homework help are all on hand at the city's four public libraries. Other free storytimes take place regularly at babystyle, Barnes & Noble, Children's Book World, and sometimes at Every Picture Tells a Story.

There is no charge for visiting Santa Monica Airport, which gives kids a close-up look at smaller airplanes, both in the air and on the ground. Another opportunity for seeing big vehicles up close awaits at any of the city's fire stations, where kids can get a free tour of all the inner workings.

Temescal Gateway Park, just beyond the city's northern border, hosts ranger-led hikes, campfires, and other family programs for nature-lovers; urbanites may prefer wandering Third Street Promenade, where kids love the street performers, the fountains, and lots of space to run.

Finally, a day's freebie-searching can be completed with a free dinner at Norm's on Lincoln or one of several other nearby restaurants that offer kids a free meal on some nights of the week. Now that's free thinking.

Know of more free stuff, events, and activities for kids and families around Santa Monica? Add a comment below, and we'll get right on it!

Free To Be is a parenting class based upon the RIE approach. Parents bring their children and witness them in independant play as well as discussing issues such as sleep, crying, and feeding.

Fun Hip Mommies of Orange County is an active group of moms who meet for stroller walks, lunches, scrapbooking, moms' nights out, cocktail nights, bunco, mall play, pool play, beach days, boutiques, and events with the partners, too.

A 'New Members Meetup' is held whenever a new mother joins the group.

Get A Life is a unique, non-profit childcare that supports parents and grandparents with chronic or terminal illness, or those who have lost a spouse.

The facility is commited to providing an environment with a high level of early education for all children.

Hair Fairies is dedicated to removing head lice safely, effectively, and in a kid-friendly environment. The three step program begins with an evaluation, followed by nit-picking, then an herbal shampoo formulated to damage lice's nervous systems.

In business since 1999, the Fairies have rid thousands of children and families from these persistent parasites.

Healthy Families offers low cost insurance for children and teens, extending health, dental, and vision coverage to children who do not have insurance and do not qualify for free Medi-Cal.

HowsMyNanny.com is a nanny-reporting service: Parents purchase a license plate for their stroller, and the public is encouraged to anonymously report good or bad nanny observations. Registered parents receive emails alerting them to reports about their particular nanny.

Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles has been enriching the lives of thousands of children annually for over 90 years. The organization provides mentoring through innovative programs and services that facilitate lasting relationships to improve a child’s self esteem and learning.

The program is for Jewish boys and girls ages six through 18, and clinicians in four offices throughout Los Angeles work to match them with trained adult volunteers.

The organization's Sports Buddies and Arts Buddies programs are non-denominational, designed to encourage children ages seven to 12 to play non-competitive sports or make art during Sunday sessions at Camp Max Strauss in Glendale.

John Tyler and Associates Safety Training specializes in training parents and caregivers the lifesaving techniques of CPR and choking alleviation. Teaching methods are concise and hands-on, and classes last 2 1/2 hours. Satisfaction is guaranteed, and certification cards are valid for two years.

Los Angeles psychotherapist Jordana Mansbacher treats parenting issues, eating disorders, relationship problems and issues of aging. She takes some insurance and also conducts psychological testing.

Joslyn Park is a 2.5 acre park with a basketball court, picnic tables, benches, and a gated playground.

The park also has a bright, sunny recreation room which is available for party rental and is host to city-sponsored family programs.

Khefri Urban Goddess Lifestyle offers families in the Greater Los Angeles area a variety of services, from pre and post-natal yoga, childbirth education and doula care, to Itsy Bitsy Yoga, Kids Yoga, and Women's Yoga.

La Mirada Resource Center offers many early childhood education classes including Mommy & Me, music and movement, infant massage, sign language, art, gymnastics, and dance. Classes geared for children with special needs are offered as well.

LA Speech and Language Therapy Center offers early intervention services for children with special needs and after-school programs for children with Asperger’s syndrome, high-functioning autism, ADD/ADHD, and other pervasive developmental disorders.

The Center for Enriched Education is a preschool program that the center offers from 8:30am-5pm.

The center has a summer camp for children with communication disorders and also offers parent-professional training workshops to provide caregivers and other professionals with current research and strategies to assist in the care of their children.