Comic-Con may have been cancelled but you can enjoy the experience from home this year, Comic-Con at Home will take place from Jul. 22 through Jul. 26 and feature over 350 panels spread out over five days. Once the daily schedules go live, you’ll be able to choose which ones you’d like to participate in.
The majority of the panels will be available after the convention dates, but some do have a limited time period for viewing. Each panel will have a link attached. Simply click on the link to launch the panel video. All of the panels will also be available on the Comic-Con YouTube channel.
The schedule of programming features family-friendly content that viewers will be able to enjoy throughout Comic-Con at Home. You can find the full schedule here.
Additionally several fun activity books and interactive items are being offered through the Comic-Con Museum including video tutorials, coloring sheets and more.
National Random Acts of Kindness Day is on February 18, 2020. Gestures of kindness can be anything from making a thank you card for someone, holding the door for a stranger and telling them to have a nice day. The day is also a great opportunity to show kids all the ways they can have fun creating and sharing kindness.
1. Help out a friend or neighbor anonymously. Make someone smile with no strings attached—shovel the snow from your neighbor’s sidewalk, or leave a basket of cookies just because, no thanks needed.
2. Be a baby/dog/cat-sitter for free. Many parents (of humans and fur babies) forego taking time out for themselves because sitters’ rates are often expensive. They will certainly appreciate your offer to look after their precious little ones without charge.
3. Bring out the chalk! Everybody loves to be appreciated and cheered. On a nice day, surprise someone with a special message using sidewalk art! You may never realize how much it lifts someone’s mood.
4. Make a “Kindness Jar.” Keep track of all acts of kindness with a “Kindness Jar.” Every time someone in your family does a random act of kindness, write it on a piece of paper with their name and put it in the jar. When it’s full, sort through it to see who was the kindest. Then, that person can pick an act of kindness that everyone else should do!
5. Celebrate a friend for being awesome. For older kids, text message friends and let them know they are special with a fun silly gif video or go to GiveAnAwesome.com and celebrate a person for being and doing something awesome.
6. Create a “Kindness Challenge” from the AWESOME app. Entrepreneur and dad, Bert Pope, developed Awesome, The Social Network for Kindness, a free mobile application that’s also a game where your profile gets brighter and changes colors as you level up with acts of kindness. You can also use the “Kindness template,” and upload a photo or video clip, add a title and description for your “Kindness Challenge” and share it with all the users on AWESOME. Sharing and spreading kindness is, of course, awesome.
Bert Pope, a father of four and the CEO of Awesome Company Worldwide, where he has launched the #BEAWESOME movement to make the world a better place. Awesome is the social network for kindness, where members are encouraged and rewarded for doing and sharing acts of kindness in their daily lives.
Did you miss Sweethearts last year? The popular Valentine’s Day treat is officially making a comeback for 2020!
The New England Confectionery Company went out of business in 2018, ending production on NECCO Wafers and the original candy conversation hearts, Sweethearts. Luckily for fans, the recipe for the iconic Valentine’s Day treats was purchased by Spangler, the company behind Dum Dums. Unfortunately the company wasn’t able to get production of the candy started in time for Valentine’s Day in 2019, but this year fans are in luck.
While Sweethearts are back in stores for the holiday this year, there are a few strings attached. As CNBC reports, Spangler ran into a few speed bumps on the road to production again. Unfortunately, this means there will not be enough Sweethearts on the market to meet the demand of consumers. Representatives for Spangler say that the best place to find Sweethearts will be nationwide drugstores like CVS and Walgreens.
Another challenge the company faced was getting the printing machines to work properly in order to give the conversation hearts their famous messages. The issues the company faced means there will be more blank hearts than usual this year.
On the upside, however, Spangler did locate and bring back the original recipe for the 118-year-old candy, which means the return of flavors like wintergreen and banana.
Traditions are important because they impact our lives in such a positive way. The holiday season is a time full of traditions. At Thanksgiving we have special food we eat, we spend time with people and visit the places we know. Christmas is also full of customs with festivities, celebrations, decorations, treats and time with family. Learn to see the good in keeping traditions and appreciate the happiness they bring to our lives.
What are Traditions?
Traditions are rituals, stories, beliefs, customs and routines that we share and pass on. They can be cultural, familial or religious and are unique to your family or tribe. It is the rituals, both big and small, that tend to create lasting memories. They are often more important than the physical gifts that we give and receive.
Some traditions will evolve and change over time and that is normal. Families blend together, people move and life situations change. Customs adapt to our lives as much as we adapt to the customs around us
Benefits of Traditions
Traditions are important in our lives and provide many benefits. We intentionally create and continue traditions because they provide a sense of belonging and meaning to our lives. Family rituals nurture connection and give us comfort. The special customs and rituals we have give us something to look forward to and something to hope for. They help us anticipate what is to come.
“Family traditions counter alienation and confusion. They help us define who we are; they provide something steady, reliable and safe in a confusing world.”—Susan Lieberman
Traditions also provide a constant for us in an ever-changing and fast-paced life. In that way, they ground us. One of the most important rituals a family can do is eat dinner together (more on the benefits of family dinners here). Traditions remind us of who we are and where we belong. The memories attached to the rituals of our lives are strong and give us a feeling of connectedness to a time, place or person.
Why Traditions are Important
I urge you to make time for special traditions this holiday season. They often take time and maintenance and it is easy to decide the effort isn’t worth it. However, the effort truly is worth it! The benefits and impact of creating and maintaining traditions will more than outweigh the work involved. The joy and connectedness you feel will make you realize it is all worthwhile.
Favorite Holiday Traditions
Going into the last few weeks before Christmas I am going to try and pause my busy-ness to make time for baking our favorite cookies, sitting down and watching our yearly Christmas movies, filling the advent calendars, singing along to Christmas carols and joyfully attending the yearly concert and play.
One of my favorite family traditions is decorating our Christmas tree. Each year we get the tree set up with lights and garland. Then, a few days later, we decorate the tree with all of the special ornaments we’ve collected over the years. Our kids are given a special ornament that represents something special about their year….a place they visited, a sport they played or an interest they have. As we sit together around the tree and take the ornaments out, one by one, we talk and laugh about the story or memory attached to it.
Our tree is covered in mismatched but meaningful decorations and it tells such a story. Someday, when the kids are grown and in homes of their own, I may change the tradition and have a designer looking tree in our living room. But for now, nothing is more beautiful to me than this expression of our family.
A new tradition we’ve started in the last couple of years is to volunteer at a Christmas store for those in need. We donate and wrap gifts, help people shop and provide a beautiful and meaningful Christmas experience for those who need it the most. We now look forward to this day of serving each year and find so much joy in being a part of something bigger than ourselves.
Challenge for this Week:
What are some new traditions you can start? Maybe a tradition of serving others and volunteering together as a family? Is there something from your childhood that you remember with fondness that you want to start doing now? It is never too late to start a new tradition.
I choose to see the good each day. I am a happily married mom of two teenagers who also works part-time. I write about my thoughts and observations of good thing. My goal is to inspire readers to find joy without changing their circumstances, but by merely changing their view.
This dad’s stress over his daughter’s hamster is so pure
Daniel Veerman is one devoted dad. The 53-year-old single dad was given a very special job when his 19-year-old daughter Steph went away to college—caring for the teenager’s pet hamster.
Daniel fell into a weekly routine of cleaning Chester the hamster’s cage every Sunday. When the dad/hamster caregiver took Chester out of his cage for the weekly cleaning, he’d put Chester into a clear play ball. Chester got the chance to roam (in safety), and Daniel got the chance to clean without worrying about the pint-sized pet. That is, until one Sunday when Chester made an unexpected getaway.
my dad took over my hamster once i went back to college and ended up getting really attached and today he escaped and this goes to prove how truly pure my father is pic.twitter.com/JmTJl6jFBI
What happened next resulted in a text conversation hilarious enough to go viral. Daniel called his daughter ASAP and according to Steph, in an interview with BuzzFeed, her devastated dad was “blubbering” and “couldn’t get out sentences.”
“I was having a freaking heart attack,” Daniel told Buzzfeed. The dad’s distress was palpable in the texts he sent his daughter—which Steph posted on Twitter (after Chester was found safe and sound). At one point Daniel texted his daughter, “If I can’t find him today I’m not going to work tomorrow so I can keep looking.” Steph replied to her dad, “Dad—he’s just a hamster I don’t blame you at ALL. You shouldn’t skip work you are a lawyer and he is a hamster.”
told him he had a lot of people on twitter who loved him so he did his hair and posed for this pic i’m dead i love him so much pic.twitter.com/urR2WMmeDE
The distraught dad devised a crafty plan to lure Chester back with peanut butter and treats and scatter flour on the floor (to track teeny-tiny footprints). As it turns out Daniel’s plan worked! By that night Chester made a triumphant return.
If you have this baby product, read on for important recall information.
photo: Courtesy of U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission
The current recall includes the DaVinci Bailey bassinet in gray, espresso, natural and white colors, all measuring 38 inches long by 20 inches wide and 30 inches high when fully assembled. The name DaVinci is printed on the product’s packaging, instruction manual and registration card. Each bassinet comes with its own one-inch waterproof cradle pad.
These products were sold online at Amazon.com, Buybuybaby.com, Target.com, JCPenny.com and other e-retailers from August 2018 through September 2019 and retailed for $110.
There are currently no reported injuries due to the recalled baby products. DaVinci has received 13 reports of the mattress support becoming disengaged. The initial recall was issued after DaVinci received 19 reports of bassinet legs breaking. This poses a potential fall hazard for infants who are inside.
To see if your baby’s bassinet has been recalled, look for the model number printed on a white label attached to the bassinet’s mattress support board or on the product packaging. The affected models include (by color), gray (M0934G), espresso (M0934Q), natural (M0934N) and white (M0934W).
If you have the recalled product, stop using the bassinet immediately. Contact DaVinci at 833-932-0208 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT or email at bailey@milliondollarbaby.zendesk.com. For more information, visit DaVinci’s website here and click on “Recalls” under the Help tab.
Disney’s new streaming service platform Disney+ is getting ready to launch this fall, but if you’re still on the fence about signing up for yet another subscription, you can try it out for free.
Disney+ is launching Nov. 12 and subscribers can currently sign up for the new service for $6.99 per month or $69.99 for a year. While many have already signed on for the platform that will be the ad-free home of thousands of Disney shows and movies, it’s easy to understand why you might be on the fence considering how many other subscription services are currently available.
photo: Disney
If you’re unsure about adding yet another bill (and even more excuses for screen time), you can try the Disney+ platform out for a free one week trial when it launches. New subscribers can try the platform out with full access––no strings attached for seven days. After this, you can sign up at the same rate of $6.99 per month or $69.99 for a year.
Once the Disney+ platform launches you can also score a great deal on a bundled package which includes a subscription to Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu for $12.99 a month. Signing up for all three individually would normally cost $18.
Despite being a new platform, there will be no shortage of content to stream on Disney+. The new service will include the entire Disney library, plus plenty of new films and TV shows made exclusively for the platform, like the new live-action Lady and the Tramp and the Star Wars series The Mandalorian. You can check out everything Disney+ is set to offer here.
Not being able to witness the first moment your baby enters into the world can be a down side to undergoing a cesarean section. Clear c-section drapes could give moms a whole new point of view, however.
Photos taken by birth doula and photographer Tracey Abney went viral last year because they featured the unique clear c-section drapes that allow moms to see their babies being born. The clear drape features a removable opaque drape attached to the clear one, so that the view can be blocked until the time comes for the baby to be born. Then the opaque drape is removed giving moms a clear view.
“Clear drapes help the mother feel like she is part of the birthing process,” Abney told Parents. “She can see her baby before it is taken to the warmer. She can see the baby when everyone else does, the moment the baby is born. She can match the sound of the baby’s cries while watching the quiver of the baby’s little chin.”
The clear drape is part of a growing trend called a “gentle c-section.” The idea behind this trend is to try to give moms and babies more of a bonding experience through the entire process. “A gentle C-section allows a woman to be almost as involved as if her birth was happening vaginally,” Dr. David Garfinkel, attending physician at Morristown Medical Center, and senior partner at One to One FemaleCare, in New Jersey told Parents.
Parents-to-be can discuss a birthing option like this one with their own healthcare provider.
Get ready to go back to Bayside! NBCUniversal recently announced the addition of a Saved By the Bell reboot to its new streaming service Peacock—and it’s not your only childhood fave to get an update.
Peacock, which will launch in April of 2020 with 15,000 plus hours of old faves and brand-new originals, has a slew of content in the works. Along with sci-fi dramas such as Battlestar Galactica reboot and unscripted programs from superstars such as Jimmy Fallon and Lorne Michaels, NBCUniversal’s service will also include new Saved By the Bell and Punky Brewster shows.
As of now, Saved By the Bell stars Elizabeth Berkley and Mario Lopez are already attached to the project. Reportedly, the show’s premise will follow what happens when fictional California governor Zack Morris closes too many schools and has to move new students to his alma mater Bayside High.
Even though the reboot is slated to focus on Morris, there’s still no word on whether Mark-Paul Gosselaar will reprise the role.
Not only is NBCUniversal bringing the Bayside gang back, but the new streaming service will also feature an original reboot starring Soleil Moon Frye as the adult version of her iconic Punky Brewster character.
All new parents quickly learn that when your baby can’t sleep movement is key, whether it’s rocking in your arms or in a stroller, or even in the car. That gentle motion almost guarantees at least a few minutes of tranquility, but what about when your arms give out or you don’t have the energy to walk around the block for the thousandth time? The Rockit stroller rocker is the answer you’ve been looking for.
Designed by three dads, the Rockit is a simple device that can be attached to the handle of a stroller in order to create a gentle vibration that mimics the actual movement of pushing your baby in the stroller, which means you can finally get some rest while your baby does too.
photo: Courtesy of Rockit
If the glowing reviews are any indication then the Rockit is well worth the investment. One Amazon reviewer said, “The RockIt is an absolute game changer! This product is easy to use and babies love it! It perfectly rocks your baby to sleep… All the while you are hands-free! Crying, fussy babies turn into peaceful sleepers! This product is like having a nanny in your purse! I cannot recommend this enough…”
The Rockit has a simple on/off control with a 30-minute timer––just enough to give you a moment of peace or to put the groceries away after walking in the door. The Rockit Baby Rocker is designed for use with babies newborn to 36 months and is available on Amazon for $49.99.
