2020 has been a year for the books, with many families spending more time apart then ever. To help you feel connected, Ancestry has just announced a huge sale on some amazing products that are perfect for the upcoming holiday season.
From Nov. 1 through Nov. 23, you can catch huge savings on Ancestry Subscriptions, AncestryDNA and AncestryHealth test kits. Keep scrolling to see the deets!
Ancestry Online Gift Subscriptions
Give the gift of family this year and save 20 percent on a gift subscription. For $79.20, you can give a friend or family member access to the largest collection of online records to build the details of their family tree.
Normally you'd be paying $179 for this kit, but it's now on sale for $119. AncestryHealth will give you better insight into inherited health conditions, genetic conditions and traits.
Everyone’s favorite puppy friends will be paying homage to everyone’s favorite neighbor in Disney Junior’s “Puppy Dog Pals” newest episode. Join Bingo and Rolly as they go on a mission to find Mr. Kimble’s (voiced by “Hawaii Five-O” star Chi McBride) favorite green sweater. Accompanied by Mr. Kimble’s dog Floyd (voiced by “The Resident” star Malcolm-Jamal Warner), it’s an exciting adventure for everyone—will they find the sweater in time for Mr. Kimble’s next show?
While the sweater might be green instead of red, and there’s a puppy sidekick instead of puppets, this sweet homage to “Mister Roger’s Neighborhood” shows the resilience and influence the iconic kids’ show has on today’s culture.
Disney’s Junior’s “Puppy Dog Pals” “Won’t You Be My Puppy Pal” premieres Friday, Aug. 14 at 9:30 a.m. ET/PT on Disney Channel and in DisneyNOW.
Have your coffee and eat it too. Post Consumer Brands and Dunkin’ have teamed up to bring you two new cereals made with Dunkin’ coffee. Dunkin’ Caramel Macchiato and Mocha Latte, are set to hit store shelves this August.
These new cereals were inspired by Dunkin’ fans’ two favorite flavors and mark the first collaboration between Post and Dunkin’.
Post Dunkin’ Caramel Macchiato cereal is brought to life with crunchy cereal pieces and caramel-swirled marshmallows, creating the deliciously indulgent taste of the layered iced coffee beverage.
Post Dunkin’ Mocha Latte cereal features a hint of chocolate and latte-swirled marshmallows in honor of its namesake espresso. The new cereals contain very small amounts of caffeine, roughly a 10th of a cup of coffee, so all can indulge in the rich coffee-forward experience.
“Coffee and cereal are the ultimate breakfast go-tos, ranking as the top two most consumed items to help people start their day,” said Josh Jans, Brand Manager of Cereal Partnerships at Post Consumer Brands. “Dunkin’ coffee is a daily ritual for Americans, and we’re excited to be partnering with them to indulge their fans’ coffee cravings. Getting the flavor right on our new cereals was a top priority, and we think we’ve nailed the rich, smooth and creamy taste.”
“We love delighting customers with surprising new ways to enjoy the great taste of Dunkin’. For our fans who already start their days with Dunkin’, this gives them another way to experience their favorite flavors,” said Brian Gilbert, Vice President of Retail Business Development at Dunkin’. “The Post Cereals team has done an excellent job of paying homage to the Caramel Macchiato and Mocha Latte with these new cereals. We can’t wait to see how customers enjoy them.”
Now more than ever customers are paying close attention to where they are spending their money and which brands they are supporting. Target is helping to support Black-owned and Black-founded beauty brands. Now it is even easier for shoppers to identify these businesses at Target thanks to a special badge the retailer recently debuted.
Courtesy of Target.com
The new badge is a brown circle featuring five skin tone colored hearts within it. It can be located in the “At a glance” section next to the other product badges on Target’s website. In the beauty section you will find this badge on Black-owned brands such as Shea Moisture, The Lip Bar and Alikay Naturals. Now shoppers will be able to easily find and support more Black-owned beauty brands.
Editor’s note: Our Spoke contributor, Jen Lumanlan at Your Parenting Mojo, wrote this piece in March of 2019 but we are republishing it as its a timely and relevant discussion to have right now.
Photo: monkeybusinessimages/iStock
My four-year-old daughter and I read a book about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., recently, which told the typical story about social segregation (a cursory skim of lunch counters, water fountains, schools, followed by “I have a dream…”). But like most children’s books on this topic it left much unsaid.
When young children learn about Dr. King they are usually left with the impression that because social segregation is now illegal, structural racism no longer exists. So after we finished ours we talked about less visible but far more pernicious political and social segregation and how these continue today.
My daughter said she thought we should try to help black people through a donation of some of her pocket money portioned off for “Giving,” so I augmented her $4 with a larger sum of my own and shipped the total off to Black Lives Matter.
We’ve done our part, right?
Realizing I have white privilege in parenting
If you had asked me a year ago if I (a white mother of a biracial but white-presenting daughter) had white privilege in my parenting I would have said “Um, I don’t think so. What is that, anyway?”
The first inkling that I got of white privilege in parenting came from listening to a podcast in which the black host said that a lot of black parents—and particularly parents of black boys—would not feel safe allowing their child to have a tantrum in a public place.
I felt like a massive window had opened through which an incredibly bright light shone. The light prevented me from seeing anything else—yet—but I knew there was more to be discovered.
Of course my daughter has had tantrums in a public place. Of course I felt judged—like the passers-by were thinking that I should be able to control my child—but at no time did I ever feel like she nor I were unsafe: and nor did the thought that we might be unsafe ever even occur to me.
This, I learned, was what white privilege in parenting looks like.
An ongoing journey
Once I started looking for my privilege, I found it everywhere:
My daughter can take a snack into a grocery store and her lovey into a toy store and not be accused of stealing.
Unless we specifically look for books, TV shows and movies featuring diverse characters, any media we view is likely to feature characters that look like my daughter.
If my daughter and her friends want to play with Nerf guns then I don’t have to worry about her getting shot by a police officer who mistakes her for being a threat.
My preparation for going on vacation involves booking travel and a place to stay, not checking to see whether our destination is safe for my daughter.
My daughter’s preschool gives preference to families who already have friends in the school. It was very handy for us when we needed a spot at the last minute. Now I see it also makes it harder for non-white families to get in.
If my daughter is ever rejected from a place in a school or program, I can be pretty sure it’s because they don’t have space, not because “she just won’t fit in.”
I can choose a school based on the high test scores its students achieve and know that most of the children at the school likely look like my daughter and that the educational environment is set up for her success.
I have networks of friends, colleagues and even online parenting groups that are mostly white who share information on how to gain access to resources in the school system.
My daughter will be able to break rules like “no hoods up in school” without fear of detention, cumulative detentions leading to suspension and cumulative suspensions leading to expulsion.
I know that my daughter’s teacher will understand her when she speaks and that her contributions in class will be seen as valuable. Because of this, I know that if she is referred for special education services it is likely because she has a learning disability and not because the teacher doesn’t understand her or because she is perceived as ‘acting out’ in class.
If I believe that my daughter’s intelligence is at least average, I can probably get her admitted to a Gifted & Talented program where she will be surrounded by children who mostly look like her and where she will take classes that increase the chances she will be accepted into an elite college and later a high-paying job.
When my daughter learns about history, she will see the many contributions that people who look like her have made in the world.
When my daughter interacts with healthcare professionals, she will be believed if she says she is in pain.
If my daughter ever interacts with the criminal justice system, I can be reasonably sure that the consequences will be minimal—especially if I appear in court to show my support.
If I choose not to teach my daughter about prejudice or structural racism, there will be no serious consequence for me or for her.
By remaining silent about privilege, I am helping to perpetuate my child’s advantage in life. Because there’s only a certain amount of advantage to go around, right? Surely, if I help another child, then my own child’s chance at getting into an elite school and a high-paying job afterward must be necessarily reduced?
But getting good grades won’t be enough for success in the future: our children will need to know how to solve problems alongside people from many backgrounds. They will have to think critically, not just memorize names and dates. They will need to creatively innovate solutions to enormous problems, not just optimize the number of widgets sold. Our work to reduce our privilege—and allowing our children to see and understand this as we’re doing it—will be the thing that both benefits them and all children in the future.
What you can do when you recognize your own privilege
You can’t just read a book and consider your work with privilege to be ‘done.’ The work of understanding and mitigating your privilege will be a life-long practice. Here are three practical steps you can take in the short term:
Examine your own privilege, so you can truly see the injustices you have perpetuated, even if unintentionally. It’s only when you deeply understand your own role in the system that you can take steps to right the wrongs that your privilege has created. Layla Saad’s Me and White Supremacy workbook is an excellent resource to help you do this work (it’s available for free but please, pay her).
For resources specifically related to parenting, listen to my podcast episodes on white privilege in parenting and white privilege in schools (more episodes on related topics will follow in the coming weeks – if you subscribe, you’ll be notified when they’re released).
Look for areas of your life where you have power and focus your first attempts to reduce your privilege there. Write or call organizations with policies that give you an advantage and ask for the policies to be changed. If your child is offered a place in a free summer camp but you could afford to pay for a private camp, then send your child to the free camp and set up a scholarship at the private camp.
If you or your child witnesses prejudiced words or racist actions, don’t just withdraw your child to a ‘safe’ environment: make it clear that these words and actions are not to be tolerated. Talk with your white friends about privilege and about steps you can take together.
Listen to the voices of people of non-dominant cultures and lift these up (without making your voice louder than theirs). Make sure they can speak—and be truly heard—at PTA meetings. Don’t write their concerns off as ‘invalid,’ even if they are expressed in a different way than you express your concerns.
Elect them to positions of power. Help them to achieve their goals. You just might find that in doing this, you will take action that benefits all children.
Jen Lumanlan fills the gaps in her parenting intuition through research, via a Master’s in Psychology (Child Development) and another in Education. Her podcast, Your Parenting Mojo, provides rigorous yet accessible information on parenting and child development to help parents tame the overwhelm and raise resilient, thriving children.
We had the opportunity to interview Tim Allen, the CEO of Care.com, the digital platform that provides comprehensive solutions for finding, managing, and paying for childcare and more, about what life might look like this summer and how working parents can navigate the future during this new, quarantine-style world.
How do parents navigate going back to their workplaces while schools and daycares remain closed?
“One thing that’s been abundantly clear to everyone these last few months is that childcare is simply essential for working parents. That means that access to childcare will be critical to our economic recovery. In fact, in a recent survey, we did with our members, of the more than 1,000 who responded 98% said childcare is crucial for them to get back to work. With daycares and schools closed, we expect that more families will look to hire in-home caregivers as parents return to their workplaces. In-home care is in abundant supply with a workforce of professional nannies, displaced teachers, daycare workers, and college students. In addition, having one person come to your home to care for your children is far less daunting to some parents right now because it enables them to more closely manage the number of people with whom their kids are in contact and to control the environment with things like regular handwashing.”
What are you hearing from parents about those concerns going forward?
“They are concerned about bringing caregivers into their homes and concerned about their kids going back to daycare. In our survey, more than half said they wouldn’t feel comfortable putting their child back in daycare and ¾ of those parents say they’re now more likely to hire in-home care. As a parent myself, I get it and expect that this will be an on-going discussion in most households for many months. At the end of the day, each parent has to make the decision that best suits their family.”
What do you think the childcare landscape will look like in the coming months?
“Clearly there will be changes inside daycares to control class sizes, interactions and the ability to keep things sanitized. Exactly what they will look like remains to be seen; we’re watching some of the European countries who are slowly started to re-open. And again, with daycares closed and even after they reopen, we anticipate many families will turn to in-home care as their new childcare solution.”
What about the summer?
“Many camps and summer programs are canceled. While it’s true that many camps and traditional summer programs are canceled, there is actually some good news: we parents have some time to solve for that and make alternate arrangements. One of the most challenging aspects of the last few months was how quickly schools and daycares closed. Overnight, we were all scrambling to be stand-in teachers as well as parents all while trying to work. Now with the luxury of a little advance notice, we can make new plans. Not surprisingly, most of the camps and extracurricular programs are being adapted for a digital world. We have a service—Care.com Explore—where thousands of classes and programs are now available virtually. From music to video production to art to science…it’s all there and you can put together a pretty fun summer for your kids.”
If parents are hiring nannies or sitters, what should they do to ensure a healthy environment, given the pandemic?
“It’s essential that parents and caregivers have candid conversations on this and are clear about expectations while on the job. When a caregiver is in your home and with your child, you have the right to set the house rules. For clarity, we encourage parents to have a nanny contract where everything is mapped out from salary and hours to responsibilities and yes, to expectations about maintaining certain protocols surrounding COVID-19. We encourage both families and caregivers to follow the CDC protocol guidelines and, on our website, we have recommendations on specific questions to ask during the interview process to help ease concerns.”
What else should parents think about going forward?
“The parent/caregiver relationship is unique. On the one hand, the caregiver becomes a part of your family; after all, you’re entrusting them with your child. On the other hand, you’re now a household employer and that comes with certain obligations, like paying your caregiver over the table. Our Care.com HomePay team often hears from parents who are concerned that their caregiver won’t want to be paid on the books and here’s what we counsel them:
Paying your caregiver legally is more than just the law; it’s protection for the caregiver, someone who is now a part of your family. During these last few months, while parents have been home, caregivers who’d been paid legally had access to paid sick leave, paid time off, and unemployment benefits, as well as any help offered by the federal government. Those were real benefits and real dollars at a time when it was desperately needed. As parents look to hire in-home caregivers, we urge them to start the relationship on the right foot: paying above board. Is there anything else you’re hearing from parents right now? Knowing how intertwined care and work are, we were curious if these last few months have influenced how parents think about childcare from a policy standpoint, so we asked some questions in our survey and the results were eye-opening. A whopping 92% feel that childcare is something that should get more attention from the government and 68% said that childcare policies will impact how they vote in the election this November. I think it’s fair to say that childcare is a topic we’re going to be talking about for quite some time.”
A lifestyle writer whose work can be seen in Red Tricycle, Money.com, Livestrong.com and Redbook. When she’s not checking out new events, museums, and restaurants to keep her and her kids entertained, she can be found wandering around flea markets and thrift stores looking for cool vintage finds.
My parents both came from typical middle-class families, and until I was a teenager, they were making a comfortable living. When I was 13, their software company went public and they literally became wealthy over night, which significantly altered our standard of living. They constantly hammered home their one money mantra–live below your means–but that meant very little to me without any context. Lucky as my hand was, my parents made a few key mistakes when it came to teaching me about money, and it wholly affected the way I understood and spent money. I’ve vowed to do it differently for my kids.
1. Not Talking About Money. My parents never talked about money–not how much they made, not how to invest, not how to budget. Coming from relatively humble beginnings, I actually think it was a defense mechanism to try to keep us grounded. They didn’t want us to know how much money we had. But I grew up with literally no sense of the value of a dollar. I paid for law school by borrowing the maximum amount allowed all three years and nearly passed out when I found out I had accumulated just under $200,000 in student loans and was expected to pay $1,500 per month for the next 25 years. I could have easily cut out a huge chunk of the cost by finding a cheaper school, living with a roommate, eating out less, paying for some of it in real time with a part-time job, or any combination thereof.
While I’m not necessarily a proponent of telling my kids how much money we make, we do try to talk about money in general terms even with our toddler. When possible, we let her engage in the money exchange process and talk about the concept of paying for goods and services. She understands the foundation, because we’ll often hear her parrot back to us that you need to work hard to buy things you want. Since we mostly pay using our credit cards, this is where we hammer home my parents’ mantra–living below our means. In our family, we use credit cards to build credit, but we only spend what we can pay off in full each month. Each family has to decide for itself how detailed to get, but money should be a regular topic of conversation so kids can grasp the concept in its most general sense.
2. Not Teaching Me to Manage My Money. Until I finished undergrad, I was completely financially dependent on my parents. Although I worked part-time since I was 16, whatever money I made was just fun money. What’s more, my parents gave me a “budget” while in college, but they paid for everything from tuition, room and board, car payment, insurance, cell phone—I even had a credit card they paid off for gas, incidentals, and food—so I now lovingly refer to their so-called budget as an “allotment of money,” since I wasn’t required to make any sort of plan about how to spend it. When I think about how many thousands of dollars I earned between summer jobs and my money allotment, I can only laugh at the missed opportunities to save and invest in my future.
While my children are currently too young to do any substantive money management, we have explained to our three year old the basics of saving, spending, and giving. She has a savings account and a college fund, and when she receives money for birthdays or holidays, we discuss the different ways to allocate it. She doesn’t quite get it yet, but we want her to handle money management as early as possible, so it’s not as novel to her as an adult as it was for me.
3. Never Explaining Investment Basics. Part of this was circumstance. Like many families, my parents really weren’t investing. They just didn’t have the expendable income to do so before their company went public. They saved for emergencies, but I’d be surprised if they had an investment account before they came into significant money in their 40s. I’m sure I learned the basics about compound interest in a junior high math class, and we “invested” money and followed 5 stocks in my high school economics class, but that was the full extent of my understanding of investments.
With our toddler, my husband created the “bank of mom and dad” where she can “invest” and receive a guaranteed return on her money. She received $2.00 in spare change recently, and we told her the kinds of things she might be able to buy for $2.00 and offered an alternative to invest it with the Bank of Mom and Dad and let her money grow over time so she could buy something better. Again, at three years old, I’m not sure she fully grasped the concept, but she opted to invest. As she and her brother get older, we will let them make more significant investment decisions.
Money is a sensitive subject, and there’s no one right way to handle it. But I firmly believe the more children understand money, the better equipped they will be to manage it wisely.
Keren is a business owner x2 (flat-fee lawyer and digital marketing operations) in active pursuit of the elusive work-life balance. With a couple of demanding jobs, a husband who travels for work and two little kids, she maintains her sanity by reading and engaging in inappropriate banter with friends, family and strangers.
Yabba Dabba Doo! PEBBLES cereal wants to inspire kids’ imaginations and teach them something new over the next 30 days. Starting Wed., Apr. 15, PEBBLES cereal will post a daily video on Facebook, Instagram and the PEBBLES cereal website.
The videos will feature artists and creators whose work has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including artists, dancers, chefs, crafters, magicians and more. In addition to sparking kids’ creativity, the series aims to give parents a short break and support the creative community by hiring them to share their talents. In exchange for their talents, PEBBLES cereal is paying each creator $1,500, which is roughly the monthly U.S. median housing cost.
“PEBBLES cereal has a long history of inspiring kids and kids at heart to create and do,” said Amy Brothers, Brand Manager for PEBBLES. “We felt that at this time, it was important for us to show up to inspire kids and support the creative community.”
Each video will feature a unique activity that kids can do with minimal supervision, and will require only items readily available in most homes. The videos will start with the creator introducing themselves and telling the kids about their talent before they teach kids how to do something new. Parents are invited to join in on the fun too!
The videos will be released daily at 6 a.m. ET, so kids and parents can view the lessons together over breakfast.
“The creative community needs our support now more than ever,” said Brothers. “We are excited to partner with a creative group of people to share their talents through the ‘Daily YABBA DABBA DOO’ video series.”
Sittercity has been a valuable resource for parents looking to find nannies and babysitters for nearly 20 years. You post your job, review profiles for applicants and pick a caregiver who fits your family. It’s that simple. With many parents temporarily working from home and juggling homeschooling, Sittercity has scaled their business model to lend a hand virtually. Find out how this service that simplified childcare is getting creative with supporting Chicago families.
photo: Sittercity
Sittercity Goes Virtual
It might sound a wee bit like something straight out of The Jetsons, but Eizabeth Harz, mom of 2 and CEO of Sittercity, has introduced a virtual arm to childcare. You won’t have The Jetson’s Rosie flitting about, cleaning spills and making meals, but you will have a professional to engage your kids digitally for a short period of time so you can work, or take a breather, in peace. You can utilize Sittercity’s pool of stellar resources to assist with schoolwork or engage your child in an interactive game online.
Is it Safe?
Even though this person won’t physically be in your home, Sittercity recommends you still go through the same vetting process you would for any other babysitting experience. They encourage you to never leave your child unattended, the sitter is not able to physically supervise or control your child via video, and to review with the sitter any planned activities to determine what’s appropriate for your child.
How Much Do You Pay a Virtual Sitter?
You can post a job and browse sitters for free. Regularly priced subscription plans are $35 for one month, $70 for three months or $140 for 12 months. However, they are currently offering 50% off full premium access for one month.
While the responsibilities are different for a virtual sitting session vs an in-person experience, paying the standard rate, if you’re able, is appreciated. According to Sittercity, the average hourly rate in Chicago, and the nation, is $16.50/hour. If you’re curious to see how Chicago stacks up, you can view their chart that lists average hourly childcare rates in top U.S. cities.
Extra Support for Chicago’s Essential Workers
We’ve been instructed to stay home and socially distance as much as possible, but for many Chicagoans deemed as essential, this is an impossibility. This creates a tricky situation with their kids home from school, still in need of supervision.
Sittercity has partnered with the City of Chicago to launch Chicago Responds, a program that helps the city’s essential workforce by connecting them to volunteers to help care for their families. Frontline workers who sign up will receive three free months of Sittercity Premium. If you’re an essential worker who needs assistance or would like to volunteer to care for their kids, click here.
As a parent, there are just some things you always do by the book. You would never forget to buckle your daughter into her car seat or leave your sitter without an emergency contact. And, how you pay your nanny, sitter, in-home caregiver or housekeeper shouldn’t be any different. Beyond tax deductions for you, paying your caregivers legally offers many benefits for the ones you entrust with your loved ones. If you need help navigating how to pay legally or simply want to know why it’s beneficial for you both in the long run, Care.com HomePay is here to help. Read on to learn more about this highly rated, underutilized service most parents should be using but aren’t.
1. Are you hiring help this year? Here’s what you need to know
Are you hiring a nanny, an in-home caregiver, a housekeeper or personal assistant this year? According to the IRS, you now have a “household employee.” And if you pay them $2,200 or more per year, guess what? You owe taxes. Thankfully, HomePay makes it easy to manage what can feel like a daunting undertaking on top of everything else you do for your family.
2. Paying your nanny legally benefits everyone
Cutting a weekly check may seem like the easiest option at the time (for both of you), but did you know there are many benefits to paying your nanny and other caregivers legally?
You can save money by taking advantage of tax breaks.
You won’t have to worry about getting audited and owing thousands of dollars in back taxes and fines.
Your caregiver can build traceable employment history as well as increase his or her future retirement benefits.
He or she can work toward eligibility for premium-free Medicare hospital insurance.
When your family no longer needs care, your caregiver can receive unemployment benefits until he or she finds a new job.
3. Here’s how HomePay can help
With easy-to-use tools, HomePay breaks down otherwise complex and time-consuming tasks. Here are some of the services they offer that streamline everything from payday to tax time:
HomePay files state and federal tax returns and payments on your behalf, prepping year-end tax docs and W-4 forms.
No need to keep up to date on the most recent tax laws. HomePay stays on top of changes in tax laws as well as tax breaks that can save you money.
HomePay can help with payroll, HR support and budget planning, saving you time and alleviating stress.
4. It’s easy—and recommended HomePay is the trusted source for household employment, serving 60,000 families over the past 25 years. They are highly rated with 96% of their customers recommending their services. Since 1992, HomePay has filed over $2 million in tax filings and processed over $4 billion through their payroll services. With HomePay, customers enjoy concierge support where no question is too small, and no problem is too big for their experts.
You can get started today by calling 877-367-1976 for a free consultation or sign up today on Care.com HomePay.
Disclaimer: We are not tax professionals. The content herein is not intended to be a substitute for professional tax advice.
