Five shops that prove you're a cool parent

'Round about the time your daughter gets her first crush and your son's answers shrink from whole sentences to single words and grunts, you stop being the coolest person on the planet. But I have five secret weapons that are destined to keep me hip in my son's eyes way into his teen years.

Archie McPhee in Ballard is an ideal place to take kids -- and the childlike adults you know -- as a reward for good grades or behavior, or to purchase party gifts, favors and decorations. You'll find punching nuns, Moses action figures, fake eyeballs of all sizes and every kind of rubber animal you can think of.

When my son was 8, he took some of his Chanukah money to Archie's and decided to buy a rubber chicken. We were dubious, but that chicken held his interest for about a year -- longer than any other toy he's ever received. It helped that there were holes at both ends. You could pick it up and hear the marbles and Lego pieces rattling around inside. If only Aunt Carol knew what he bought with that $5 bill she tucked into his card.

We still use going to Archie's as a reward in our house. And we pull for my little guy to meet his obligations, because we like going as much as he does. Indeed, I'm almost out of meat wrapping paper and bacon bandages. One warning: The place is full of choking hazards. If you're going with smaller children, keep an eye on them.

Another reward destination at our house is Uwajimaya. There are stores in Bellevue and Seattle (and Beaverton, Ore., if you're heading down that way) where younger kids can enjoy looking at the live fish and crabs in the seafood section. Tweens and teens will giggle over the phallic oddity that is the geoduck -- and the sheer grossness of pork wombs.

Other highlights at the Seattle store include a Hello Kitty toy section and English manga comics at Kinokuniya, the in-house bookstore. Be sure to stock up on a family favorite, Super Lemon Candy, which is sour enough to pucker the lips of even the most avid lemon lovers.

The nice thing about Uwajimaya is that you can do your regular grocery shopping knowing that your kids won't complain on the trip: They'll like this outing. The store carries non-Asian items and staples, and it has an ever-increasing selection of organic and natural goods, too.

Some Saturdays, you just want to linger over a cup of coffee, maybe some breakfast. Your kids? They're bored. Head to the West Seattle Junction and Easy Street Records.

You can linger and read the paper at the cafe, and turn the teens and tweens loose to look through the latest releases of... well, I don't know what they're listening to. But I know that come April, the folks of my generation can get the new R.E.M. CD, while the kids get something unappealing and noisy. Then we can sit down, eat something -- I'll have the Dixie Chick Chicken Hoagie and the kids will have the Li'l Kim breakfast -- and argue about the definition of music.

When I was growing up, I loved to go to the hardware store with my dad. I loved looking through the bins of washers and the different-sized nails. I was an odd little girl, though. Still, there's a hardware option that can serve the needs of parents and entertain the kids at the same time. Hardwick's in the Roosevelt neighborhood is a swap shop, a place to find hard-to-find hardware, and a new and used furniture store all in one. I defy anyone not to find something interesting there, not to mention something you really need.

Japanese dollar store Daiso in Westlake Center offers lots of neat little things that you and your kids don't need -- but will want nonetheless. ("But it's so cheap, can't I get it anyway?"). Like Archie's, there are lots of little breakable things in this store, so caution your kids to look and not touch or you could end up spending far more than a dollar.

Copyright © The Seattle Times Company