Anna Fader

Founder & CEO of Mommy Poppins
Anna was born in Park Slope, spent her early years in the West Village. By the time she graduated high school, she had lived in 4 of the 5 boroughs. Growing up in NYC in the '70s meant the streets were her playgrounds. Museums and avant garde music venues were the kid-friendly activities. And living downtown taught her the importance of creating community for families in NYC.

Now, raising her own two children in the city, she tries to create the same sense of magic and community she felt growing up, despite today's more commercialized version of kid-friendly New York.

She started Mommy Poppins in 2007 to share a more artsy, educational, uncommercial, community-oriented vision of raising kids in New York City. Today Mommy Poppins is relied on by millions of families as the authority on the best things to do with kids beyond New York City: from Boston to Philly, Los Angeles, Houston and travel guides for dozens more cities and destinations.

Latest posts by Anna

Mommy Poppins App Is Coming! Help Us Launch It and Win Cool Rewards

Submitted by Anna Fader on Wed, 05/22/2013 - 4:36pm

What could be better than the Mommy Poppins LA website, where you go to find cool things to do with your kids? Having access to everything on the website when you’re at your computer – plus an app for your phone when you’re on the go! We’re working on developing an app for NYC to launch in June, and with your help, we could have LA content following almost immediately. Read on to find out answers to your questions about the app, how you can help make it happen, and the super-cool incentives you can get for helping.

Mommy Poppins App Is Coming! Help Us Launch It and Win Cool Rewards

Submitted by Anna Fader on Thu, 05/16/2013 - 10:00am

We know you count on Mommy Poppins to find cool things to do with your kids. And we've heard that on the computer, our site is pretty easy to navigate and find what you're looking for. But when you're out and about, finding kid-friendly activities or places to eat on Mommy Poppins isn't that easy. Yeah, we have neighborhood pages with maps, but we admit it's not the best way to find stuff on your smartphone.

That will change with the launch of our new app. The Mommy Poppins App will allow you to find all the great places we write about on our sites—spots to create, be active, learn, shop, eat and more—easily on your phone. We've been working on it for months and we are on track to launch in June. But we have a few final hurdles to jump and we're hoping you can help. And we've got some great incentives if you do.

Read on to find out more about the Mommy Poppins App and the IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign we just launched where you can snag cool rewards like swag, your child's picture in the app, a ticket to our swanky launch party or even a private consultation with Mommy Poppins founder, Anna Fader.

I Am Not the Real Mommy Poppins: A Mother's Day Story

Submitted by Anna Fader on Sun, 05/12/2013 - 7:30pm

Extraordinarily.
There are many stories people can tell to explain how they got where they are today or why they chose the path they did. If you ask me why I started this website, I could tell the story about how I made a New Year's resolution to start a blog and stay with it for one year. Or I could talk about how I felt like my job in advertising was taking me away from mothering too much. I could focus on my passion to curate all the amazing opportunities for kids in NYC that you couldn't find out about in other family publications. I've mentioned all of those things and more when interviewed or asked about the founding of Mommy Poppins, but there's one version of the story I've never told.

Giveaway: Join Mommy Poppins in the Hamptons and North Fork this Summer

Submitted by Anna Fader on Thu, 05/09/2013 - 9:00am

Whether Long Island's East End is your go-to getaway spot or just your dream vacation, our new Hamptons and North Fork Family Guide has everything you need to get the most out of your visit this summer. And since we want everyone to be able to experience Long Island's slice of heaven, not only will our guide feature affordable family-friendly activities, day trip ideas and indoor activities, if you sign up for our soon-to-launch Hamptons and North Fork newsletter, you'll automatically be entered to win awesome prizes so you can enjoy a little bit of the beach yourself.

Go Mom! 5 Cool Ways to Celebrate Mother's Day in NYC Without the Kids

Submitted by Anna Fader on Tue, 05/07/2013 - 10:00am

It's rare that we write about things to do without children on Mommy Poppins but, the fact is, while eating Mother's Day brunch and enjoying fun activities with the kids is lovely, some years, what you really want for your day is something all about, well, you. (Apologies to any dads reading right now, but you get your own Sunday in June.) We've gathered up some off the beaten path ideas for Mother's Day (and beyond) that don't include sticky fingers or crafts made out of pipe cleaners. From wine tastings to adults-only performances, here are five ways to celebrate Mother's Day without the bambinos.

Mommy Poppins is Expanding (and Hiring) to the North Fork, Hamptons and Westchester

Submitted by Anna Fader on Wed, 04/03/2013 - 10:00am

It's been about a year and a half since we launched our Boston, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Long Island and Connecticut sites, and we added Family Travel last spring. We constantly work on improving our sites, filling our calendars with exceptional events and posting great content like our new Go Lists. Apparently, you've been enjoying it all, because I keep getting emails asking for more Mommy Poppins. Families from Westchester, who use our site to plan their trips into the city, have been clamoring for a site of their own. And our readers who spend their weekends or summer out on the North Fork and the Hamptons say they miss having Mommy Poppins as a guide when they are there. So we're expanding our Long Island coverage to add weekend activities and guides for the Hamptons and North Fork, and launching a new site just for Westchester. You can already sign up for these soon-to-start newsletters here.

But we need your help: We're looking for savvy local parents to help bring our readers the best activities and events in these areas. If you're interested in joining the Mommy Poppins team, read on to learn more about this editorial opportunity, or pass it on to friends who you think fit the bill.

Visit the Farms of Westchester

Submitted by Anna Fader on Sun, 03/31/2013 - 10:07am

If you enjoyed our post on the farms of Long Island, you may be excited to hear that there are also farms in Westchester that you can visit with kids. Seriously, less than an hour from New York City your kids can be gamboling with sheep, rounding up chickens, and milking cows.

The No-Panic Guide to NY State ELA and Math Test Prep

Submitted by Anna Fader on Thu, 03/14/2013 - 11:00am

Last week NYC Department of Education Chancellor, Dennis Walcott, hosted a live webinar to discuss changes to the Common Core State Standards and the New York State ELA and Math Assessments in 2013. The Chancellor stated that the tests have been reformulated and will be quite a bit harder this year because they will assess children on the new Common Core material. Math questions will have multiple parts and require more than one function. For example, students may have a word problem where they first need to add and then multiply in order to solve it. The tests are also moving away from multiple choice questions and within a few years will be completely essay based

My son's fourth grade teacher said that the math segment of the predictive test they took in January was so hard that a few students literally cried. Perhaps in response, it seems their class has done almost nothing except test prep for the past several weeks.

During the Chancellor's webinar, one parent asked why the DOE was putting the Common Core material in the tests this year—why not wait a full year before assessing them on the brand-new material? The Chancellor replied, "We cannot wait to raise our standards," illustrating that his team sees making the tests harder as raising the standard, rather than letting classroom instruction be the measure. I suspect most educators don't consider months of test prep as raising the standards of education. Even some who originally lauded the Common Core are now turning a more skeptical eye toward the assessment-based educational reform.

But as much as we may hate the high-stakes nature of the New York State Assessments, kids have to take them. So my goal here is to help parents navigate the situation our children are facing today. We can call for policy change, but in the meantime, our kids are dealing with these new tests now. As parents, we need to advocate for our children while staying cool and not increasing their anxiety over the tests.