Kristin van Ogtrop
Real Simple Magazine
New York, NY, United States
Contact Kristin
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Past articles by Kristin:
Facebook? Check. Twitter? Check. Instagram? Check. Snapchat? I Give Up
A mother caves. → Read More
Why Ambition Isn’t Working for Women
It's not that women are less driven. But the things they strive for aren't helping them get to the top. → Read More
Why Your Office Is A Lot Like Kindergarten
And other lessons for 20-somethings at work, from the editor of Real Simple. → Read More
My Very Own ‘She Shed’
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a woman in possession of three boys, two dogs and a husband who never turns off the TV must be in want of a She Shed. → Read More
Motherhood and Brotherhood
It is one thing for my children to read the news about Nepal, Syria, Liberia and Baltimore. It is another thing entirely for them to understand that they are part of one Brotherhood. To feel the connection that leads to action. → Read More
6 Natural Ways to Soothe a Sunburn
Try these natural remedies for convenient and chemical-free sunburn relief. → Read More
This Is the Secret to Happiness at Work
[Note: A version of this article first appeared in the July 2014 issue of Real Simple.] Here at Real Simple, we pride ourselves on being the Every-woman brand. There are magazines and websites in our world that are full of self-admiration, with a lot of “Look at us and how very, very fabulous we are” moments: The exclusive parties! The expensive […] → Read More
The Difference Between Men and Women, a.k.a. the “Lice Epidemic”
The scene: home office in my house The characters: me, my husband Time: last night, 9:45 p.m. Husband is lying on floor of home office, “stretching his back,” which I think is 80% watching TV and 20% actual stretching. An hour earlier we returned from taking our 16-year-old middle son back to the camp where he is working as a […] → Read More
After the World Cup: Looking for Reasons to Go On
Anyone who follows me on Twitter (and if you do: thank you! especially if we are not related) knows that I caught full-on World Cup fever. We all did. It was easy in my house, with three sons who play soccer and a husband who somehow always gets talked into coaching. But we were far from the only ones: I […] → Read More
The Litterbug Dilemma
Yesterday morning I had a strange experience, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I was on my regular commuter train from my little suburban town into Grand Central Terminal. It’s an 8:30 train, generally filled with men and women in “business attire,” whatever that means anymore. I was minding my own business, trying to be cheerful about two grim […] → Read More
5 Things Every Intern Needs to Know
It’s intern season again, which I know because the weather has turned warm and my commuter train is suddenly full of attractive people with no visible wrinkles, either on their faces or on their new intern clothes. I also know it’s intern season because we have a few interns here at Real Simple. We’re always very grateful for the help, […] → Read More
We Are All Ordinary, And We Are All Superheroes
Like most women worldwide, I have a very ordinary mom. She is not famous, she is not spectacularly rich, she has never invented anything that she had to patent, and she's never saved anyone's life by performing emergency CPR or the Heimlich maneuver.... → Read More
We Are All Ordinary, and We Are All Superheroes
This post is part of the Global Moms Relay. Every time you share this post, Johnson & Johnson will donate $1 (per action), up to $275,000, to the Global Moms Relay, to help improve the health and well-being of moms and kids worldwide in support of MAMA, Shot@Life, and Girl Up. Scroll to the bottom to find out more. Like most women worldwide, I have a […] → Read More
Open Letter to Coaches Everywhere from a Busy Working Mom
Dear _________ Coach, First, thank you for coaching my son’s ________ team. I have never been a coach myself, but imagine the job involves long hours, recalcitrant/sleepy/hormonal/dim-witted kids and weather that is too cold/hot/rainy/windy to make your ________ team as effective as it can be. And the parents! Let me just say we mean well. And when we are making a lot of […] → Read More
Women Who Love Their Gardens Too Much
I am beginning to think that I have an unhealthy relationship with my garden. That is, I love it obsessively; I toss and turn in bed thinking about it; I spend many minutes when I should be doing things like watching my kids play sports or helping with homework instead daydreaming about my garden. And I’m not sure my garden […] → Read More
The “Oh Well” Method
[Note: A version of this article first appeared in the April 2014 issue of Real Simple.] Cleaning your house, if you really want it done well, is a full-time job. You could literally spend every waking hour of the day making something better, sparklier, less stained, dust-free. Yes, things fall apart, as Yeats famously explained, but things also develop a […] → Read More
This Week, I’m Determined to Thrive
Do you remember the teen phenom skier Mikaela Shiffrin from the Sochi Olympics? The girl who won our hearts by winning the gold medal in…well, whatever it was. And while I don’t remember her event (anyone, help?), I do remember reading this about her: she is known for being able to take a nap right before a race. I will […] → Read More
I Could Have Been Kerry Kennedy
Not because my dad ever ran for president or, thank God, died when I was young. (My own father is very much alive and well and trying to boss me around every chance he gets. For which I am grateful. After all, consider the alternative.) Or because I had 38 siblings, which would have been fun. Or was married to […] → Read More
You Can’t (and Shouldn’t) Hurry Love
[Note: A version of this article first appeared in the February 2014 issue of Real Simple.] I started working in magazines in the 1990s as a freelance writer, and one of my first stories was about a relatively new Christian teen abstinence campaign called True Love Waits. I was in my 20s, a.k.a. the Decade of Darkness. I had a […] → Read More
When Your Own Family Hates Your Cooking
There is a new, sad little pattern that happens almost nightly in my household and it goes like this: Me: “Time for dinner!” Kids thunder down the stairs. 15-year-old: “What’s for dinner?” Six-year-old: “What’s for dinner?” Me: “Blah blah*“ 15-year-old: “Ugh.” Six-yearold (whining): “I hate blah blah.“ 15-year-old: “Can I make myself an omelet?” Six-year-old: “Me too?” Me: Silent, head in […] → Read More