Parents with Passion Series: Kids in St. Louis website

April 27, 10:15 AMSt. Louis Family & Parenting ExaminerAngela Atkinson

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Renee Schrader and Terri Canis are two stay at home moms who own and operate the Kids in St. Louis website. KidsInStL.com is a one stop resource for families with children who live in or around the St Louis and St Charles area. Renee and Terri have been featured on various television and radio shows to talk about the Kids in St. Louis site. They participate in service projects and volunteer work as well. The site currently has more than 650 members and continues to grow every day.

Here, Renee and Terri discuss their families and their friendship—as well as the Kids in St. Louis website. Learn what inspired them to start the site and what it can offer you and your family.

Interview with Renee Schrader and Terri Canis, Owners and Operators of Kids in St. Louis

Examiner:  How many kids do each of you have? What are their ages?  

Renee Schrader: I have two spunky kids, Sophia is 5 years and Owen is 3 years.

Terri Canis: I have a 15-month-old daughter, Erin, and a 3 ½ year old son, Evan.

Examiner:  Can you tell me a little about your families?

Renee Schrader: My busy family consists of my husband, two kids and two huge hairy dogs.  My husband is a commercial architect, who always has a home improvement project in the works at home.  I have the best job full time job in the world, a stay at home mommy.  My days are always busy with helping at the kids’ school, driving to dance or soccer and occasionally throwing in a load of laundry.  

Terri Canis: My husband is an intellectual property lawyer and is an adjunct professor at the Missouri University of Science and Technology.  After teaching children with special needs for 4 years, I had my first child, and I became a stay at home mom.  As a hobby, I introduced myself to the world of building web sites and along with being a stay at home mom, life is quite hectic.  My two kids are full of energy and have taught me to appreciate and enjoy the simple things in life.

Examiner:   What inspired you to start the Kids in St. Louis website?  How did you meet one another? Were you friends first or business partners?  

Renee Schrader: I would spend hours surfing the internet trying to find fun places to go and things to do with my kids.  That is when I got the idea to design a ‘one stop shop’ web site for families with kids.  However, I did not have the knowledge on how to build a web site and I did not have the money to hire anyone.  So I put an ad on Craig’s List looking for another Stay At Home Mommy who knew web design.   After reading many crazy replies, I came across Terri’s response and set up a meeting.  That was two years ago and now not only do I have a great web site but also a good friend.

Examiner:   How did you go about starting the site?  

Renee Schrader: We knew we wanted the core of the site to be the event calendar on the home page and to build other informational pages for parents and kids.  The site has gone through many visual and content changes since it first rolled out in November 2007.  

Examiner:   What does the site have to offer for St. Louis parents?  

Renee Schrader: Since we are parents, our goal is to make it as easy as possible to have fun, create and co-exist with your kids.  With that in mind, we have created a Parent Resources & Tips Page, Resource Links, Gift Ideas, Resell It Shops and much more.  The focus of kidsinstl.com the family and kids, however we know it is important for every parent to have some personal time.  With that in mind, we created our Parent Hobby and Interest calendar.  

Examiner:   What does the site offer for St. Louis kids?  

Renee Schrader: So much of our site has been created for the kids.  We have a Daily Activity Calendar, a list of great indoor and outdoor playgrounds, the best list around of places to host a birthday party, kid recipes, list of restaurants where the kids can eat for free and much more.

Examiner:   Is it free to be a member?  

Renee Schrader: Not only is Membership free but our entire site is free for anyone, regardless of membership.  However, becoming a member allows you to receive our weekly newsletter that gives you information about the play dates we host, new things on the site and much more.  In addition, we have a monthly give-a-way for our members and the prize for March was a $10 gift card to Target.  

Examiner: Do you have any exciting projects coming up?  

Renee Schrader: We have decided to take a step out of the cyber world and work with parents and their kids face to face.  We have started a community service project with St John’s Mercy Pediatrics department that promotes craft projects with recycled materials.  A few times a month, we are volunteering our time and all materials to do bedside craft projects with the kids in pediatrics.  We are so excited about this new endeavor and are honored to collaborate with such a wonderful organization as St John’s Mercy.