Kristin van Ogtrop
Kristin van Ogtrop was named Managing Editor of Real Simple magazine in 2003. Since that time, Real Simple has grown to include books, special issues, products, international editions, television shows, mobile apps and, of course, realsimple.com. Kristin began her career in magazines at Vogue, and has also worked at Glamour, Premiere, and Travel and Leisure. As the editor of Real Simple, she does a lot of things that don't look like editing: going on professional panels, making speeches, going on t.v. very early in the morning. She has a B.A. in English from the University of Virginia and an M.A. in English from Columbia University. She also wrote a book, Just Let Me Lie Down: Necessary Terms for the Half-Insane Working Mom, which was published in 2010 and is now available in paperback.

Kristin lives in the New York suburbs with her husband, who is also a magazine editor, their three sons, a shedding dog, a hamster and a handful of fish which, unfortunately, never last long.

Recent Posts By Kristin van Ogtrop

How Do You Handle a Determined Lip Kisser?

April 18, 2012 | By | Comments (6)

As far as I’m concerned, there are two kinds of people in life: those who kiss you on the lips, and those who kiss you on the cheek. ACCEPTABLE LIP KISSERS Your spouse/romantic partner Your toddler Your grandfather Your former boyfriend QUESTIONABLE LIP KISSERS Your teenage child Your siblings Your best friend UNACCEPTABLE LIP KISSERS Your neighbor Your coworker Anyone […]

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Thoughts from the Magazine: April 2012

April 1, 2012 | By | Comments (0)

Picture this: You come home at the end of a long day. Maybe you’ve been at the office, or shuttling the kids from one activity to another, or running a series of tedious errands. But now you’re home. Ah, home. Doesn’t just reading that word make you feel relaxed? No? Well, I suppose it is dinnertime. The cat is aggressively […]

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How I Spend My Day: the Dream vs. the Reality

March 21, 2012 | By | Comments (7)

Do you ever get to the end of the day and ask yourself, “OK, where did that one go?”  I feel like I do frequently, and not just when I’m particularly sleep deprived or overwhelmed by meetings and emails and dog hair.  It’s more that the array of things we have to accomplish on any given Wednesday is just so […]

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Let’s Put an End to This

March 7, 2012 | By | Comments (3)

Ellen Seidman is a woman I worked with years ago when we were both editors at Glamour. While we were working together (well, not actually during work hours, but during the years we were colleagues) Ellen gave birth to a son, Max, who had a stroke when he was born. Max has cerebral palsy, is both a challenge and a […]

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Thoughts from the Magazine: March 2012

March 1, 2012 | By | Comments (0)

One of the very, very best things about working at Real Simple is that so much of the content we discuss and present to you makes our own lives easier and better, too. Just ask my husband, my children, my parents, and countless unwitting acquaintances whom I have enlightened with useful tidbits I learned on the job. Just the other […]

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Wanted: “He Is Such a Role Model for Men”

February 7, 2012 | By | Comments (10)

Over the weekend I was reading a story in the New York Times about Sheryl Sandberg, she of Facebook fame, Silicon Valley royalty, and—soon—more than a billion dollars. The article was about how Sandberg is much more than Facebook’s COO; she has become a role model for women everywhere, in the world of technology and beyond. She has two young children […]

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The Hardest Decade in a Woman’s Life

February 1, 2012 | By | Comments (14)

The other week I had dinner with a dear friend and her daughter, who is 13. My friend’s daughter is interesting and sweet and charmingly quirky, and I’ve known her since she was born. As we were eating, I asked her how she felt about entering high school in September, which led to a conversation on age. “Eight and nine […]

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Thoughts from the Magazine: February 2012

February 1, 2012 | By | Comments (0)

By the time you reach a certain age, you know that you are not supposed to love things. Oh, sure, you can admire a masterful sculpture or a gorgeous piece of jewelry or a beautifully crafted table or lamp or chair; you can admire—uh, even rely on—particular over-the-counter medications or types of wine. But you don’t love those things. You […]

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The Drum Teacher Says I Remind Him of the Mother on “Modern Family.” Is This an Insult?

January 27, 2012 | By | Comments (9)

My middle son has a wonderful drum teacher. His name is Josh and he is a musician and seems to have boundless energy. He is also a lot of fun, and really appreciates Middle’s sense of humor—always a plus where Middle and his mom are concerned. When the lessons began a couple of years ago, I said to my son, […]

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Five Battles That Aren’t Worth Fighting With Teenagers, and Five That Are

January 23, 2012 | By | Comments (8)

A highly subjective list, from this mother of three boys: It is not worth fighting over… 1) Wearing a winter coat instead of that flimsy springlike thing, even though it is 25 degrees. 2) Rearranging his room so it’s more aesthetically pleasing to you. 3) Cutting his hair in a way that’s more aesthetically pleasing to you. 4) The ability […]

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