Originated in 1898, the Ferry Building was a hotspot to thousands of travelers, serving as “the transportation focal point for anyone arriving by train from the East,” according to the building’s official website. In fact, until the 1930s, ferries were the only way that travelers and commuters could enter the city from the Peninsula. Surviving both the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes (and a bad renovation in 1950s), the Ferry Building stands today as one of the city’s most unique and popular landmarks. Though the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the use of cars rendered the need for ferries as main transportation obsolete, the building continues to draw thousands of people.

The building currently houses the popular Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market, an old-fashioned open market with several stalls that serve some of the best organic and artisan foods in the state. Open daily, the marketplace draws both visitors and locals alike, and is a great place to spend a few hours (or the day, if possible) with children. Kids are automatically drawn to the bustle and details that the plethora of boutiques provide. Families with children will enjoy stopping for lunch at places such as Taylor’s Refresher (located at shop #6), where appetites of all ages and sizes can be satisfied with dishes such as fish and chips and ahi burgers. Enjoy for an afternoon gelato refreshment at Ciao Bella (shop #8). Parents can even stop off for their own more refined treat, if desired, at Imperial Tea Courts—and expect at least a few moments of sipping in peace as the kids crowd-watch.

San Francisco City Guides even offers regular walking tours of the building. The tours, starting at noon on Tuesdays and weekends, are free, and even include samples of fresh produce, plants, and herbs from local growers.

Located along the Embarcadero at Market Street, the marketplace can be accessed by MUNI, BART, and, well, ferry boat. The historic trolley cars (the F Market line) run directly to and from the very front of the Ferry Building. Public transportation allows for a more colorful and historic experience, and gives kids (and parents) a chance to rest and snack on their purchased fresh market food on the ride back.

They use spatulas, they use umbrellas. They hit lamps, couch cushions and, even occasionally, you. Your children need an out for their saber mania. Enroll them in the Elite Musketeer Fencer’s Club, a child-friendly club that provides lessons and fencing etiquette. Located in the southern area of San Francisco’s Bay, Elite has been teaching Olympic Fencing to children and adults since 2003.

Recently featured in the American Fencing Magazine, this quality forum will each your little musketeers through games and activities that are directly integrated into the lessons’ techniques and focuses, helping students to develop better motor skills, focus, physical fitness, and social navigation. The sport itself teaches a high concentration of those beneficial developmental elements only offered through juvenile sports and competition.

Plus: fencing is just cool. From age six, your child can learn a sport that dates back to the Renaissance (the first known official reference to swordsmanship coming from William Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor: “Alas sir, I cannot fence.”); and carries with it a heft and history that you just don’t get with, say, a video game. What a wonderful way to introduce your children to a new form of exercise that also teaches them concentration, confidence, and a defining sense of self. Fencing has sustained today as one of the only four sports which has been featured at every single modern Olympic Games.

The Elite Musketeer’s Fencing Club not only offers convenient classes on Saturdays (freeing up your already overloaded week nights, a bit at least), it also offers camps where Little Musketeers can completely assume their epee-esque identities, say, from 12-4 or 5-9pm for three concentrated days. Birthday parties are also offered, which includes a fun introduction to the art of swordplay, a demonstration of the sport, and opportunities to fence under qualified instructors.

Located in a nice, new facility that includes a large fencing gymnasium and even a lounge and play area, this fencing club also provides all of the gear and materials needed for lessons and sparring. This fencing club has proven truly elite, and will allow your little musketeers a forum for their fencing fetish, and will hopefully save that newly-covered lampshade. En guarde!

Fine dining and children—the two are unfortunately often mutually exclusive. Luckily, Luella Restaurant offers a solution. The owners, a husband and wife and parents themselves, know how hard it can be to try to hit a restaurant with kids in tow. On Sunday evenings, this sophisticated and charming Mediterranean-inspired restaurant provides parents with a less stressful opportunity to dine out—and dine well. From five to nine Sunday evenings, the restaurant offers Little Luellas, kid-friendliness elements incorporated into the same elegant dining.

Little Luella’s allures little palates with such menu items as pizza, grilled cheese, and chicken pot pie for around a very reasonable five dollars. The atmosphere includes upbeat music, coloring sheets, and white paper coverings on the linen tablecloths. You might even see the owner’s own daughter, Gemma, dancing and sampling her own Shirley Temple.

Adult menu highlights include ahi tuna tacos, scallops with spring onion risotto, and braised pork with white bean puree. Not to mention their nice wine list and desserts such as their renowned orange and sweet ricotta fritters drizzled with wild honey. Voted Best Of for Appetizers in 2006, Luella’s possesses more elegance and panache than your average mom and pop place.

Luella’s Restaurant is located on Hyde at the corner of Green. Getting to it by car is definitely possible, but keep in mind that parking is very difficult in this area. If you drive, allow plenty of time to search for parking. Though the restaurant normally provides valet parking as an option, it does not do so on Sunday; however, valet parking is available in front of La Folie on Polk Street, and Walgreens at Polk and Broadway opens their lot for parking (for a $15 fee). If you prefer not to drive, a cable car stops right in front of the restaurant.

Visit their website to book reservations online. Although the they do accept walk-ins, call ahead to insure a smoother experience with children. Now relax. You can actually sip your wine and have semi-uninterrupted adult conversation—or groove to the music and color with the crayons. Who says the kids should have all the fun?

Though you’d have to be from another planet not to know about the Golden Gate Bridge, you may not know that the Promenade is a 3 ½ mile trail between Fort Point and Aquatic Park with some of San Francisco’s most famous historical landmarks and shoreline sites. The beautiful and scenic path passes through Crissy Field, and at certain points gives great views of the bay, the Marin Headlands, and even Alcatraz. Pause at Marina and Baker to peek at the Palace of Fine Arts, a structure equally impressive to adults and children alike. The Promenade’s pathway easily accommodates walkers, bikers, skaters, skateboarders, and scooterers. It is a perfect trail for families of all ages to trek—the pathway is mostly dirt (nice for unexpected spills) and is (key word here:) flat.

The Fort Point Pier along the way offers picnic tables set up on a grassy field and, although sometimes rather windy, gives a quiet place to eat or rest or snack while eyeing the amazing views. Most of the pathway is grass-lined, and unobstructed by nearby trees, allowing for Frisbees, kites, and ball-tossing along the way.

Next to the Fort Point Pier is Crissy Field’s warming hut (building 603 in Presidio at Mason and Halleck St). Considering itself a community center and not a museum, the facility (open 9-5 on weekends and Tuesdays) provides a variety of public resources such as hands-on exhibits, an information center, a bookstore, and a café. Stop off for breakfast, lunch, snacks (or a bathroom break!). Browse the bookstore for guidebooks and green toys. The community center even offers urban environmental junior day-camps, and family workshops on weekends such as Turn Trash into Treasure. Along the water’s edge, Crissy Field offers a great view of sailboats and the Golden Gate Bridge; a side trail even leads directly to the bridge.

Plan to hit the Golden Gate Promenade earlier in the morning, where the crowds are the sparsest. Parking is relatively easy, with spaces normally available at Fort Point, off of Lincoln Avenue. For smaller excursions, park halfway along Marina Green. The excursion is definitely worth the planning: fresh air never felt so good.

Chill out, you want to say to your kids sometimes. Well, you can instead help them get into their own little zen-like state by taking them to yoga and meditation classes at San Francisco’s It’s Yoga, Kids. The only yoga studio in the Bay Area created specifically to serve the needs of children and their families, their specialized classes support mind and body development and calmness for all ages and stages.

It’s Yoga, Kids exists to promote overall health, relieve everyday stress, and inspire healthy connections between kids, parents, caregivers, and educators. The founder (and one of the current instructors) Michelle Wing was introduced to yoga in Santa Monica in 1991, and, even after moving to San Francisco, has incorporated yoga into her daily practiced ever since. She was heavily involved in her career in marketing and sales until the birth of her daughter in 2002. “I was shocked to experience that what I had considered to be significant contributions to my career became instantly irrelevant. I began to think about how I could be with my daughter and other children. After a yoga practice at It’s Yoga that summer, the thought, “What about yoga for kids?” came to me and I felt inspired,” recounts Michelle. After researching, developing, and teaching in schools, Michelle opened her studio in 2006.

This unique yoga studio offers classes for kids, adults, and families, not to mention customized parties, teacher training programs, and on-site workshops. No previous yoga experience is necessary. Classes include Baby Yoga: 2mo-12mo, Toddler Yoga, Pre-K Yoga, Storybook Song and Dance, Teens, and Special Needs. (The studio also offers prenatal, and Mom and Baby yoga sessions). Session rates are very reasonable: the Kids’ Yoga Series, for example, which lasts ten weeks, costs a modest total of $180. Ninety days of an unlimited Adult, Prenatal and Mom and Baby pass costs $250—think of how calm you and your little yogi would feel!).

Located at Ruger Street just inside the Lombard Gate of the Presidio of San Francisco, the building contains a spacious studio with bamboo floors and abundant natural light—plus easy parking, thankfully (several minutes of circling a block is enough to disrupt one’s peace!). Parents waiting for their younger children to improve their Downward-facing Dog can calm themselves in the relaxing and organic, wholesome atmosphere. Help your children start a lifelong habit that is proven to lower stress, increase happiness, promote a sense of confidence and well-being, and prolong life. Plus, instead of asking your children to chill out, you may simply bow and say: Namaste.

Does this paint the right picture: you love museums, you want your kids to love museums, your kids could care less at their age about Rubens? Teach them to love museums by taking them to Zeum (Ze-um), a non-profit multimedia arts and technology museum. Their main mission being to foster innovation and creativity, this unusual museum invites people of all backgrounds and ages to “combine hands-on use of animation, digital technology, electronic media, traditional and non-traditional materials, and the power of their imaginations to create high quality stories, movies, performances, music, art and more.” Zeum’s curriculum focuses on project-based learning, constructivist theory, and media literacy—a growing need in this age of technology.

Opened atop the Yerba Buena Gardens as a part of a radical 87-acre urban renovation project in San Francisco’s Market area, Zeum boasts a 34,000 square-foot building designed by the talented Adele Santos. The facility includes technology studios, interactive activity stations, exhibit galleries, community exhibit space, and a theater.

For beginners and experts alike, this crazy awesome museum offers exhibits that focus on five arts and media subjects: Animation, Video Production, Sound Production, Performance, and Visual Arts. Patrons to the museum can play around with clay animation, compose a soundtrack, make a rockin music video, or do digital art. Make up a story, choose your own karaoke tune (from over 2,000 songs!), choose a costume, create clay characters, choose stage sets, work with camera angles, film scenes, work on stop-motion animation, and even act. You can even your finished project home with you!

Such an educational experience requires a stellar staff. Zeum employs a staff that includes events council, an advisory council, programs and experience council, educators, employees and volunteers. And of course this cool museum offers extras such as fieldtrip options like Clay Animation, where students design their own characters and product a short claymation film, News Broadcast, and Music Video. Zeum is also available for birthday party rentals, including themed parties like Pick a Dress-up Party, Mad Hatters Party, and Zeum Scavenger Hunt.

Such an educational experience requires a stellar staff. Zeum employs a staff that includes events council, an advisory council, programs and experience council, educators, employees and volunteers. And of course this cool museum offers extras such as fieldtrip options like Clay Animation, where students design their own characters and product a short claymation film, News Broadcast, and Music Video. Zeum is also available for birthday party rentals, including themed parties like Pick a Dress-up Party, Mad Hatters Party, and Zeum Scavenger Hunt.

For book lovers and their little ones, there’s San Francisco’s eclectic independent bookstore Dog Eared Books. A sibling to Phoenix Books and Red Hill Books, Dog Eared is the largest and most eclectic bookstore around. Situated in the city’s Mission district, the store is near several neighborhood amenities such as cleaners, coffee houses, and independent shops. But none of that matters. Once you get inside Dog Eared, you’ll have a hard time wanting to ever leave.

A new and used bookstore, Dog Eared Books carries 85 percent used selections while also offering the hottest and most popular reads. This establishment is a far cry from a dusty used bookstore. Services include renting audiobooks for 50 cents a day (or $2.50 per week), carrying both cassette and CD format. They buy and sell audiobooks. They sell “remainder” books, new books that are discounted because they are overstock or are slightly damaged. Sell them your books any time during business hours, and receive cash or store credit, or a combo of each. Valuing literary giants as well as local talent, Dog Eared Books will even carry a book you yourself have written (if deemed worthy, of course).

Dog Eared Books carries a very casual, funky atmosphere that only independent bookstores can pull off, and is a great hangout for readers and their mini-readers. As a parent, you know: bookstores, with their quieter atmosphere, can either be heaven or hell with children, depending on their unpredictable-and-volatile-as-weather-like moods. This bookstore is a hit. The store is large and open, with tall windows shedding plenty of light over nicely stacked books to meander through (even with a skinny stroller). The creaking wooden floors, natural-material shelves, and stacks and stacks of books render this bookstore timeless. Tucked away in various corners of Dog Eared are comfortable chairs—important for resting tired little feet, convenient for snuggling up to a picture book.

The staff is notoriously knowledgeable and eager. Readers can sit for as long as you desire—hours, some customers have claimed to sit for—without feeling rushed, a vital consideration when you’re out browsing with children. Customers have even been seen shuffling in for a new good read in their pajamas. Not to say that the place lacks a certain literary panache and class (true to its old-school style, the store even posts a sign out front asking customers to please finish their phone conversations before entering and browsing).

If you’re looking for a more structured experience for your little literati (ages five and under), visit the store at 10:30 am for free storytime. Parents can meanwhile relax and sneak in a few pages on their own—not to mention that, in the age of book superstores and designer coffee, it feels great to support local businesses.

Mama’s little baby loves shortening bread. Cooking and baking are skills that have been passed down since the beginning of time, from coq au vin in a fine French kitchen, to roasted meat in a caveman’s den. If cooking alludes you, or you simply want some outside culinary enrichment, visit Apron Strings with your children.

Apron Strings was founded in 2001 by a CIA graduate-turned-restaurant-chef-turned-private-chef who wanted to combine her love for cooking with her love for teaching. The professed mission of Apron Strings is to “provide fun, creative and challenging culinary programs to children and adults.” Embracing the philosophy that cooking is a lifelong skill “that can ignite everyone’s creativity and creative memories that will last forever,” these simultaneously informative and low-key cooking classes teach through demonstrations and hand-son construction. Students will learn fundamental cooking techniques, baking and pastry skills, nutritious eating habits, and etiquette.

Apron Strings offers a buffet of children classes, as well as adult classes for singles and couples. Such upcoming classes include Japanese cooking for children, pies and tarts for adults, and Gluten Free Easy Snacks and Treats for both children and adults. Because cooking is a universal language, these cooking classes can be a wonderful way to bring your family together by successfully creating something you all can enjoy. Children will benefit from watching their parents sit and learn and follow directions like accessible, real human beings—even (maybe especially) if their dish doesn’t turn out exactly as planned. For a large family, or family event, private cooking classes can be geared to the family’s individual preference.

Apron Strings also offers such programs as Culinary Camp. Students will learn basic cooking skills and methods. With each day reflecting a theme (such as Japanese, Greek, Indian, Italian, ballpark, comfort), students will learn a wide array of menus including soup, salad, bread, entrée, and dessert. Because the class is open to children over 10 years old, the students will get to interact in a true tangible learning experience. Very tangible: students get to eat what they cook in the class. The fee is $65 per week per child ($75 for adults), a very modest amount since it includes cost for equipment and food.

The venue is even open for birthday events—a great way for kids to have fun with their friends. Parties are available for children as young as four years old. The party runs around two hours and costs $350 for 10 children or less (with a cost of $20 per additional person, the party being able to accommodate up to 20 children). Try out Apron Strings as a family. Who knows what fun you’ll cook up—and maybe you’ll be asking your children what’s for dinner, for a change.

For the more global parent who wants to introduce their children not only to wonderful learning toys, but to various cultures around the world, visit Ambassador Toys on San Francisco’s Embarcadero Street or West Portal Avenue. Founded in 1997, this unparalleled toy store promotes an “understanding and respect for cultures around the world through the beauty and creativity of toys, books and music,” according to their website

This isn’t any old toy store. Not only has it been dubbed every year since 2003 by readers of “Bay Area Parents” as the best toys store, the Guardian’s 25th anniversary edition named it the Best Toy Store You Wish Had Been Around When You Were a Kid. It has also been nominated for a TOTY award (the toy industry’s equivalent to an Academy Award) by the Toy Industry of America.

No shoot-em-up dummy video games in this place. Ambassador Toys offers an enormous array of quality toys from several categories, such as Dress-up, Arts and Crafts, Baby and Toddler, Farms and Stables, Foreign Language, Puppets, Plush Animals, Baby Dolls, Tea Sets, Bikes, and Trains. The list goes—well, you know: on and on and on. The selection includes tin and quality wood toys, reassuring construction and materials when so many plastic toys have been recalled lately.

Aside from the amazing selection, parents as well as children will enjoy shopping at Ambassador Toys because of the pleasant atmosphere, the complimentary gift wrapping, and personalized shopping assistance. No standing around cluelessly and frustratedly scratching your head. The store is also glad to refund your money within 30 days if you aren’t happy with your purchase (or store credit without a receipt), a policy not always followed since many stores such as this will only issue store credit no matter what.

Stop off any day of the week with your little one. You can’t go wrong here. Anything you choose will surely help broaden your child’s horizons. Take home a Scarlet Macaw hand puppet, a Space Station Set, or a wooden dollhouse Ethnic Family (yes it is officially called that). It’s as much of a treat for you as it is for your child, to watch your child grow and learn. Help them understand the larger world out there and, hey, have some fun while you’re at it.

Parents know the conundrum: You want your sweet baby to look her best, but not in a ninety dollar dress that she’ll wear twice and outgrow in three months. Contemplate Chloe’s Closet, a consignment store located in the trendy and sophisticated Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. The colorful walls, checkered floors, and quaint strings of white lights make the place feel more like a hip boutique than a consignment shop. Voted Best of the Bay 2005, 2006, and 2007, Chloe’s Closet buys, sells, and trades clothing from newborn to six years, as well as toys, gear, books, videos, and maternity clothing.

But we’re not talking any old used thing. Chloe’s only sells “popular” and “up-to-date” items in great condition. The walls display rows of funky rain galoshes and Robeez. The clothing racks are filled with one quality item after another, with enough variety to match any parent’s taste. “I happened on this store by accident,” the mother of 15-month old Emma said, “and can’t describe how excited I was. I bought designer outfits that normally run very expensive for only a few dollars.” The toys—many wooden and educational—are immaculately stacked from floor-to-ceiling, and range from traditional stacking rings to art easels to a wooden rocking horse. Parents can also find gear such as strollers and carrying slings; and their tots can cozy up in the reading corner near bookshelves filled with picture and board books.

For those wary of sifting through used items, Chloe’s Closet only accepts clothing “freshly laundered (preferably in an unscented detergent); free of stains, holes and excessive wear; folded neatly in a bag or box.” Toys must be “in good condition, clean and in good working order” and “not be missing any important pieces.” The battery-operated toys should even include installed working batteries.

Chloe’s Closet is more than the average consignment store. It involves and connects with the customer more than one would expect of such an establishment. The shop stays open every day of the week to accommodate all kinds of schedules; and includes helpful information online such as their consignment policies, personalized wish lists, and a mailer that comes with five dollars in credit. To top it off, Chloe’s also connects with the community, locally donating consignment items that haven’t sold within eight weeks.

Make a day of it. Chloe’s Closet is located within easy walking distance from the public library, an ice cream parlor, a playground, restaurants, and a yoga studio that offers pre-natal, post-natal and kids’ yoga. Parking is even relatively easy. There is enough expense and stress that comes with parenting—don’t let how you clothe your child be one of them. You can move onto the next conundrum: explaining to your child why she shouldn’t stick peas up of her nose.