ML Interest Tag: trauma

Say Hello to Transformational Parenting

By Sarah Daren

Photo: Daniela Dimitrova via Pixabay

Every parent wants the best for their child. Because you want them to succeed and probably never want them to feel sad, frustrated, embarrassed, or anxious, it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of trying to control every experience your child has. Not only is this impossible, however, but it’s also not going to set your child up for success in life.

An overbearing parenting st‌yle doesn’t usually yield the best results. So what can you do instead to raise confident, resilient kids? Take your cues from modern leadership theory and learn how to be a transformational parent.

The Power of Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership is one of the most successful leadership styles in the modern workplace because it focuses on motivating and encouraging employees instead of relying on micromanagement or authoritarian tactics. This leadership style is respectful, encourages creativity and innovation, and empowers people in the workplace to grow and thrive. Successful transformational leaders are good role models and provide inspiration, support, and guidance, but ultimately trust their employees to make good decisions and to do things their own way.

Leadership skills that you can develop from an MBA aren’t just useful for your career, but also in navigating your family and personal relationships. Transformational parenting helps kids learn strong values and become their own people. Children thrive under the power of transformational leadership and learn to become more self-sufficient, confident, and feel motivated to push themselves to greater heights.

How Kids and Teens Respond to Transformational Parenting

Today, parents must protect their children from a host of threats. Vaping, the latest danger threatening adolescents, is especially troublesome. Statistics show that 18% of eighth-graders have tried e-cigarettes, which is enough to make any parent want to watch their child 24/7. Unfortunately, you can’t protect your kids from these kinds of dangers by trying to force them to do your bidding.

Instead of using an authoritarian approach and telling your kids they’re forbidden from doing something, it’s better to use a transformational approach and encourage individual decision-making while establishing rational boundaries. This involves not only modeling the correct behavior but also explaining why limits are placed and listening carefully and responding thoughtfully to your child’s feelings and opinions on the subject.

Kids whose parents approach tough subjects like vaping with communication and respect for their views and ability to make decisions often respond by making healthy decisions, rather than rebelling against authority.

Mutually Realized Growth Through Transformational Parenting

One of the most interesting and powerful aspects of transformational parenting is that it helps both children and their parents grow, evolve, and heal. Because the transformational approach requires you to assess your own feelings and reactions when making parenting decisions, you’re likely to learn a lot about yourself and feel motivated to take responsibility for your behavior. After all, one of the essentials of transformational parenting is being a good role model.

We all have wounds from earlier in our lives, which are often acquired during childhood. It’s all too easy to pass those wounds on to our own children if we don’t consciously acknowledge them and actively rewrite the narrative for the next generation. Through transformational parenting, you will grow and heal while helping to prevent secondhand trauma in your children’s lives.

Tempering Your Expectations

At its core, transformational parenting is all about letting go of your own expectations and trusting your child to build an identity that makes them happy, fulfilled, and productive. You will guide them along the way, but good transformational parenting involves knowing when to step back.

Your child is an individual. While they may look just like you, in reality, they’re their own person with their own needs and desires. Your ambitions and visions for their life have no place in transformational parenting. If they want to become a doctor, they will. But if they want to make art and live in a commune, that’s okay too.

A lot of parenting is tempering your expectations. Your kids will do best when you encourage and support them without forcing them down a particular path. The best part? By practicing transformation parenting, you’ll probably find yourself feeling happier and more relaxed because you won’t be on edge (as much) about test scores, future athletic prospects, or college applications.

Instead, you’ll get to enjoy the ride—and see what an incredible person your child becomes.

Sarah Daren has been a consultant for startups in industries including health and wellness, wearable technology, and education. She implements her health knowledge into every aspect of her life, including her position as a yoga instructor and raising her children. Sarah enjoys watching baseball and reading on the beach. 

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Essential Life Skills Kids Learn from Playing Team Sports

By Sarah Daren

Photo: Lukas via Pexels

As a parent these days, there’s a lot of pressure to raise your kids perfectly. In reality, of course, parenting is a lifelong endeavor in trial and error. It’s just not possible to do everything right, partially because there are no clear answers to some parenting problems. Every kid and every situation is different!

With that said, some activities are known to be almost universally beneficial to kids. Participation in team sports, for instance, can teach kids valuable life lessons and help them grow into resilient, empathetic adults. Here are 5 great lessons kids can learn from playing team sports from a young age.

1. The Value of Competition

We live in a competitive world—that’s a fact. Competition can be helpful or harmful, depending on how it’s approached. Coaches and parents who emphasize effort and enjoyment in competition over simply winning and losing can help kids reap the many benefits of competition.

Experiencing competition can teach kids to push themselves and reach new heights in their abilities, gain collaboration skills by working with their team to win, and learn constructive risk-taking and goal-setting. Kids can gain so much value out of healthy competition and may become more persistent and resilient by working toward the win together.

2. The Importance of Safety

Children often feel invincible and don’t understand that safety is important in every activity. Team sports offer a lot of health benefits, but there are certain safety risks involved with participation. The injury rate for high school youth sports is about 2.9 for every 1,000 exposures and kids of any age can become injured when playing sports.

Though there are risks, participation in team sports can also help kids learn how to prevent injury in themselves and others. They’ll learn about safety equipment, best practices for warming up and cooling down, and how to conduct themselves safely during practices and games. That knowledge can transfer over to other areas of their lives and help them to prevent injuries and accidents in a range of situations.

3. The Thrill of Winning (and, the Agony of Losing)

Life is a series of ups and downs, and kids need to learn this before they enter the high-stakes world of adulthood. By participating in team sports, children can learn the thrill of winning and the agony of losing with a support system—the other members of their team. Children on sports teams learn to lift each other up when they lose and celebrate in a healthy way when they win.

4. The Healing Power of Being Part of a Team

Children who suffer from any kind of trauma, such as adopted children who are going through a transition period and may have a troubled past, can often find comfort and emotional healing in team sports. Being part of a group can help kids feel secure, loved, and accepted, which is key for moving forward after trauma such as neglect or instability.

5. The Value of Sportsmanship

One of the best life lessons kids can learn on a sports team is how to cultivate good sportsmanship and conduct. By winning and losing together, kids can learn how to take both victory and defeat with grace. High-fiving the other team, not gloating about a big win, and learning how to avoid getting angry when things don’t go their way on the field or court are all simple but important lessons that kids will learn through participation in team sports.

Sportsmanship is all about managing one’s emotions and respecting others—key life skills that build emotional intelligence and will help kids succeed later in life.

Most people look back on their experiences in youth sports with fondness. Being part of a team and becoming close with one’s teammates is an experience that makes a huge difference in kids’ lives. Life is really all about attitude, and when kids learn to have a good attitude on a team, it will serve them well in college, the workforce, and beyond.

Parents can feel good about having their kids participate in team sports. It’s a healthy way for kids to learn, grow, and gain valuable life lessons under the guidance of their coaches, teammates, and their own mistakes and successes.

Sarah Daren has been a consultant for startups in industries including health and wellness, wearable technology, and education. She implements her health knowledge into every aspect of her life, including her position as a yoga instructor and raising her children. Sarah enjoys watching baseball and reading on the beach. 

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Automakers Pledge to Make Rear-Seat Occupant Alerts Standard By 2025

by Erica Loop

Two major automaker groups, the Association of Global Automakers and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, have agreed to to make rear-seat occupant alerts standard by the 2025 model year.

The groups, which represent the majority of auto manufacturers, made this decision in response to the growing epidemic of accidental child heatstroke deaths. Even though Congress already has a bill known as HOT CARS (which stands for Helping Overcome Trauma for Children Alone in Rear Seats) in the works, the automaker groups’ proactive decision will most likely start the process before the legislation has passed.

Rear-occupant alerts would remind parents that their infants or young children are still in the back seat. According to ABC7, David Schwietert, interim CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said, “Automakers have been exploring ways to address this safety issue, and this commitment underscores how such innovations and increased awareness can help children right now.”

Even though there are still close to six years before these alert systems become standard, some cars already have them in place. General Motors has an alert reminder for all trucks, SUVs and four-door sedans (as of the 2019 model year). Hyundai is also helping to prevent parents from accidentally leaving their kiddos in the backseat unattended by pledging to make its alert system standard by 2022.

—Erica Loop

Featured photo: Sharon McCutcheon via Unsplash

 

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How to Prepare Your Kids for Natural Disasters

By Linda Mansolillo

It’s a reality that natural disasters are more common and destructive than ever, and have the potential to strike at any time. But did you know that children are one of the most vulnerable populations amidst a disaster, and also critical to a community’s recovery?

As a teacher of disaster planning and after the birth of my daughter, I was driven to ask the same questions many parents I know had as well. 1. How and when do you start to prepare a child for a natural disaster? And 2. How do you talk about it in an age appropriate manner where the conversation leaves your child feeling secure and empowered instead of more scared?

What I learned, was comforting. I found that with the more knowledge children have and practice they gain, the more prepared and resilient they can become. As parents we witness this every day. Our little ones evolve from taking tentative first steps to confidently running sprints. Like any new skill, it doesn’t happen overnight. Family preparedness needs to be practiced and developed over time.

Armed with this new knowledge, I consulted LadyBugOut advisor Dr. Susan Ko, Child Psychologist and former Co-Managing Director of the National Center for Child Trauma Stress. She shared some universal tips on how to approach the subject of disasters with children:

  • Stay calm, collected, and confident. Whatever you say, your children will remember the feeling in addition to the words. Reframe “fear” to “calm.”
  • Plan for a series of small conversations. Share knowledge clearly and often.
  • Follow your child’s lead. Encourage them to ask questions.
  • Answer questions directly. Keep it factual.
  • “I don’t know” is an opportunity to look it up together.

Since I live in a major earthquake zone (Los Angeles), I first practiced with my daughter and was inspired by the outcome. The conversation I had with her went like this, “Em! Did you know that we live in a place where the earth shakes sometimes?” I paused to give her the chance to lead the conversation. She replied, “oh-ok, but when?” My response was simple and truthful, “Honey no one knows exactly when, but if you figure it out we can retire!” The conversation ended there and she didn’t mention it again for weeks. Over time, she began asking follow-up questions about what she should do, what an earthquake might sound like and so on. To address these questions, we practiced “Drop, Cover, Hold” in various places, and even listened to a small segment of the NPR Podcast, The Big One. When the recent Ridgecrest earthquake occurred and she heard adults talking about it, she chimed in proud to share her knowledge on what to do to keep her friends safe.

My four-year old may not be the one to save our family during a quake, but through the conversations we’ve had and the practice drills we’ve done, she has built confidence and feels prepared. Through preparing for an earthquake, she is developing her resilience. What I always tell parents is to start with your own knowledge and expertise regarding their child and be authentic. You don’t need to know it all.

Regardless of the disaster type, it’s important that you:

  1. Educate yourself about the risks, resources, needs to keep your family safe in the event of a natural disaster.
  2. Focus a plan for reunification. Discuss where to meet to keep everyone safe.
  3. Have emergency supplies including food, water, medical, and safety items.
  4. Communicate this plan to your community – both locally in your neighborhood and to a dedicated out of town contact.

For each disaster type, here are the most important tips for families with small children below.

Earthquakes

  • Everyone needs to know how to “Drop, Cover and Hold on”
  • If an earthquake occurs at night discuss the importance of staying in bed with your children. Advise them to roll on to their stomachs and cover their head and neck and wait for you to come get them
  • If inside and you don’t have a large object to seek cover under, drop where you are, avoiding windows, lighting fixtures or furniture that could fall
  • If outside find an open space and stay there—move away from buildings, streetlights, or trees
  • Remember the #1 injury in an earthquake is cut feet, so tie shoes to your bed or keep sneakers underneath to protect your feet

Wildfires

  • If you see a wildfire, call 911. You may be the first person to have spotted it. Ensure your kids know this number as well
  • If emergency officials tell you to evacuate, evacuate!
  • Be aware that smoke and ash can travel for miles so to limit exposure. Stay indoors, avoid strenuous play and exercise, keep doors and windows shut and set air conditioners to recirculate air.
    • N95 masks help to keep harmful particles out of the air you breathe, but they should only be worn if they have a proper fit.
  • Turn on outside lights and leave all the lights on inside the house. This will help it be seen in heavy smoke.

Tornados

  • If you are in a building:
    • Go to a safe room such as a basement, cellar, or lowest building level, be sure to bring items of comfort for your children such as lovies or stuffed animals
    • If there is no basement, go to an inside room like a closet or hallway.
    • Stay away from corners, windows, doors, and outside walls and do not open windows.
  • If you are outside with no shelter nearby:
    • Get into a vehicle and buckle your seatbelt. Put your head down below the windows and cover your head with your hands and a blanket, coat, or other cushion.
  • If there is no car or shelter, try to find a ditch or area lower than the ground and lie down. You are safer in a low, flat location than under a bridge or highway overpass

Hurricanes

  • Stay away from windows and glass doors. They could break and hurt you.
  • Don’t go outside when the rain or winds stop. This is the eye of the storm, or a short “rest,” and it will start again.
  • If need be, stay inside a closet or a room without  windows. You can also lie on the floor under a table or sturdy object.

We know that preparing for disasters is daunting. On top of everything else to do and worry about as a parent, sometimes, the last thing you want to do is prepare. As I have worked with hundreds of families just this past year, what I always tell parents is that preparedness is a state of mind, not a one-time task. Do one thing differently tomorrow. Over time, preparedness will be a part of your family culture and each supply, task, drill, and conversation can bring your family safer, together.

This post originally appeared on Motherly.

As both a medical officer in the Air Force Reserve and a biotech strategist, Linda has combined her military and civilian career experience to found LadyBugOut. Linda has deep expertise in disaster preparedness, and believes that communities become more resilient when individuals take responsibility for preparing their families. 

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New Muppet Karli Puts Foster Care in the Spotlight on “Sesame Street”

by Erica Loop

A new friend is coming to Sesame Street! The iconic children’s show is welcoming Karli, a Muppet in foster care, as part of its Sesame Street in Communities program.

Karli and her “for-now” parents Dalia and Clem, who are also old friends of Elmo’s dad, will make appearances in three new videos—On Your Team, You Belong and A Heart Can Grow. Along with the videos, Sesame Workshop will also release The Feeling Basket storybook, feelings-centered digital interactives and tips for foster parents.

Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, Senior Vice President of U.S. Social Impact at Sesame Workshop, said in a press release, “Fostering a child takes patience, resilience, and sacrifice, and we know that caring adults hold the power to buffer the effects of traumatic experiences on young children.”

Betancourt also added, “We want foster parents and providers to hear that what they do matters—they have the enormous job of building and rebuilding family structures and children’s sense of safety. By giving the adults in children’s lives the tools they need—with help from the Sesame Street Muppets—we can help both grownups and children feel seen and heard and give them a sense of hope for the future.”

Along with the introduction of Karli, and Sesame Workshop’s foster care initiative, the Sesame Street in Communities programs provides educators, child care providers and families with resources on tough topics such as trauma, grief, homelessness and much more.

—Erica Loop

Featured photo: Courtesy of Sesame Workshop

 

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I Never Planned to Parent Through Tragedy

By Emily Scott

Photo: Emily Scott, Renewed Hope Parenting

We all have this beautiful picture of parenthood. Kids smiling. Families laughing. Wildflowers and butterflies.

But life doesn’t always turn out how we expect it to. My plan for parenting has taken many turns I didn’t expect. Sick kids. Hospital stays. Bullies. Sibling bickering. And where are the butterflies?

The biggest unexpected twist came when we had to parent through loss, trauma, and tragedy. Our home was destroyed in a California wildfire last summer and we lost everything. We were homeless with three kids and four dogs. We, quite literally, had nothing.

The weeks following the fire were the most difficult of my life. Not only did I have to manage getting myself through tragedy, but we had three small children who needed our help.

We had many hard days. Our kids missed their toys. They couldn’t understand why we couldn’t just go home. They would ask to wear clothes we no longer had. They wanted to sleep with stuffed animals that now rest in toy heaven. We had to live in a hotel room for two weeks and then had to move from rental to rental. Life was often chaotic and stressful.

But we got through it. I am often asked how we helped our kids through such a difficult experience. In all honesty, we just parented the best we could. We let them be sad. We let them miss their toys. We didn’t try to fix every sad emotion they had. We talked through the pain and hugged out the tears. We replaced the things we could, fully knowing that most of what we lost can never ever be replaced.

We parented through tragedy. We showed our kids the ashes that remained of our home. We allowed them to put handprints in the concrete when the new home construction began. We showed them how community comes together to help. We let them see how, when tragedy strikes, goodness and hope will always prevail. We didn’t let sadness take over and win. We turned tragedy into triumph.

Parenting through difficult times is a million times harder than parenting already is. Whether it’s loss, difficult diagnoses, brokenness, or any other struggle that life throws our way. It is hard. But the difficult times do not have to win.

We can choose to fight through the pain and give our kids the beautiful gift of resilience. We can help make them stronger. We may not always be able to parent with laughter and butterflies, but we can parent with hope. Hope will always win.

Emily Scott, PhD is a stay-at-home mom of three, and part time parenting consultant and blogger who has written on various topics including child development, emotional intelligence, ACEs and raising responsible kids. With a background in childhood development, she thought staying home with three kids would be a piece of cake.

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Is My Child Being Bullied? 12 Important Signs Every Parent Should Know

By Dr. Bradley Nelson

No matter the time of the school year, kids face pressure to do well in their studies along with the stress that comes with finding themselves and their place in social groups. These are the same stresses we parents faced growing up, but today there is a notable change.

The advent of mobile technology and social media has opened a world that we older generations never had to contend with when we were growing up. While it has created new ways for kids to stay in touch with their friends, it has also opened pathways for the cruelty of bullying.

Online bullying is an incessant problem. More than 43 percent of teens report being bullied online, research shows, with 70 percent of students saying they witness frequent bullying online.

Bullying includes threats, rumors, physical or verbal attacks and excluding somebody from a group on purpose. Cyberbullying includes any kind of bullying that takes place over digital devices through texts, social media, online forums—anyplace where people share content. It includes sending, posting or sharing negative, harmful, false or mean content about someone, including personal or private information that causes embarrassment or humiliation.

Why is online bullying so prevalent? One reason is that online bullies are less likely to see the results of their bullying. One study showed only 16 percent felt guilty after bullying online while 40 percent felt nothing at all. When asked why they do it, some kids say it made them feel funny, popular or powerful.

More than 80 percent of young people say bullying online is easier to get away with than bullying in person. Cyberbullies are more likely to have poor relationships with their parents, so they may not have much supervision over what they are doing online.

Kids with access to technology can be subjected to online bullying 24-7, making them feel there is no escape and leaving them feeling isolated and desperate. Cyberbullying has been linked to self-harm and suicide among young people. Kids subjected to bullying and other trauma are also more likely to carry emotional scars in the form of what I call trapped emotions. These are unresolved negative emotions that become “trapped” within the physical body, causing physical and emotional stress for years to come.

Unfortunately, many kids don’t ask for help because they are afraid of being seen as weak or a tattletale or fear backlash from the bully or rejection by friends. Teens are more than twice as likely to tell their peers about bullying than they are to tell parents or other adults, one study found.

Here are 12 warning signs parents can—and should—watch for in their kids.

  1. Emotional upset, anxiety and depression.
  2. Frequent headaches and stomach aches.
  3. Faking illness.
  4. Unexplainable injuries.
  5. Changes in eating habits.
  6. Poor sleep / frequent nightmares.
  7. A drop in school performance.
  8. Not wanting to go to school.
  9. Sudden loss of friends.
  10. Avoidance of social situations.
  11. Low self-esteem.
  12. Self-destructive behaviors including self-harm, running away or talking about suicide.

There are many things we can do to help children suffering from bullying. If you see your child struggling with any of these issues, talk with him or her about what’s going on. Talking with your children is the key to both preventing bullying and to healing the emotional trauma it can cause.

Here are some other steps you can take to help your child.

  • Help your child to know that he or she is valued and that it is safe to communicate with you.
  • Pay attention to what your child is doing online and be aware of warning signs specific to cyber bullying.
  • Encourage kids to speak with an adult they trust if they are being bullied or see other kids being bullied.
  • Talk with them about how to stand up to kids who bully and how to report bullying at their school.
  • Take action with the school and/or the bully’s parents to ensure the child’s safety.
  • Urge kids to help others who are being bullied by showing kindness or getting help.
  • Help children find and release trapped emotions. This is important both for victims and for the kids doing the bullying.

Parents of bullied kids often feel helpless, angry and frustrated. Try to keep your emotions under control so your child feels safe. And don’t neglect yourself—identifying and releasing your own trapped emotions will help you to be a better parent and fully support your child.

Dr. Bradley Nelson
Tinybeans Voices Contributor

Veteran holistic physician and author of The Emotion Code, Dr. Bradley Nelson is an expert in the emerging fields of Bioenergetic Medicine and Energy Psychology. He has certified thousands of practitioners worldwide in helping people overcome unresolved anger, depression, anxiety, loneliness and other negative emotions and the physical symptoms associated them.

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Why My “Lived-In” Home Vibe Is My New Mom Aesthetic

By Jennifer Landis

Photo: Maxpixel

We’ve all seen her on Instagram: she’s the mom who does it all. Her hair is curled, she drinks green smoothies and her kids all wear coordinated-but-not-matching outfits. And her house? Oh, that place is also perfect. Everything magically stays white in spite of the kids running around. It’s shabby chic and it stays that way all day long.

And then, there’s me.

I always pictured myself becoming the mom I described above, the one whose house looked great no matter how many kids she added to her brood. But, now that I’ve actually become a mom, I’ve realized that’s not my aesthetic at all. At. All.

Instead, I’m going with a “lived-in” vibe from now until my kids go to college. Here’s why.

I Have a Lot Going On

You might have heard, but, just in case you haven’t, I’m going to let you in on a little secret—moms are busy. Whether you have an infant or a preschooler or both, there’s just a lot to do. During the first month of my baby’s life, I was feeding her a dozen times a day. That will taper off, but the other responsibilities—everything from playing to changing diapers to cleaning spit-up to rocking my baby to sleep—will continue to be there.

Then, of course, there are the non-baby things I have to do. My preschooler keeps me running around like crazy. When I can finally get both girls down for a nap, I spend those hours working. Did I mention that I also work in this very lived-in home? The last thing on my list is to decorate my Pennsylvania home. And we all know what happens to the last thing on the to-do list—it never gets done. And I’m okay with my house being imperfect for now.

There’s No Use in Perfection

My baby is currently immobile. In a few months she’ll be old enough for tummy time and then I can look forward to her crawling, walking and wreaking havoc house-wide just like my older girl does while I’m trying to work. If I had a perfect home, the future of two little girls running around would only damage all of that carefully curated cuteness.

Let’s face it—kids are messy. They throw up, they have accidents, they spill their sippy cups. They grab markers and draw on every surface. Crumbs fall out of their mouths and into crevasses that the vacuum may or may not be able to reach. Sure, I can learn how to remove stains from my sofa, but how many times can a beautiful piece of furniture withstand that type of trauma? In my opinion, I’m better off with the basics so I can worry less about what will happen to it throughout the next 18 or so years.

I Don’t Need the Stress

Another big thing that comes with motherhood is stress. It’s not a problem that affects only moms—according to a 2017 Gallup poll, 79 percent of Americans said they felt stress sometimes or frequently throughout the day. So, there are a lot of us who experience this on a regular basis, considering more than 325 million people live in this country.

But, of course, once I gave birth to my first girl, my stress multiplied. I now have to worry not only about myself and her but also about the helpless little human in my charge. Is she crying weirdly? What does it mean? Does she have a fever? Is she still breathing in the middle of the night? These are all thoughts that race through my mind all day long and I am doing all I can to assuage them by reminding myself we’re all okay.

With this in mind, I know that my lived-in house is the perfect place for me to raise my children. I don’t feel like I need the added stress of maintaining an aesthetically pleasing design scheme. Plus, I’d worry about my girls damaging the furniture and accessories I had so thoughtfully chosen for each room. Like—to every mom with a glass coffee table—how do you not have a panic attack every day? I don’t think I want to spend my time stressing over decor when I’m already anxious enough about the responsibilities of motherhood.

I Kind of Like It Anyway

Finally—and maybe most importantly—I like the way my imperfect house looks. It might not be Instagram-worthy, but my home is the first place where my husband and I lived post-wedding. It’s where I stared in complete shock at a positive pregnancy test. And it’s where I very carefully carried both my girls through the front door for the first time. In other words, it’s special to me, no matter how it looks.

I’d like to think my lived-in vibe welcomes everyone into our home and tells them they can relax here. We’re proud of our place and we keep it clean in the hygienic way, but we also don’t care if things get a little bit messy. And, as a mom and a woman who works from home, I know that they will—so I’m just going to stick with my chill decorating st‌yle until my girls are old enough to handle a little glam.

Jennifer Landis is a mom, wife, freelance writer, and blogger. She enjoys long naps on the couch, sneaking spoonfuls of peanut butter when her kid's not looking, and binge watching Doctor Who while her kid's asleep.  She really does like her kid, though, she promises. Find her on Twitter @JenniferELandis.

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Serena Williams Is Opening Up Daughter Olympia’s Closet & You Can Buy It All

by Karly Wood

If you missed out on snagging some of Serena Williams’ clothes on Poshmark in February—when the tennis star opened her own personal closet on the site—you’re in luck. After joining Poshmark’s board of directors, the mom of one has decided she’s opening her daughter’s closet, too!

If you’re unfamiliar with Poshmark, it’s an online marketplace where consumers can buy and sell fashion. Sellers list items from their own closet and buyers can find gently used (and sometimes never-worn items) at steep discounts. Williams’ will open Olympia’s closet to raise money for a cause about which she’s very passionate.

All of the proceeds from the sale will be donated to the Yetunde Price Resource Center, which provides trauma-informed programs and ensures victims of violence have total access to resources. Olympia’s closet will be a collection of gorgeous items from brands like Burberry, Stella McCartney and Gucci, in addition to some other fun goodies!

You can start shopping Olympia’s closet at 12 p.m. EST on Thursday, Mar. 7 by visiting this link. Don’t wait––we guarantee these items won’t last.

––Karly Wood

Featured photo: Serena Williams via Instagram

 

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When Is Eliza Dushku Due? The Actress Is Pregnant with Her First

by Erica Loop

First she slayed as Buffy’s sidekick and cheered alongside Kirsten Dunst on the big screen—now she’s taking on an entirely different role—because actress Eliza Dushku is pregnant!

The actress and her husband, Peter Palandjian, recently announced that they’re expecting their first child. Dushku told Us magazine, “We’re just very excited.” The soon-to-be first-time mama also added, “We just got married in August. It’s a special year for us.”

Along with her new marriage and even newer baby bump, Dushku has plenty of other awesomeness going on in her life. The actress dished to Us, “I’ve been living in Boston. I’m about to be a senior in college. I’m studying holistic healing and addiction and trauma. And I’m newly married and I’m just so excited about this next chapter in my life.”

Dushku went on to say, “You know, I’ve been acting since I was 9 years old and I’m sort of finding these new things that I’m really excited about. It’s been a big year but a great year.”

When can we expect to see the happy couple’s new little love? As of now, it’s anyone’s guess. The pregnant mom is keeping mum on the subject. But with a reportedly visible bump, it’s likely that her due date isn’t too far off.

—Erica Loop

Featured photo: Eliza Dushku via Instagram

 

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