Especially during times of turmoil — like basically all of 2020 and much of 2021 — or transition (moving between co-parents’ homes, for example), having a routine and knowing what comes next can give kids a sense of security and comfort. Predictable things are good, and consistency is king. To that end, this beautiful wood calendar can help preschoolers feel like they have some semblance of control over their environment, and understand what happens during a specific week or month....

Felt is endlessly flexible and adaptable. Unlike plastic or wood blocks, which are by their very nature rigid, felt can be bent and shaped into countless different patterns and designs, meaning Knop Knop’s felt kits are ideal for open-ended play, which is the gold-standard: Kids can follow a kit’s directions and build a dinosaur or a motorcycle — or they can go creatively off-road and follow their imaginations anywhere they want to go....

The video shows the dad pretending to use the Force to bring his son’s high chair closer to him before then pushing it away again. Of course, from our angle, we can see that the dad is using his legs to push and pull the high chair back and forth but his kid can’t. And his son is absolutely loving it, as he’s got a massive smile on his face, probably because he believes this means he’ll get to be a Jedi someday, like his father before him....

These posts are the best. They’re wholesome and deeply relatable, highlighting the unbreakable bond between man and his dog or cat. Some of the highest-performing posts include a man reclining with three wildly adorable foster kittens, one who’s matching his polo shirt with his dog’s, a dad holding his rabbit in the palm of his hand during a road trip, and one man who told his girlfriend that he didn’t want a kitten but finally relented during quarantine, and now they’ve been spotted sweetly falling asleep on the couch....

So what are your options? Chronological? Release order? Or something else? Here are four ways to introduce your younglings to the ways of the Force. Some of these methods will preserve certain plot twists, others will dovetail with how film history really happened. And yes, there is one strategy where you can just start with the whole saga with the just-released origin story of a smuggler named Han Solo. It sounds crazy, but it just might work....

A dad bender isn’t malicious or heinous. Is it humorously slobbish, immature, and perplexing? Absolutely. And, while it doesn’t define all fathers, we’re willing to bet that a lot of do partake in a similar version of “letting loose”. So, in an effort to understand this better, we spoke to a bunch of dads around the country about what they do most often when they have some time to themselves....

Well, been there done that. I readily acknowledge that I’m coming from a point of privilege in that I had the ability to home school my kids and not fear that we would go hungry or homeless. That is a tremendous luxury in a time and place where most people are suffering. We have had our share of stresses — around show business (which has utterly evaporated); my mid-life crisis (wondering what the hell I’m doing with my life, but finding a new path and loving it) and my small fashion start-up (it’s growing…but just)....

On January 16, 2020, veteran union organizers Keri Rodrigues and Alma Marquez hosted the inaugural summit of the National Parents Union. Their new organization’s aim? Advocating on behalf of working-class and poor parents who feel their children are excluded from what they refer to as the “education conversation.” Some 152 delegates, representing all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico, showed up to lend their support and draft bylaws. For those versed in education policy, the so-called union founded by Rodrigues and Marquez, both moms, is confounding....

THE WINNERS Guatemala Tortillas, black beans, eggs, plantains, papaya or mango, and avocado — even their breakfast sounds like a tropical paradise. Largeman-Roth Says: “The beans offer up protein and fiber, the eggs contribute more protein, plus choline, which is vital for brain development. The avocado is rich in heart healthy monounsaturated fats and the mango and papaya both deliver beta-carotene and Vitamin C, which is important for a kid’s vulnerable immune system....

But is permissive parenting so terrible? It turns out the answer is nuanced, and there are good ways to turn permissive parenting into something far more healthy for everyone. The Origins of Permissive Parenting Unlike pop-culture parenting “styles” (see: helicopter, tiger, lawn mower), permissive parenting is grounded in the research of University of California at Berkeley psychologist Diana Baumrind. In her work in the 1960s, she categorized parenting into three different types: authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative based on the amount of demand and care a parent shows their child....

When to Stop Swaddling A Baby A good swaddle — one that is snug around the arms but loose at the hips and feet — is a great tool to help keep babies asleep. Dr. Harvey Karp, Pediatrician and author of The Happiest Baby on the Block points out to his readers that swaddling provides a sense of comforting womb-like confinement for an infant. But also, the wrap combats the random uncoordinated movement of the arms that can inadvertently wake a baby in the night....

My oldest daughter had been sick and, with the responsibility of taking care of her, our then-newborn daughter, and balancing everything else that needs to happen in our household on a daily basis, my wife reached out to me with a simple request: Can you take care of dinner tonight? Now, I’m no slouch when it comes to cooking and I can get down with the best of them when it’s time to flex the culinary muscles....

“We were curious to see what happened in the field prior to when they reached our doors,” coauthor on the study Dr. David Stukus, a pediatric immunologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio and ACAAI spokesperson, told Fatherly. “We were surprised at how infrequently epinephrine was administered. It’s the first line and only treatment for anaphylaxis.” For the study, Stukus and his colleagues looked at 409 medical records consisting of four years of data from the Nationwide Children’s Hospital....

Professor Carrie Paechter, now the director of the Nottingham Centre for Children, Young People and Families at Nottingham Trent University, began researching girls like Lucy only after realizing no one else had. Tasked with filling out an encyclopedia entry for “tomboy,” Paechter found almost no meaningful research or background material. “Nobody had actually found out what it was like being a tomboy,” she remembers. So Paechter decided to follow two classrooms of students, ages 9 to 11, at two London schools for a year....

So, to help you dig up the best places in the country to take dinosaur-obsessed children, we recruited paleontologist Kallie Moore, collections manager at the University of Montana’s Paleontology Center and co-host of the PBS YouTube series Eons. to suggest places where your kids can expand their dino obsessions from scale-model-toy playtime to life-sized learning experiences. So here, listed in alphabetical order and covering most geographical areas in the U....

Here are three contemporary cartoon dads that aren’t terrible, and in fact, you might be able to stand watching. 1. Dad Tiger from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood on PBS Dad Tiger is a father to his 4-year-old son, Daniel, and his toddler, Margaret, and wife to Mom Tiger. He has a job at the Clockwork Factory and Mom Tiger was a stay-at-home mom until recently. Dad Tiger doesn’t always get to spend as much time as he wants to with his children, but when he’s an attentive and kind dad....

Spoilers for Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time. Yeah, just in case you want to stream it and find out for yourself, I’m warning you now. All the rounds of Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time have ended, and the winner is Ken Jennings. The way this happened is that after four nights — and eight traditional 30-minute games of Jeopardy! — Jennings hit the 3-point mark. Basically, each night, the dollar amounts from two 30-minute games were added together....

It is worth acknowledging out of the gate that men can put sexy in front of any job title (Sexy plumber! Sexy Librarian! Sexy Ornithologist!). But the teacher stands alone. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), more than 75 percent of public school teachers are female. Though there is not a firm agreement on how many of these teachers are attractive, researchers do know how much time they spend in the classroom: As of 2014, that number was hanging around 1,000 hours per year....

Bicycles have become the item du jour across the United States; in March and April, bike trips on trails rose by 57% compared to the same period in 2019, according to the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. Bikes under $1,000 have been flying off shelves to the point where they’ve been nearly impossible to keep in stock; REI states they’ve sold four times as much cycling equipment as the same time last year — and that includes bike gear for kids as well as adults....

During Tuesday’s Apple keynote, the house that Jobs built unveiled plans for numerous new media products, including the streaming service Apple+. Instead of just producing screens for shows, Apple is going to be producing the content itself. This is where Big Bird goes corporate. As part of its new expansion, Apple TV will air The Helpsters, a Sesame Street-spin off about computer coding for preschoolers. No, you’re not confused. This isn’t ironic viral marketing for Jordan Peele’s new Twilight Zone reboot....