Kim Radtke Bannister and Kelli Strobel Chabria's 'Little Dallas'

Need fake snow? This book tells you where to get it — and much more

When Lakewood moms Kim Radtke Bannister and Kelli Strobel Chabria first had their children, they relied on a small network of friends for advice and parenting resources.

But now area parents can expand their own networks tenfold with a book the women compiled called “littleDallas: The Definitive Guide to Life with Little Ones in the Dallas Area.”

“We hope to take some of the guesswork out of parenting for Dallas families,” says Bannister, who has a 4-year-old daughter and 22-month-old son.

The book, which was released in January by Brown Books of Dallas, is a 344-page guide to birthing, rearing and entertaining children.

But Bannister and Chabria say “littleDallas” is more than simply a list. Every resource comes with a recommendation based on first-hand experience

“Anybody can go to the internet and pull up a list of maternity stores,” says Chabria, whose son is 2. “If we heard about something, we’d go and check it out. … Ultimately, it’s our reputations on the line.”

Topics covered in “littleDallas” include hospitals and birthing classes, maternity clothes and baby gear, birthday parties and photography, family activities and child-friendly restaurants. The book tells pregnant women where to obtain massages and party-planning moms how to have real snow delivered.

Bannister and her husband, Nevin, were one of the first among their friends to start a family. Chabria and her husband, A.J., had their first child about 18 months later.

“Without a large network of friends, I didn’t know whom to call or what to do when I first became a mom,” Chabria says.

The women started researching “littleDallas” by pooling information with their friends, then expanding their study by surveying hundreds of parents.

“I’ve always been a resource person,” Bannister says. “I started asking questions of everybody wherever I went. … There are no silly questions; you can’t ask enough questions. You have to arm yourself with information.”

Researching the book revealed valuable finds, Bannister says, such as services that rent strollers, car seats and other bulky items to traveling families. The women also discovered family therapists willing to visit playgroups or couples’ gatherings and talk about parenting issues.

“We wanted to provide people with a broad spectrum of information,” she says.

Bannister and Chabria say they are receiving overwhelmingly positives responses to the book. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and his wife, Tiffany, endorse “littleDallas” on its back cover.

“As new parents, we are always turning to our friends with kids for advice. Luckily, Kim and Kelli have asked everyone’s friends about everything, so ‘littleDallas’ is the best been-there-done-that parenting resource around,” the Cubans say.

Bannister and Chabria plan to keep updating “littleDallas.”

“We really want this to be a book that’s around 20 years from now and it’s in its 10^th edition,” Chabria says.

— ELIZABETH LANGTON