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oe Biden’s 2023 budget proposal is hot off the presses, and it reflects the multitude of obstacles facing the country in the coming year. Addressing climate change, infrastructure, public health, defense spending, and national security, the President’s budget, if passed as is, has some good news for families in the realm of maternal health, education spending, and youth mental health.Though President Biden’s proposal is ambitious, it’s ultimately up to Congress, and there’s little doubt that the budget that is ultimately approved will more closely follow the congressional agenda than the President’s....

The parliamentarian’s decision essentially allows Democrats to reopen the budget plan they passed in February and add new policies that meet the requirements of the budget reconciliation process. A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the decision “confirms the Leader’s interpretation of the Budget Act and allows Democrats additional tools to improve the lives of Americans if Republican obstruction continues.” Here’s what those tools are, what it means for families, and the federal policies that could pass that would help families because of the new ruling....

Now, Common Sense Media has taken its hand-crafted approach to kids’ media curation and applied it to an actual streaming service. Too busy to double-check reviews on Common Sense (or Fatherly, or Scary Mommy) to make sure something is totally appropriate for your kiddo’s age level? The new streaming service Sensical has taken out a step. According to a new press release: Age-Appropriate Categories Are a Game-Changer Other than the fact that it’s a free and safe streaming service for kids — and all the programming is curated by a team of experts — the biggest draw for parents should be this: Three distinct age-appropriate groups for shows and movies....

The half-hour special, airing on CNN and CNN International at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, November 6, will be titled The ABCs of COVID Vaccines and will be hosted by CNN anchor Erica Hall and CNN Chief Medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Of course, some of Sesame Street’s more familiar residents will be featured, too, including Big Bird. In the special, the experts and trusted muppets will answer questions kids have about the COVID-19 vaccine....

The beautiful chaos of parenthood tends to put sex on the back burner. And the deeper you fall into a “no-time-for-sex!” situation, the harder it can be to climb back out, says Dr. Chris Donaghue, author of Sex Outside The Lines, co-host of CBS’ Loveline with Amber Rose, and a spokesperson for Tenga. So how do you prevent yourself from falling into these murky, sexless waters? To help maintain — or reignite — sexual intimacy, Donaghue suggested these five tips....

Get a Lock You’ll want to install this on your bedroom door. This doesn’t mean you’re abandoning your kid. It just means that if they wake up from their nap early because they heard a scary grunting monster with two voices, you won’t be caught unawares, in fact, you’d have a bit more time to cover up before you respond. Get Intimate Intimacy and sex are not the same things. If this is a shocking revelation to you, get ready to have more sex....

It is not so much unpatriotic as it is proof positive that POTUS doesn’t understand patriotism. I’ve been teaching my boys about patriotism for about as long as they’ve been aware that they are Americans. Sometime in preschool when they were given flags to wave and told to sing God Bless America. And I’ve encouraged them to love their country, which means loving the people they share it with. I’ve tried to drive home the idea that people make a country because I want my children to see is that real patriotism is a devotion to the welfare of others....

Justin, who goes by drumbeatlane on TikTok, shared a video about the panic that sets in when a kid sleeps in. On the surface, we should be excited – an opportunity to have some quiet downtime or extra sleep yourself. Plus extra sleep will mean our kiddo is easier to deal with, right? Well, yes but also, no. That’s not how it works in our minds. “Do y’all ever wake up and your kids aren’t awake, and it’s the normal time they’d be awake, and you’re like ‘Oh my gosh, how are they still asleep?...

This study added to the growing pile of evidence that suggests that, when relied on too heavily, smartphones are sleep-sucking, relationship-fracturing, brain-ruiners. Among this is also the evidence that parents who overuse smartphones run the risk of putting their children at odds with them. A study in Child Development, for instance, shows that young kids and phones are competing for parental attention. It’s easy to become over reliant on your phone....

“As your son, I regret to inform you that I’ve missed my means of transportation,” he wrote. “I know you must be on a roller coaster of emotions right now but rest assured, I’ve decided to stay home. This was a tough decision to make while you were gone for 20 minutes. I’m probably in my bed moping about the fact I can’t go to school so please don’t interrupt me....

Because the Fab Four have taken up the lion’s share of everyone’s documentary streaming lately, here are three overlooked documentaries streaming in December that you can’t miss. Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck In Time Oasis: Knebworth 1996 OasissuchOasis: Knebworth 1996 wayOasis: Knebworth 1996 is streaming now on Paramount+. Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street howStreet Gang streams on HBO Max on December 13.

Chances are, you at least perform some toe-touches, neck rolls, or quad-stretches in the morning. But, do you know what a piriformis stretch is? How about pigeon pose? You should. Here, then, are 10 stretches all guys should know how to do. They attack every part of your body, from neck to calves, to ensure you’re limbered up. Hold each stretch for at least one minute unless otherwise indicated....

Before you go into a screen-free panic, take note that the findings aren’t as cut-and-dried, or dire, as the headline might lead you to believe. The study is relatively small, far from definitive, and, most important, in no way offers parents a clear path forward. Is it a study worth reading? Of course. But also, you’re doing just fine. What this new research suggests about screen time and its effects on preschooler brain structure can sound alarming....

The classic parenting book How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk has been around for more than 30 years and has been called “the parenting bible” by The Boston Globe (and a bazillion other outlets). The only thing dated about this advice is the testimonials from parents who claim that — before understanding authors Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish’s insights on communicating with kids — they would have simply “smacked” them....

So what target heart rate should you be hitting when exercising? There are actually five heart rate zones that experts focus on when designing workouts, ranging from an easy warm-up zone to an all-out sprint zone. The easy zone won’t do much for your calorie burning, and the maximum heart rate zone is too intense to sustain for more than a few seconds. The intermediary zones of hard and very hard provide the biggest bang for your buck....

Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels is an irreverent crime comedy where shit doesn’t stop hitting the fan. The story is a bit of a labyrinth as far as crime movies go. To pay a debt to a crime lord after losing a rigged high stakes card game, a card sharp plans to team up with friends to rob their neighbors, who are planning a heist of their own....

Research has shown that green space is essential to both physical and mental health, especially for marginalized populations and adolescents. People who live in urban areas and visit local parks have improved mental health, lower cortisol levels, and less stress, anxiety, and depression. But they’re not just good for our brains. Areas of green space are also vital environmentally. Parks and green spaces help make communities better able to withstand the effects of climate change by providing shade from increasingly high temperatures, runoff areas for stormwater to prevent flooding, and reducing carbon emissions making for cleaner air for city-dwellers....

1. Jim Carey’s Address To The Maharishi University of Management When Jim Carey spoke at the Maharishi University of Management commencement ceremony in 2014, he spoke about chasing his dreams and fear. But the most affecting part of Carey’s speech came out from a vignette he shared about his father’s trepidation in following his dreams and how he convinced him to follow his own no matter what. “My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that was possible for him, and so he made a conservative choice,” Carey said....

Favorite data dad, Nathan Yau, created a series of graphs tracking the popularity of certain genderless baby names. It turns out, popular unisex baby names aren’t a 21st-century invention. Just ask Jackie Robinson or Jackie O. As Yau points out, the rise of gender-neutral baby names in the U.S. between 1930 and 2012 is compelling, even if you’re not ready to name your boy Sue. The graphs looked at gender-neutral names with a 50-50 split between baby boy names and baby girl names....

Self-awareness, it turns out, comes in stages. Although Jennifer could comprehend the actions in the video, there was a disconnect when it came to understanding that the little girl in the video was, in fact, her. A little boy gazing into a mirror may understand that he’s looking at his own reflection, but not grasp that the image is what he looks like all the time, sans mirror. An older kid might comprehend the permanence of their image, but not fully understand that this is also the image that other people see....