This classic Matt Damon SNL skit is so real, we feel attacked

Christmas is a magical time, but making all that magic happen isn’t exactly a walk in the park for parents. At some point after you’ve dressed your (unwilling) kids in holiday outfits for photos but before you fake-smile about the one and only gift you received (surprise! It’s a robe), parents have a jam-packed day of fun… starting at around 5:41 a.m.

In this classic “Best Christmas Ever” SNL skit, guest host Matt Damon and Cecily Strong play parents reminiscing about how truly awesome their day was—and giving some behind-the-scenes peeks into what spreading yuletide cheer really looks like for moms and dads.

There’s the child-present-attacking ritual long before the coffee hits, a flashback to Dad struggling to assemble a giant playhouse in the wee hours of the night, and kids fighting and shouting over their newfound spoils.

But that doesn’t even come close to the madness of hosting the family. Relatives who complain upon arrival? Check! Those who can’t stop spouting off about their political views? Check! So just how does one cope with so much delight? Mom claims, “I guess I was just full of Christmas cheer!” when shots clearly show she was fueling up with something else: wine and the occasional hidden cigarette.

Hands up if you can relate! A dad of four himself, Damon is probably no stranger to the joys of putting together impossible-to-assemble toys on Christmas Eve and being awakened before the sun rises to the screams of over-excited kids on Christmas morning.

Here’s to all the exhausted moms and dads making this Christmas the best Christmas ever, too.

In the midst of preparing for a family feast each year, we’ve also wrestled with how to talk to our kids about Thanksgiving. We want our children to learn from and do their part in changing the inequality in their world, and perpetuating the Thanksgiving story we were taught in elementary school runs squarely at odds with that mission.

Related: 10 Ways Parents Can Fight for Social Justice Every Day

But, it can be hard to know how and when to start having the true story of Thanksgiving conversation with kids. So first, remember that we don’t need to nail this by the time the turkey hits the table. This is ongoing and important work to do all year round. Following are a few ideas and resources that are helping our family to lay a foundation that, we hope, will help our kids respect and respond to real history in a way that supports a better future.

Build a Foundation for Knowing & Respecting Native Peoples 

Start by teaching children real stories and truths about Native and Indigenous peoples, both from the past and the present. The more our children can be curious and aware of people for their strengths and rich history, the more they will push back on stereotypes and absorb the real history in a way that makes them compelled to act.

Here are a few easy ways to do this, even with very young children:

  • Learn about the people who live or used to live on the land in your area. Use an app like native-land.ca to find out which people live/lived and which languages are/were spoken on the land on which you live. Search for “native people from {city, state or region}” or “indigenous people from {city, state or region}. Then, look for historically accurate accounts of how those people thrived, being aware of the limitations of the perspective of whoever has created them.
  • Read books that help children come to know about Native peoples and prepare them to push back against stereotypes. For starters, check out this list of 15 beautiful picture books by Native authors about Native protagonists assembled by veteran Tinkergarten Leaders Erika McLemore, who is Creek-Seminole, and Cholena Smith-Boyd of the Shinnecock Indian Nation. As you select more books on your own, consult a reputable resource like Dr. Debbie Reese, a researcher focused on the representation of Native Americans in children’s literature. Through her expert advice, my family has learned how to pick books that are about specific tribes or Native peoples, avoiding the kind of generalizations that lead to stereotypes.
  • Incorporate Native history into everyday outdoor play. As you are walking in a forest or along a river in your area, share something you’ve learned about the Native people who live/lived and what makes/made them special as a group or society.
  • Continue learning. Read more from Indigenous Vision about how to build inclusive communities and support Indigenous youth.

Question History Together 

When you feel your kids are ready, work with them to question and point out the mismatches between the accurate history and the often perpetuated Thanksgiving Story. To start:

  • Get to know the true story of Thanksgiving story yourself. PBS Kids offers wonderful resources for parents and educators on how to approach Thanksgiving with authenticity. These resources also help us parents better understand, for ourselves, the story of the people we call Pilgrims, their interaction with the Wampanoag people, and the full history of the holiday we’ve come to know as Thanksgiving.
  • Don’t be afraid to share with children that there is more to the story. It’s important to help them understand that the familiar story that has been shared for a long time is over-simplified and, as such, can even be hurtful to whole groups of people as well as the allies of those people. One way you can present the disparity to kids is, that although there was a feast between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag, it happened during a time of terrible cruelty and unthinkable loss to the Wampanoag.
  • Seek out additional tools for learning. This New York Times article has helped us use both age-appropriate resources and inquiry to start engaging our kids in conversation about Thanksgiving. For example, it has encouraged us to help our kids ask “Who is telling the story, and what is their perspective? How is this story different from other accounts and facts that we now know?”

Focus on Gratitude 

While it’s essential that we help our children become more attuned to inequality and injustice, telling the true story of Thanksgiving doesn’t have to undermine our practice of sharing gratitude. You can even kickstart an annual gratitude tradition that’s respectful of Native history. Once you learn about the original caretakers of the land you live on, it becomes easy to express thanks for all they’ve done to preserve its natural beauty as part of Thanksgiving.

Be sure to help kids reflect on what they’re grateful for in their day-to-day lives, too. For many years, our family has focused our Thanksgiving on expressing thanks for our family, our health, our earth, and whatever else feels authentic to our kids. We engage in rituals like building a tree of thanks to make this even more concrete for them, and fun for us. This has extended far beyond Thanksgiving for us as well, helping us use simple rituals to develop a gratitude practice as a family and improve our own mental well-being in the process.

However you choose to celebrate this holiday, remember that while we cannot change history, we can make our children alert to who is telling and what needs to be told about the story. It’s the only way our kids will learn to do their part to make sure better stories are written in their time.

This post originally appeared on Tinkergarten.

After 18 years as an educator, curriculum developer and school leader, Meghan has her dream gig—an entrepreneur/educator/mom who helps families everywhere, including hers, learn outside. Today, Meghan serves as co-founder and Chief Learning Officer of Tinkergarten, the national leader in outdoor play-based learning. 

If you’re looking for a snowflake science experiment, you’ve come to the right place

Whether your sidekick playfully carves out angels in the snow or sits at the window longing for some of that white stuff to actually fall, she’s all about the frosty flakes. And while play is her main motivation, she’s got serious questions about this wonderful winter phenomenon. Like, how do snowflakes form and what do they really look like up close? Dig deep with a flurry of experimental activities we’ve outlined below to find answers to all her snowflake science questions.

Piece It Together

girl learning about snowflake science
Allison Sutcliffe

We hate to break it to you, but those adorably sweet snowflake cutouts your kid has been bringing home from school this winter don’t pass scientific muster. Because even though folding paper to make four or eight-sided flakes are super easy, Mother Nature’s snowflakes showcase six-sided symmetry exclusively.

Before diving into your own masterpiece, introduce your scientifically-inclined sidekick to the principle that helps explain why six is the magic number for snowflakes: When the water/oxygen molecules bond during freezing they make hexagons. Recreate this microscopic lattice phenomenon on a larger scale using mini marshmallows and toothpicks with your kids (Click on the link above to find a handy-dandy diagram from Ohio State University!).

Cut It Out

learning about snowflake science
Allison Sutcliffe

Now that your kiddo’s got the six-sided thing down, it’s time to make some of your own scientifically accurate snowflakes from paper. We’ve found an easy way for the tot lot to get the signature six-sided look they’re going for (hint: it’s all about the fold). Simply follow this illustrated tutorial to make paper snowflakes that are true to life. And if you’re looking to bypass the mess, the Make-A-Flake digital option is definitely the way to go. Your tech-savvy tot can cut and save all her frosty creations and save trees too!

Get Real

learning about snowflake science
Marc Newberry via Unsplash

Observation is the next step when it comes to snowflake science. If you don't have fresh snow on the ground, you’ve got to get creative and make your own: Leave your freezer door open for a couple of minutes and then close it for 20. When you open it again, your inquisitive cutie should find frosty snowflakes lining the interior.

Now that you’ve got snow to work with, it’s time to get an up-close look at some of Mother Nature’s most delicately beautiful creations. To do this, you’ll need a magnifying glass and a dark piece of paper or, if you’re outside, you can also capture snowflakes on clothing like your gloves or jacket sleeve. Gather a few fresh flakes and use the magnifying glass to examine them in detail (If you’re working with freezer snowflakes, melting is an issue, so leave those tiny miracles in the freezer while you magnify.).

Reassure your little scientists that it’s true, no two are alike, and let them know that just one can be made up of over 200 tiny ice crystals! While you’re looking, have your mini-me count up the sides and use this chart to match what you’ve got in hand with standard ice crystals.

Related: Snowman-Inspired Snacks You Can Easily Pull Off

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Watch and Learn

Zdeněk Macháček via Unsplash

You’ve figured out a snowflake’s molecular structure, cut out creative and accurate examples of your own, and examined the real deal through a handheld magnifying glass. Now it’s time to take it one step further. Go behind the scene with rad videos that explain a ton of science behind snowflakes, like their formation and life cycle.

Science Friday’s Snowflake Safari follows Kenneth Libbrecht—CalTech’s resident snowflake expert—a scientist who’s spent a lot of time looking into these chilly chips, as he examines snowflake basics. Be sure to augment your own magnifying experience by flipping through some of Libbrecht’s spectacular snowflake slides online. They’re a great way to demonstrate many of the concepts you and your kiddo have already explored.

Finish up your viewing session with the National Science Foundation’s video about photographing snowflakes. It starts with the man who pioneered the field, Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley, and ends with the discoveries made by the Present Weather Imager, a high-tech camera that captures snowflakes in action. Lights, camera, learn!

Make Your Own

growing a snowflake crystal is a good snowflake science project
Allison Sutcliffe

Wrap up what you’ve learned about snowflake science by making a crystal snowflake of your own. Use pipe cleaners to create a six-sided snowflake that gets suspended in a Borax solution overnight. What’s created is a larger-than-life snowflake that’s just as sparkly as the ones that fall from the sky.

 

Pack the minivan and consult with the experts for the best time to head out on a fall foliage-viewing adventure

Fall is just around the corner and along with the pumpkin spice everything comes something truly magical, fall foliage! There’s nothing quite like the fiery autumn colors as the leaves change and the joy of watching your kids’ faces as they leap into a heaping pile of them. If you’re planning a special trip to see this spectacular sight, you’re definitely going to want to check out this interactive map for the optimal place and time to see fall leaves at their peak.

courtesy of SmokyMountains.com

SmokyMountains.com has created this fall foliage map, using data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to predict the peak of the leaf season across the country to help you plan the perfect road trip. The data is based on years of information on the peak season and the forecast ahead. Data scientist and map creator, Wes Melton, explained, “The SmokyMountains.com data model continues to improve and become more accurate each year. This is due to our expanding historical database and our ability to analyze past predictions versus historical trends. Our aggregated historical and current database now includes hundreds of thousands of unique data points giving us the ability to predict more accurately than ever before.”

When will the leaves change color this year?

Many factors go into whether leaves will change early or late. We know that areas where warmer temps persist will often have a later peak (and this was the third-hottest summer on record according to NOAA). But lack of rainfall can make leaves change earlier. So, we’ll have to wait and see how it all plays out.

Check out the interactive map here and use the sliding bar at the bottom to see what changes you can expect across the country from now until the end of October. The site also features scientific explanations of why leaves change color and free coloring pages you can download, as well as local lodging, restaurant, and attraction listings.

With so many large crowd events cancelled, we’ve all been missing out on some fine fair food. But Pringles is here to help.

The brand just introduced a limited edition flavor––Wavy Deep Fried Pickle! Only found at Dollar General, this crunchy, acidic and sour snack is available this month.

photo: Courtesy of Pringles

Gareth Maguire, senior director of marketing for Pringles shares “The Pringles brand prides itself in delivering insanely accurate flavor combinations that are both familiar and delicious. With the debut of Pringles Wavy Deep Fried Pickle, fans can experience their favorite, iconic fried appetizer flavor in an entirely new, easy to snack form.”

The limited-edition Pringles Wavy Deep Fried Pickle are only available at Dollar General stores starting in April 2021, while supplies last. For more information, follow @PringlesUS on Instagram, @Pringles on Twitter and check out Facebook.com/PringlesUS.

––Karly Wood

 

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Does your child need extra help with their speech therapy services? While school and private therapy provide primary ways to practice and make changes, your child may need more. Here’s where the new TikTalk2Me app comes in!

TikTalk is a new program for children in kindergarten through grade six, available on iOS and Android. Your kiddo’s school or private speech-language pathologist (SLP) activates and guides the app, customizing the app experience.

photo: Julia M. Cameron via Pexels

The app includes engaging video games to encourage at-home practice. Nir Gamliel, U.S. head of business development at TikTalk2me, said in a press release, “This is the most intuitive, engaging and customized speech program available for use on millions of portable devices.” Gamliel continued, “In our efforts to make TikTalk even more accessible, it is now available in the app store.  It’s time that patients, parents and SLPs reap the benefits of futuristic therapy today.”

Sandra Laserson, M.A. CCC-SLP, an Ohio-based SLP in private practice who helped develop TikTalk, added, “Some apps are good for encouraging practice. But I never knew how much practice was being done, how accurate sounds were being produced and had limited mechanisms at my disposal to report the success.”

Find TikTalk in the Apple Store here and on Google Play here.

—Erica Loop

 

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Get ready to meet Lia! This new pregnancy test isn’t your typical pee test––instead of tossing this test in the trash, you can flush it!

Traditional plastic tests go into the garbage can for disposal, adding to the world’s waste, but not this one. Lia is the first and only biodegradable, flushable, zero percent plastic pregnancy test.

photo: courtesy of Lia

This FDA-cleared test is available starting Mar. 11 and comes in handy two-packs. Not only is it eco-friendly, Lia is also 99 percent accurate.

To buy your two-pack ($13.99 and free shipping), order Lia online at meetlia.com. You’ll get to choose between branded and discrete packaging, depending on your personal preference.

—Erica Loop

 

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As new parents we live for the developmental milestones of our babies. Smiling at six weeks, starting solids at six months, potty training… and on and on. Our excitment even starts while baby is still in the womb: “Look honey, she’s the size of a kidney bean this week!” As time goes on though, we realize that we as parents have milestones, too!

Below is a completely unscientific and yet 100 percent accurate chart of Baby Milestones for Parents.

Milestone: The day your baby can hold his or her own bottle

  • Typically occurs: Around 10 to 11months old
  • What it’s really like for parents: Confusion and disorientation in parent; for several days you will not know what to do with your free hands and lap.  Then expect a feeling of liberation. Parents report their homes become moderately cleaner upon reaching this stage.

Milestone: The day breastfeeding feels as natural as everyone keeps telling you it should be

  • Typically occurs: Anytime between day 1 and day 90
  • What it’s really like for breastfeeding moms: Overwhelming joy.

Milestone: The day your baby sleeps through the night for the first time

  • Typically occurs: Anywhere between 12 weeks to 5 years old
  • What it’s really like for parents: Also known as “The Holy Grail of Parenting,” once parents feel what it’s like to have a child go to sleep from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., they can never go back.  Parents report feelings of wanting a second child upon reaching this milestone.

Milestone: The day you decide your child watching “a show” is okay

  • Typically occurs: Most frequently once toddler drops their nap or when toddler welcomes newborn sibling
  • What it’s really like for parents: Slight guilt followed by urge to allow child to watch “just one more.” There are LOTS of opinions on this one but only you know the right decision for your family. (Just go with it.)

Milestone: The day that diapers are no longer on your Costco list

  • Typically occurs: Varies
  • What it’s really like for parents: Utter disbelief. Parents later report sadness as there are no more babies in the house.

What Parenting Milestones have you reached? Which ones are you excited about? Let us know in the comments!

With twin girls and a boy born 17 months apart, I'm the owner of the world's most ironically named business, Let Mommy Sleep. Let Mommy Sleep provides nurturing postpartum care to newborns and evidence based education to parents by Registered Nurses and Newborn Care Providers.  

Unfortunately for many women, pregnancy and nausea seem to go together. Now researchers from the University of Warwick have narrowed the time frame that pregnancy sickness will potentially start to just three days. This opens up the possibility for scientists to identify a biological cause for the condition.

Pregnancy

Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy was previously referred to as “morning sickness.” Previous research from the same team revealed that term was misleading, as sickness could occur at any time of day. The term “pregnancy sickness” is now considered more appropriate. 

Pregnancy sickness usually ends between 12 to 14 weeks of pregnancy. For some it can be severe, including what is known as hyperemesis gravidarum—when the symptoms continue throughout the pregnancy. In the past, the cause was seen as psychological (yeah, cue the eyerolls!) but this study shows further evidence that it is biological in nature and linked to a woman’s stage of pregnancy. 

Researchers from the Warwick Medical School and the Department of Statistics at the University of Warwick found that the time period in which a woman will likely experience pregnancy sickness can now be pinpointed to a specific three-day window. In other words, they can predict when you’re most likely to start feeling crummy! 

Pregnancy due dates are calculated based on the last day of the last menstrual period, but this study also has found that the date of ovulation is a more accurate starting point, thanks to fewer variables.

256 pregnant women kept daily symptom diaries to compare when their symptoms began, including recording the date of their last menstrual period as well as date of ovulation (determined by a urine test). Researchers compared the results and found that most women started getting “the sickness” 8 to 10 days after ovulation.

Lead author Professor Roger Gadsby of Warwick Medical School said, “For researchers it narrows our focus in terms of where we look for the cause. If we know that symptoms occur in a very narrow window 8-10 days after ovulation, researchers can concentrate their efforts on that particular stage of development to find the cause of the condition, both anatomically and biochemically. In the past, women suffering with nausea and vomiting in pregnancy have had their symptoms trivialised and overlooked because it was thought there was a psychological basis for the symptoms. This research further reinforces that nothing could be further from the truth, that this is a biological problem related to the development of the early fetus.”

(Sing it, Roger!)

The research also discovered that 94% of women do experience some form of pregnancy sickness, a rate much higher than previously.

Professor Roger Gadsby adds, “What we’ve shown is that more people get symptoms of pregnancy sickness than has ever been shown before, and one of the reasons for that is that this research has picked up mild early symptoms that tend to fade by 7-8 weeks. In other studies those symptoms would have faded by the time the research started.”

Next up? What the heck do you do about it?

—Jennifer Swartvagher

Featured photo: Anastasiia Chepinska on Unsplash 

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Have you been baking up a storm this holiday season? This time of year has us all reaching for our favorite sweet treat and Instagram recently released the most popular cookies in each state in a fun infographic.

The map takes eight popular varieties that include peanut butter, shortbread, crinkle, oatmeal, chocolate chip, sugar, gingerbread and snickerdoodles and which state loves them the most. Scroll down to see if your state is accurate!

photo: Instagram

To organize the information, Instagram used data from Feed and Stories over the last month to see which cookies were mentioned the most based on location. Perhaps the most shocking is that chocolate chip cookies are only the most fave in one state––Illinois.

Happy baking!

––Karly Wood

Feature photo: Monika Grabkowska via Unsplash

 

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