The week s best parenting advice: January 12, 2021 Jessica Hullinger
1.
Many children will no doubt have questions about last week s violent storming of the U.S. Capitol. They may find the news coverage upsetting, triggering, or confusing, but caregivers can help kids process and learn from this difficult moment in American history. Start by asking age-appropriate questions to get a sense of what they know about the event. Some examples recommended by Diane Jones Lowrey at
Common Sense Media include: What did you watch or hear about what happened? How do you feel about it? And for slightly older kids, How do you think your friends and other people in your family feel, including people from different backgrounds and races? To help hone their media literacy skills, ask teenagers to reflect on the words journalists are using to describe the events would the language be different had most of the rioters not been white? Since most teens get their news from s
Image zoom Credit: Getty Images. Art: Jillian Sellers.
Forget I m going to lose weight or I m going to learn a new language. This year, I m taking on a resolution that feels less about holding myself to some standard and more about investing in my own happiness and it s all thanks to Chrissy Teigen.
The actress, cookbook author, and mom shared a tweet detailing her own resolution for 2021, writing: excited about the new year s resolution I started early: not explaining SHIT to you people. For years I have been CONSUMED by the overwhelming need to explain why I m doing what I m doing, why I did why I did, Teigen continues. NO MORE. I m gonna doooooo the shit I doooooo and youuuuuu can go bonkers about it.
Credit: Getty Images
Turns out, your childhood penchant for collecting Beanie Babies (or trading cards or Barbie dolls or comic books) could turn you into a millionaire. According to some new data from OnBuy s toy department, these nostalgic toys could be worth
staggering amounts of money right now.
The report indicates that even simple relics from your childhood like Disney VHS tapes could sell for thousands (the highest-earning on record for one of these is a whopping $15,000).
Classic board games and toy cars have sold for six figures. And the highest recorded sale for a Barbie doll was over $300,000, which is still significantly less than the highest recorded Beanie Babies sale, a cool $600,000.
Image zoom Credit: Getty Images
Pandemic-induced loneliness is real and kids are experiencing it too. But one woman found a really special, incredibly sweet way to connect with her four-year-old neighbor and it s a powerful reminder that, while we may be adopting social distancing measures for the foreseeable future, we can still find ways to come together and help each other through this reality. I think everyone could use a lighthearted/happy story right now so here goes, a Twitter user named Kelly Victoria posted. At the beginning of the pandemic, I went through some painful personal stuff and would often go out at night for long walks because no one was around and I couldn t sleep anyway.
As a parenting writer, I thought I had heard pretty much every nickname for children and the people who raise them. But, as it turns out, there s a whole world of terms out there and it s a polarizing world.
A Reddit user poses the question: Which cutesy terms do you hate? . The original poster admits that while she loves being called
mama , she gets that the term isn t for everyone.
She s right: Several posters agree that being called mama by someone who isn t your child can feel condescending. I cannot stand being referred to as mama in casual conversations. Especially when we re not talking about babies. I am more than a mom and I have a name, one responder writes.