What do moms really want for Mother’s Day? Breck’s recently tried to answer this question with a two-part study that included an analysis of Google Trends search volumes and a survey of 700 mamas across the country.
The first part of the study looked specifically at the types of flowers googled in the week leading up to Mother’s Day in each state over the past five years. It’s no surprise that the iconic rose scored the top spot—with more searches than other flowers in a whopping 18 states.
Second place went to three different flowers: Gardenias, cyclamen, and poppies. Other highly-searched flowers across the country included crocuses (the most popular in Hawaii and Kansas) and tulips (the winner in Michigan and Indiana).
The 700-mom survey reflected the search trends, with more than 60 percent of mamas saying they would want to get roses for Mother’s Day. Forty-six percent of participants wanted tulips and 40 percent wanted lilies.
Along with flower choices, Breck’s survey also looked at Mother’s Day spending. The average gift for mom tops $67. Fifty-six percent of moms picked gardening wares as a top gift choice, 52 percent would choose food or wine, and 49 percent want clothing, jewelry, or accessories!
We all know just how much work goes into being a mom, but now there’s a study that can actually confirm it in case anyone ever dares to question how you spend your day. According to research being a mom is the equivalent of working 2.5 full-time jobs.
A study conducted by Welch’s of 2,000 moms found that they spent an average of 98 hours per week doing mom duties. Most moms “clocked in” for the day around 6:23 a.m. and “clocked out” again around 8:31 p.m. for a 14-hour day. The opt-in survey respondents had kids ranging in age from 5 to 12. Had they included moms of babies still waking in the middle of the night, it could very well be a 24-hour “work” day.
The survey showed that, on average, moms got just over one hour to themselves every day. Four out of every 10 moms surveyed said that their week felt like a never-ending list of tasks.
“The results of the survey highlight just how demanding the role of mom can be and the non-stop barrage of tasks it consists of,” said Casey Lewis, MS, RD and Health & Nutrition Lead at Welch’s.
The survey also asked what moms relied on most to help them survive the long work week. The most popular responses included coffee, wine, Netflix, wet wipes, iPads, and toys.
Some parents love packing their kids for camp. Others don’t. Either way, every parent has asked themself (and likely all their fellow camp moms and dads) the vexed question: “What do I pack?”
Being the Founder & CEO of Happy Camper Live as well as a camp director and (according to dining hall talk) a “master of the camper packing list,” I’ve gotten this question a lot. As in, 22-years-of-running-summer-camp a lot. So, naturally, a great number of things come to mind when I hear it, like different articles of clothing, towels, snacks, water (preferably in a refillable bottle), sunscreen. The list could go on. Still, there is one big thing I did not list. One big thing I recommend no child sends off to camp without. And here’s some welcome news: parents don’t need to buy a larger camp bag for it.
That’s because, strange as it may sound, this most important item can’t be packed. It can’t be stowed in a secret pouch. It can’t be zipped into a pocket. This most-important item is indeed no item at all.
It’s one good disposition.
In other words, a positive attitude.
When I first heard about “one good disposition,” I was eight years old. It was the opening day of my summer program. A storage box and duffle bag were sitting in the living room of my childhood home, almost fully packed with clothes that I had folded myself (my mother taught me how). Sidenote: I recommend parents do this since most camps have kids take care of their own clothes.
My mother had also been sewing labels into my clothing for weeks. (I also recommend parents label their campers’ clothing. It’s much easier today with peel-and-stick or iron-on tags, like the ones Mabel’s Labels makes.)
“I’m just about ready,” I thought to myself.
I took out my packing list and read the items. I wanted to make sure I had everything. My most cherished pairs of jeans (kids should pack together with parents not only to bring about in them a sense of responsibility for their belongings but also to ensure their favorites are packed), plenty of socks, swimming gear. Check, check, check. I went on reading smoothly until the last item. It gave me pause. It gave me panic.
“One good disposition.”
Of course, I wanted to know what that was and where I could get one. Was it a type of shirt? Something I put on after swimming? In the end, I was too embarrassed to ask. And so I went off to camp still excited, yet imagining I lacked this important item.
Important indeed!
Okay, so, why must a camper metaphorically pack this “one good disposition”?
It’s common knowledge that summer camp is full of magic, fun, and adventure. While certainly great in their own right, all that magic, fun, and adventure aims toward a larger purpose. No, I don’t mean archery (although camps have that, too).
I’m talking about growth.
Growth has been the main purpose of summer camp since its rise in the late 19th century. The original summer camps promised to teach kids leadership skills and to build up their character. (Of course, at that time, camp was only meant for boys.) According to American Camp Association, building character is still a central theme for summer camps.
Challenging pursuits (for example, rope courses) give campers the opportunity to try and fail and try again, teaching resilience in a judgment-free setting and, in the end, showing them the fullness of their potential. Other games help campers learn teamwork, cooperation, and communication. Time away from home promotes independence. Clean up fosters responsibility.
All these lessons make summer camp a positive, productive experience for kids. One might wonder what any of this has to do with “one good disposition.”
Well, studies show there is a tight connection between mood and growth.
According to the broaden-and-build theory developed by Barbara Fredrickson, positive emotions are internal signals that encourage “approach behavior,” which motivates individuals to engage in their environments and familiarize themselves with new people, ideas, and situations. When people are open to new ideas and actions, they expand their horizons and learn and grow as people. In my view, that’s what summer camp is all about.
Of course, I could answer the question “What do I pack?” much more literally. (Actually, I recommend parents check camp policies for what they shouldn’t pack. Often, certain items are not permitted, such as cameras and cell phones.) In other articles I’ve written, I made detailed lists of actual items to stuff in the beloved “camp bag.” One thing I always emphasize to parents is not to overpack. But there is something I would say is quite impossible to overpack.
Allison Corey Miller is the Founder and CEO of Happy Camper Live, a lifestyle brand centered around the world of summer camp. Her vision is to bring the magic of summer camp to every kid in the world 365 days of the year.
How much do babysitters make? To answer this question, UrbanSitter recently published its 10th Annual National Child Care Rates Survey!
After reviewing booking data from more than 10,000 families, UrbanSitter calculated the hourly rates of caregivers such as tutors, virtual sitters, and pod sitters. The results include national averages for different types of sitters along with regional averages.
photo courtesy of UrbanSitter
According to UrbanSitter’s stats, fifty-seven percent of parents surveyed will pay over $10,000 in child care costs this year. The national average for in-person sitting services is $18.36 per hour for one child in 2021. This is a 3.5 percent increase from 2020. The average jumps to $21.23 per hour for two kiddos—a 4.5 percent increase from 2020.
Virtual sitting services averaged $16.51 per hour and pod sitters made an average of $15.90. Tutors made more than these types of sitters, with a national average of $20.72 per hour.
If you’re wondering which region has the highest sitter rates, look to the west. San Francisco rates averaged $20.72 per hour for one child and $23.56 per hour for two kiddos. Las Vegas sitters charged the least, with an average price tag of $12.52 per hour for one kiddo and $17.18 for two.
For more information on how much American parents pay their sitters and other child care trends, visit UrbanSitter here.
For a lot of parents, the idea of becoming a step-parent would be out of the question. But for many others, when the love for a partner and their kids is so great, you don’t question your love—you solidify it.
My journey as a step-parent probably sounds the same as many others. Step-parents are widely portrayed as evil, self-serving people who have an agenda of pain and fear (thanks, Disney). A step-parent oftentimes becomes a scape-goat for issues and problems, when in reality, a lot of the personal or emotional problems probably existed prior to or after the bio-parents divorced or separated.
Someone once called me a saint for marrying a man with three kids and taking on the role of caretaker. In reality, I’m getting just as much, if not more than I’m giving. I have been given a gift of having a beautiful family, and the opportunity to learn from and teach my kids mutually.
But before you decide if marrying someone with kids is in their or your best interest, maybe you should ask yourself some of the following questions. Marrying into a blended family does have it’s challenges, and in my experience, it’s worth it. But it might not be for everyone.
1. Do I love these children as if they were my own?
2. Do I have the capacity to care for these children as if they were my own?
3. Do I know that despite loving these children, they will always put their biological mom or dad first, even if that means being loyal to their mom or dad by bad-mouthing me?
4. Do I know that I don’t know all that happened before I was in the picture, and I will never know the whole story?
5. Am I willing to learn integrate new changes, while respecting there were “other” ways of doing things before I got into the picture?
6. Do I know that in their mom’s eyes, I will (likely) always be a source of contention?
7. Do I vow to put my family first?
8. Do I vow to love myself, even when criticized?
9. Will my spouse work alongside me in parenting the children?
10. Do I believe I can add value and purpose to these kids and my partner, as well as myself?
11. Do I accept that my beloved husband or wife must maintain a healthy relationship (or try to) with his ex-spouse?
If I had the choice, I wouldn’t trade my family for anything in the world. Blended families are extremely hard, but I’m not sure raising a “non-blended” family is all that much easier. People are people and that means we are all different and we must all have patience and desire to work together.
Marvel Studios recently released a brand-new trailer for Loki—giving fans a sneak peek into the Disney+ streaming service series.
What happened after Loki took off with the Tesseract? Set after Avengers: Endgame, the new Marvel Studio series answers this question and so much more. Catch the the title character and the trouble he gets in with the Time Variance Authority in this small screen debut.
Even though you’re ready to watch a new series, fans of the Thor franchise character will have to wait until this summer to see more of Loki. Disney+ will launch Loki on Jun. 11, 2021. Like the Marvel movies, Loki stars Tom Hiddleston again in the title role. The series also stars Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku and Richard E. Grant.
While you wait for the series to start this summer, get a glimpse of Loki right now On Marvel Entertainment’s YouTube channel!
As a speech-language pathologist, one of the most common concerns I hear from parents is that their child can’t tell them about their day. This is a hard question for so many kids. To be able to talk about their day, a child needs to be able to comprehend the qestion, recall events from the day, use storytelling language, use sequencing skills, and probably recognize and understand the emotions they felt through the day.
Unless there was an exciting assembly or new event that happened, in preschool “I played” is usually an OK response. As parents, we so desperately want to hear what happened during the day and share in their joy or support their tough times. But when all they say is, “I don’t know” “Nothing” or “I played” we understandably may feel a bit frustrated. If you want to help your child develop this skill, follow these 5 tips:
1. Make the question predictable. Ask every night at dinner. Many children may begin preparing their answers if they know the question is coming.
2. Model. Start with siblings and spouses first.
3. Include your daily routine in the retelling of your day. When you do this, your child can begin to build connections between what they observe and what you tell in your story. This helps them identify what is important and gives them ideas as to what they can include in their retell.
4. Practice with pictures. If you have a particularly exciting day, snap photos. Then, sit with them and your camera roll and help them scroll through and talk about each picture.
5. Ask specific rather than broad questions to guide their thinking. Instead of “Tell me about your day,” you can ask “Who did you sit with at lunch?” “What story did you read today?” Get information from teachers on your child’s day if you can to ask even more pointed questions, and then you can model responses if your child still comes up short.
If your child is struggling with vocabulary, sentence construction, or answering questions, they may not be ready for this skill yet or professional help might be needed.
Janine Segner is a credentialed speech therapist with a decade of experience in school, outpatient medical and private practice settings. She is licensed in Virgnia and Maryland and is the owner of Expressive Speech and Feeding, a pediatric speech therapy practice in Herndon, Virginia.
It’s a massive fear for any nanny: working while the parents are still in the house. But that’s what the pandemic has served up for most of us. Everyone within the same four walls. All the time. To say that I was extremely grateful to still have my new job is a fantastic understatement—but we (yes we: me, the parents, and the kids) were all about to undergo the biggest get-to-know-you test. Ever.
All I can do is all I can do.
The initial anxiety caught in my throat: every word, every choice I made with the kids was available to be observed. I’m confident in the work I do with children, but the thought of someone looking over my shoulder every minute made me unnecessarily question almost a decade of experience. (Why?!) Once I got past the feeling of trying to impress the parents by overtly demonstrating that I could do my job, what unfolded among us all has been a fresh lesson on something I preach as the most important thing for the parent/nanny relationship. Effective communication.
The silver lining to spending more time around your mom and dad bosses…is that you get to spend more time with your mom and dad bosses. Here’s what I mean. Pre-pandemic, the nanny and the parents are simply relay runners handing off the baton. We’re working towards the same goal, but we’re doing it separately. There’s not much time for real connection. For real teamwork.
Sure, we have our regularly scheduled check-ins to ensure we discuss what’s going on with the kids and if we need to adjust any schedules or address any behavioral issues. But the quality of time we had to connect as adults was limited. It’s the dedicated time that allows us to share how that tantrum the other day is still weighing on our hearts, or how a conversation with a friend is making us question everything lately. Over time that type of connection gets built, but with all of us in the same house, it blossomed much more quickly and deeply.
And it makes sense why.
We were IN IT. Together. In real-time. Especially with my mom boss, we sorted through the scientific guidelines and best practices to keep the kids and ourselves safe. We outfitted the house with spaces for the kids to learn and the parents to work. We set up new technology systems to make everything flow easier.
All while we each sorted through our own individual emotions after having all plans thrown out a window and our greatest fears challenged: will we and those we love be ok? You know, simple stuff.
So what did “effective communication” mean for us? It meant listening to each other. Like, REALLY LISTENING to feelings, fears, questions, and concerns. And what we discovered was that in so many ways, my mom boss and I have the same thought process.
The guilt that drives her to always know and feel the need to be a MOM (even when there’s someone there to help), that makes her feel like there’s always something more she could/should be doing, that doesn’t allow her to be “off” when she’s off.
As the nanny, I feel every single one of those things too.
I’m thinking and worrying about the kids when I’m not on the clock, I find it difficult to accept a break when given one because I worry I haven’t done enough to earn one. I’m constantly nervous that I’m not living up to expectations or what the kids need me to be.
The commonality here is that we’re both carrying an unnecessary burden that we’ve placed on ourselves. It’s only the voices in our heads that are telling us we aren’t enough. One person can’t do it all—obviously—that’s why we’re a team.
You know how in most sports movies the team is filled with talented players who all have something to offer, but they still keep coming up short? The inspirational montage that typically follows involves them spending time to get to know each other—both in practice and in real life. It’s the time spent understanding how each teammate thinks and feels that allows everyone to support and encourage them to be their best selves and helps the team gel and work as one.
The work-from-home experience of the pandemic has provided the opportunity for me and my parent bosses to have our team-building montage much sooner and more quickly than a pre-pandemic experience. But the question is, once things are “back to normal,” how do parents and caregivers continue to connect in this way?
In thinking about the eventual next new family I’ll be working with, there are few things that I’ll be prioritizing even more. The first is a special kind of “first day of work.” Instead of only having an extra 30-60 minutes to transition things at the beginning of my first day of work, I’m going to coordinate a family experience in which we’re all just spending time together and having fun. This could be a group outing to the zoo, an evening of playing board games, or sitting around a fire pit making s’mores. It’s important that we start our relationship off on a personal foot
The next thing I’m going to prioritize is quality time with my mom boss. Whether this is staying for an hour after she gets home to have a glass of wine together, or coordinating with dad so we can spend an afternoon away together. Life is too short for us to silently process through the same struggles alone.
If there’s anyone that can truly relate to my struggles in caring for kids, it’s their mom. If there’s anyone that can truly relate to her womanhood and raising kids, it’s me. And when we’re at that level of understanding, we can better support each other by reminding ourselves that: All I can do is all I can do.
For the past 11 years I’ve grown a career in the professional Nanny industry helping successful families thrive in the home and in the office by holding down the fort managing all things relative to their children.
My mission is to help others live a life of less stress and more joy by finding valuable products and resources for parents that help them achieve that very thing.
Pinkalicious fans rejoice! HarperCollins Children’s Books recently announced the newest addition to the beloved series—Rubylicious!
Next fall your literary-loving littles can get their hands on the latest adventure of the iconic Pinkalicious character. Authored by series writer Victoria Kann, this all-new picture book tells the story of Pinkalicious, her brother Peter and Rocky.
photo courtesy of PR Newswire
When Pinkalicious hunts through her rock collection for stones, Rocky pops out to grant the book’s main character her one true wish. What will Pinkalicious wish for? To answer that question, you’ll have to wait for the book’s debut!
Rubylicious includes themes of generosity of selflessness that will help your child to learn, grown, and develop. Author Victoria Kann said, in a press release, “It is truly an honor for me to be able to write and illustrate the Pinkalicious book series.” Kann added, “I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to create stories, characters, and art that children connect with. I hope that readers will find joy, humor, comfort, and inspiration with my newest picture book, Rubylicious, which is about overcoming fear, being generous, and discovering a wish that is truly meaningful.”
Antonia Markiet, Editorial Director, HarperCollins Children’s Books, also said, “As the publishers of Victoria Kann’sPinkalicious series for over fifteen years, we’re delighted to present the latest addition to the series, Rubylicious! Joyous, playful, and as imaginative as ever, it opens a door to a theme that children and parents can explore together—the importance of kindness.”
Rubylicious will make its grand debut Sep. 28, 2021. You can preorder on Amazon for $18.99.
I love you. Three simple words that most of us throw around loosely and take for granted.
We say them when we hang up the phone, when a loved one leaves the house, and when we kiss our little one good night. And sometimes just out of habit. It’s something a mother hears a million times over a lifetime—unless your child is nonverbal. Then you might never hear it.
It’s one of those things that most don’t even think about. I have told my daughter “I love you“ every day multiple times a day for her whole life. She begins to respond and say, “You too” and then makes the kiss sound, which I will do back and she will do again and I will do back—you get the picture. And that’s okay, I’ll take it. It’s her way, and she didn’t start doing that until she was in her upper teens. It’s still special to us.
This past summer, she said “I love you” unprompted, on her own, for the first time ever. She has only said it two other times since then—it is wonderful every time. It’s quick and not 100 percent clear so you have to listen, pay attention.
There are some that question if people with autism display emotions. I have no doubt my daughter loves—I know she does, and I don’t need the words, but they are nice to hear. I think for her to say it, she has to truly feel it and be happy and content. The same thing with unprompted hugs and kisses. She does them, but they are rare. Lots of hugs on command but not on her own. That makes them all the more rewarding.
Yesterday on her way to school, she was standing by the car and I was getting her stuff, and she said, simply, “I love you.“ It’s so shocking still. It makes me feel so happy, and of course, I say, “You do!?! Thank you!” And make a big deal out of it.
The thing with autism and having someone nonverbal in your life. You learn to appreciate the little things. In fact, the little things are not so little. You have to open your heart and listen. When you think you hear something, you have to believe. Believe in your child. Believe in your love and believe in what the future may bring.
Kim McIsaac , is a blogger at autism adventures with Alyssa . She resides in Massachusetts with her husband and four children . She advocates and passionate about spreading autism awareness and educating and inspiring others . She likes to write , spend time with her family and loves the beach .
