February’s birthstone represents empowerment and inner strength

Babies with a February birthday are pretty unique, as some only have a birthday every four years! Plus, those with February birthdays might be more creative (if they’re Pisces), be taller than their peers, and be revolutionary (if they’re Aquarius). If you want to know more fun facts about kids with February’s birthdays and even a few silly facts about February’s birth sign, we’ve got it all right here. 

February birthdays are more uncommon, and Leap Year birthdays are rare

Not only is it a short month, which leads to fewer February birthdays, but a Leap Day baby only gets to celebrate the actual day every four years. According to Unity Point Health, 1 in 1,491 people is born on February 29th, so although you might celebrate on a different day most years, it’s fun to throw an extra-special birthday party every four years. February 2024 is a Leap Year, so get ready to celebrate in a big way if you’ve got a Leap Day baby!

Your February baby might be taller than others

A Harvard University study of over 21,000 kids shows that winter babies are consistently born longer, heavier, and with a larger head circumference. The study was conducted over seven years and tested kids at birth, eight months, age 4, and age 7; researchers believe that seasonal issues for both pregnant moms and babies, like diet, exposure to sunlight and temperature, and viruses, may play a role in a baby’s characteristics.

But babies born in February have a higher chance of being born early

According to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, there’s a significant spike (nearly 10%) in early births for women who conceived in May, which means their delivery dates fall in February of the following year. What’s the reason? These moms are in late-term pregnancy during peak flu season, which is known to cause pre-term births.

A February birth sign can be Aquarius or Pisces

Will your baby be innovative, a team player, and a rebel at heart like others born under the sign of Aquarius? Or will your kid show signs of empathy, compassion, and being creative like other Pisces? More importantly, how compatible are you with your child? Check out our parent/child compatibility chart to find out.

February’s birthstone is the amethyst

People with February birthdays claim amethyst as their birthstone. The stunning purple variety of quartz has mesmerized people for thousands of years and can often be found in royal jewel collections in Europe and Asia. The gem represents empowerment and inner strength.

Your kid shares their special month with these celebrities born in February

Many celebrities and historical figures share your kiddo’s celebratory month: Abe Lincoln, Rosa Parks, Steve Jobs, Jennifer Aniston, Elizabeth Taylor, Henry Golding, Danai Gurira, Laura Linney, Charles Darwin, George Washington, Nina Simone, and more. 

 

Here’s what to do when your child gets three of the same toy for Christmas

Wouldn’t it be great if everyone’s holiday resembled a scene depicted in a Norman Rockwell painting? It’s just not realistic—and where’s the fun in that, anyway? Smiles and tantrums, calm and kerfuffles, serenity, and debacles are all the things that make the holidays unpredictable and beautiful. Our holiday survival guide includes a list of possible snafus and tips to help you keep your cool.

Possible Snafu: Meltdowns on Santa’s Lap

holiday survival guide tip: what to do when they meet santa
_drz_via Unsplash

Imagine you’re standing in the line of melting children and anxious parents waiting to overpay for that annual snapshot with the mall Santa. It's your turn and suddenly one of your little angels develops an irrational fear of all things Santa. Mr. Claus props your kid up like a wet noodle as you’re looking for the nearest exit.

Holiday Survival Guide Tip: What's the problem here? A cheesy mall snapshot capturing a Level 4 toddler freakout and an obviously annoyed Santa is Instagram gold. Get the shot, dig out their favorite lovie you’ve stashed in the diaper bag, and smile because this is a picture you’ll treasure.

Possible Snafu: Gift Duplication

iStock

An adult who receives a duplicate gift will proclaim their love of the item while discreetly digging through tissue paper in search of a gift receipt, careful to preserve any tags. Children, however, are prone to reactions anywhere on the spectrum of matter-of-a-fact “I already own this” proclamations to window-shattering, rolling-on-the-floor screaming fits.

Survival Tip: Never underestimate the value of role-playing. Prepare them for the possibility this could happen and coach them on ways to respond— "No matter what you receive, just say 'thank you" It's also a great time to remind them it’s the thought, not the gift, that counts. Play a fun role-playing game and simulate opening something they already own, allowing yourselves to get a little silly. Should the situation occur, it’ll be an amusing wink-and-nod secret between you.

 

Related: 15 Genius Photo Hacks to Try This Holiday Season

Possible Snafu: Toy Surplus

bedtime routine
iStock

Once the pine-scented dust has settled, post-holidays, you’re left with a mountain of toys and tchotchkes that need to find a resting place in your already-busting-at-the-seams home. Finding space for the 25 spider rings and 16 pencils accumulated at the school Halloween party drove you to tears, and now you need to find space for a life-sized panda bear, Barbie’s Beach House, and Ken’s midlife-crisis cherry red Corvette.

Holiday Survival Guide Tip: Resist the urge to meet the garbage man at the curb come trash collection day and adopt a one-in, one-out rule. A couple of weeks before Christmas, review your kid’s wish list with them and explain in order to receive, they need to give. Be prepared: They’re resourceful little boogers and will try to convince you they can find space for it all—even if it means shoving things under chairs, stacking items precariously, or throwing out their underpants to make room in a drawer. Donate gently loved but no longer wanted toys to a worthy local nonprofit organization.

 

Possible Snafu: Batteries Not Included

holiday survival guide: make sure you have lots of batteries
Kevin Woblick via Unsplash

Toy manufacturers seem to enjoy the idea of parents wrestling with a mini screwdriver to get battery compartments open. And they usually don’t even throw us a bone by giving us the first round of juice with a starter set of batteries. What do you do if it's Christmas Day, no stores are open and Johnny cleared out his closet to make room for a life-like dinosaur that walks, talks, transforms, and is slated to crush his little sister’s My Little Pony herd?

Survival Tip: Do yourself a favor and buy batteries in bulk before Santa makes his rounds. For the most part, you know what gifts they’re receiving, so research the batteries requirements and be sure to have them on hand. Throw a few extra in the cart for the unexpected gifts from the family.  While you're at it, grab a toothpick-sized screwdriver the next time you're at the hardware store— you're going to need it.

Related: 30 Life-Changing Hacks to Save Your Holiday Season

Possibly Snafu: Understocked Pantry

Mara Lin Kim via Unsplash

Holiday euphoria has fueled a sudden burst of energy and you have an inexplicable urge to bake 15 different types of cookies and a fruit cake. After a quick ingredient review, you realize you're a ¼ tsp. of vanilla away from your destiny, but your little one is napping. Even if he wasn’t, you risk getting stuck in line behind the people clearing out the bottled water supply preparing for snowmageddon because they spotted a flake.

Holiday Survival Guide Tip: Stock up on baking essentials. Most ingredients required for baking have a long shelf life, so if it takes you until Easter to use them all, no biggie. You can also get simple ingredients and lots of staples delivered to your home fast by using a food delivery service such as Instacart.

Possible Snafu: There Is Noise ... Lots of It

holiday survival guide: how to deal with loud toys
Kelli McClintock via Unsplash

Maybe before you were a parent it brought you great joy to buy the most annoying gift you could possibly find for a sibling's kids. Why not? You didn’t have to live with it and plus, when you were little your brother teased you relentlessly, so he totally deserved to lose partial hearing because you gifted his two-year-old cymbals. The day of reckoning is upon you—the gifts your kid receives will be big, they will be loud and they’re going to have more pieces than stars in the sky.

Survival Tip: We can't help you here. If you fired the first shots, you have no choice but to accept an annoying gift or two. After the scores have been settled, initiate a peace treaty so no one needs to live in fear of what might be under the tree. Discuss parameters for gifts and work together to complete wish lists. If they break the treaty, you are well within your rights to unleash a wrath that can only be calmed by buying your niece or nephew a rambunctious puppy or a matching drum set for those cymbals.

 

Heading to Target with a tot in tow can be a blast for them; especially if everyone makes a pit stop for a cake pop (and a latte) at Starbucks. But for one lucky three-year-old, these two iconic stores took on a bigger role in her life. Read on to see how this little girl from Milwaukee got a big playroom makeover.

Target Playroom

Ariah, an adorable 3-year-old from Milwaukee, loves her trips to Target so much that her mom, Renèe Doby-Becht decided to create a shopper’s paradise in her playroom. Complete with a Target checkout station, stocked shelves, and even a pint-sized shopping cart, this retail wonderland even has its own Starbucks. 

Target Playroom

Doby-Becht did not expect the photos of Ariah’s playroom to go viral when she posted them on Facebook. 

Target Playroom

“Ariah’s favorite store is Target and of course Starbucks are in most Target stores. Although this gift was really late, I wanted to do something different for Christmas this year,” Doby-Becht wrote in the post. 

Target Playroom

Since Doby-Becht shared the photos a little over a week ago, the post on her personal Facebook page has gotten more than 5,000 comments and over 9,000 reactions and shares.

—Jennifer Swartvagher

Photos courtesy of Brigette Doby

 

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We all know that the “job” of a stay-at-home parent is really like a million jobs rolled into one—but how much would a stay-at-home parent make if they were paid? A new study puts quite the price tag on parenthood.

Using data on a selection of jobs that equate with all of the daily tasks that come with being a stay-at-home parent, Salary.com came up with a median annual income for 2021. And, drumroll please… stay-at-home parents should be making a whopping $184,820 a year. This amount was up over $6,000 from the pre-pandemic medium.

Photo: Matthew Henry via Burst

So what’s the job description of a stay-at-home parent? Salary.com pulled information on several different positions including accountant, CEO, coach, dietician, event planner, janitor, plumber, psychologist, teacher—and many more to come up with the salary fitting for the demanding role.

Of course, ask any stay-at-home parent and they’ll tell you that you can’t put a price on being able to stay home with the kids.

You can calculate your own salary by using this salary wizard.

 

 

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Those darn darts from your kiddo’s Nerf blaster are everywhere. Now you don’t need to crawl around the carpet, picking up each individual piece of foam from the floor.

The Nerf Elite Dart Rover is the toy cleaning tool you need right now. The Dart Rover looks like a mini lawn mower, but doesn’t cut down your carpeting. Instead, the River picks up those pesky little Nerf darts with a simple swipe.

photo: Amazon

Instead of a one by one pick-up process, this genius machine lets you grab up to 100 darts at a time. Along with the super-picker up potential, the Dart Rover also comes with non-slip wheels (which are perfect for your non-carpeted floors) and an adjustable handle. A mesh net basket catches darts as they fly off the floor and into the Rover.

Built for kids ages eight and up (and moms and dads too!), this grabber gadget gives your child the chance to clean up their own Nerf-tastrophy—instead of you playing the role of dart keeper.

This quick catcher retails for $29.99. Nab The Nerf Elite Dart Rover online at Amazon.

—Erica Loop

 

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Expecting number two (or three or four…)? It could be a good time to prepare your child to welcome a new member of your family! The transition to the role of big brother or sister can be tough for little ones, with big emotions from jealousy to nervousness to excitement and back again! We’ve rounded up five ways to help make the littlest members of your growing family thrive in their new role, from books to games and more!

1. Read a Story That Speaks Their Language

We love the book Original Cat, Copy Cat for its social and emotional learning with a core theme of relationship skills tailored to new siblings. Bonus: Reading Original Cat, Copy Cat, is an ideal way to spend one-on-one time together while working on crucial life skills that will come in handy with a new sibling on the way and beyond!

Pineapple the cat experiences the challenges of adjusting to an additional member of the family. Pineapple loves being an only cat—and then Kiwi comes along. But despite the chaos and the annoyances, Pineapple soon realizes that a new kitten—a new friend—makes everything twice as fun.

Original Cat, Copy Cat is a celebration of friendship and acceptance! For ages 4-8, this book is an excellent tool to help your child adjust to a new family member that speaks their language, told through fun and relatable characters. Sarah Kurpiel's simple use of expressive language and bold artwork makes for an irresistible picture book that's perfect for storytime sharing, siblings-to-be and animal lovers everywhere—Original Cat, Copy Cat is out August 3

Get your copy and start reading Original Cat, Copy Cat today!

2. Play a Game Without Words

Babies cry—a lot! (And sometimes, for no reason at all.) Can you imagine needing something basic like food, some rest or an extra blanket and the only way you can ask for it is to go “WAAH”?! Why not try it yourselves and see what it’s like! Think of things your baby might want; to sleep, to play, to be held and so on. Pick something off the list and try to get it across to the other person without using words—it’s a fun/informative way to put yourselves in your baby’s (very tiny) shoes. Now your child may be just a little more patient next time they hear their new sibling crying.

Get your copy and start reading Original Cat, Copy Cat today!

3. Plan a Baby Date

The best way to get to know what life with a baby is like? Hang out with one! Plan a date to meet up with a friend/neighbor or family member’s baby for a few hours to help your child get a sense of what life is like beyond the bump! It’s a great way for them to get up close and personal with a bundle of joy to get to experience the snuggles and smiles, as well as the poopy diapers, as they get to know their new baby friend.

Get your copy and start reading Original Cat, Copy Cat today!

4. Take a Walk Down Memory Lane

Time to get out the baby books (or even just the photos/videos on your smartphone)! What better way to get them psyched for their new baby brother or sister than to relive their newborn days! It’s a great bonding experience, too, looking back on how adorable, sweet and cuddly they were before they learned the word “no!”. Talking about how much they have grown and the differences between now and then as they gaze at images of their younger self will help them connect with their yet-to-be-born best bud, too. It helps kids to understand that the new baby in their family won’t be a crying (but cute) little lump forever, but turn into a big kid that’s fun to play with, just like them!

Get your copy and start reading Original Cat, Copy Cat today!

5. Include Them in the Journey

Because we all want to feel included, right?! Take your child with you to the doctor to hear the baby’s heartbeat. Share ultrasound photos of your baby and try to find all the tiny little parts together. Let them help put together the nursery, choosing colors and decor they think their new brother or sister will love. Once baby is here, get them involved in their care (depending on how old they are). Let them get a diaper or wipes for you, give the baby a favorite toy or even help feed them—it’s bonding time at its best!

Get your copy and start reading Original Cat, Copy Cat today!

—Jamie Aderski

He’s sharper than the average bear and he’s making a comeback after 30 years! Yogi Bear, along with Boo Boo, Cindy and a familiar crew of Hanna-Barbera characters, are returning to a screen near you. HBO Max is releasing Jellystone! a new animated comedy that reimagines the cartoons from your childhood—with a modern touch.

Season one premieres today and will follow an ensemble cast of characters as they work, play and participate in hijinks around the town. Each plays a specific role in the community, including Huckleberry Hound as the town’s mayor and the bears as the town’s medical staff. You’ll be delighted to see the gang get back together and your kids will definitely be laughing at the show’s hilarious plotlines. Watch the trailer now!

 

Keep an eye out for Mr. Jinks, Wally Gator, Lippy the Lion, Auggie Doggie, Jabberjaw, Snagglepuss and many more! The show is run and produced by Hollywood mainstay C.H. Greenblatt, who also voices some of the characters, plus Warner Bros. Animation. Make a nice little pic-a-nic and settle in to enjoy Jellystone! on HBO Max!

––Sarah Shebek

Featured image courtesy of Warner Bros. Animation and HBO Max

 

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Attention PAW Patrol fans! Walmart has a win-win proposal: right now, you can pre-order select toys from the new movie and when you do, you’ll get special access to a virtual showcase, including a sneak peek at the upcoming film!

Multiple toys are eligible in this offer, including an action figure set, transforming movie vehicles and eight-piece role-play sets for your little fans. Prices start at $12.97 and all of the toys come with free shipping. Totally paw-some!

Once you’ve purchased, you’ll receive ticket instructions in your inbox within 24 hours. The virtual showcase features a preview of PAW Patrol: The Movie with an intro by a special guest from the film. It also promises other fun activities for the family! You can tune in on August 8 starting at 1 p.m. ET.

In case you missed it, the new PAW Patrol movie comes out in theaters on August 20. Check out our preview for a look at the trailer and character images!

––Sarah Shebek

All images courtesy of Walmart

 

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Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor will soon be a big brother to Baby Girl Sussex. And you can bet this is an exciting time for Prince Harry and Dutchess Meghan as well as the new big brother. But the journey to bringing home a new baby can also be a time of anxious change as families introduce the first child to their new family member. Kelly Oriard, licensed family therapist and co-founder of Slumberkins, shares her advice for Harry and Meghan and all families navigating this big change.

1. Do the Prep Work
Well before the baby is born, begin talking about when the baby is coming, what it will be like, and what the big sibling’s role will be once the baby arrives.

2. Be Honest
Don’t just say, “It will be awesome having a sibling!” While at times it will be awesome, it can also be super hard for older siblings. Remember even toddlers without many words need to hear, “The baby may cry—and that may be hard to hear” or “Sometimes Daddy and Mommy will need to help the baby and you may have to practice waiting.” Honesty will help set realistic expectations.

3. Celebrate the Big Sibling Role
Make sure to celebrate that they get to be the big sibling now. Hooray! But don’t forget to remind them that they can still be your little baby too. Growing up doesn’t mean fewer snuggles, love or attention. Just some cool perks too.

4. Don’t Blame the Baby
Kelly shares, “The very best advice I have is don’t blame the baby for things once the baby comes.” Don’t say, “We have to leave the park for the baby’s nap time.” Kelly points out that this sets up an easy target for frustration. Instead say, “It’s time for our family to leave the park now.”

5. Teach Safety
Remember that your toddler is still learning impulse control and doesn’t yet understand how to be gentle with a baby. Try not to yell or get frustrated if your toddler shows typical toddler behaviors (hitting or aggression). Instead, remember that a caregiver’s role can be to teach and help practice.

6. Welcome All Feelings
This is an important tip as acting out when a new sibling arrives is normal. Make space for all emotions while stopping unsafe behaviors.

7. Make One-on-One Time for You & Your Older Child
They will need this. Period.

8. Support Bonding Between the Siblings
Making reflections like, “Wow, look at how the baby is looking at you, I can tell they really like the way you are holding them” or “That was so kind the way you noticed the baby was cold, thanks for bringing a blanket.” Narrating the connection that you notice between your children and stating it can help them really feel love and connection to and from their new sibling.

Following these tips and tricks can help to ease the growing pains families feel when introducing new siblings. Remember that even good change can come with some anxiety and stress. Doing some prep work to prepare your little one can help your family have a smoother transition. Slumberkins also has many great resources to help siblings of all ages develop positive ways to cope with their big emotions. It’s a great time to practice emotion identification or introduce your little one to Alpaca who models stress-relief or Fox who provides comfort during times of change.

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Kelly Oriard & Callie Christensen
Tinybeans Voices Contributor

Kelly Oriard and Callie Christensen are co-founders of Slumberkins, a children's brand supporting social-emotional learning for children. Kelly has a dual master's degree in family therapy and school counseling, and Callie has a master's degree in teaching. Both are passionate about teaching children social-emotional skills to thrive in our modern world.