From Grandmother to Granddaughter, Passing Along Religious Traditions

When parents are absent or uninterested in spirituality, a grandparent often steps in

By Clare Ansberry, WSJ

Kathy Reveille began taking her granddaughter, Bianca, to church because no one else did.

Bianca’s mother was Catholic and her father was Baptist. They couldn’t agree on what church to attend so they didn’t go. “I really wanted to belong to a church. I didn’t care what kind,” says Bianca, who is turning 15 this week. She always felt she was missing something, she says. The absence became more pronounced after her father died.

“That’s when the big questions come up,” says her grandmother, Ms. Reveille. “I stepped into the gap.”

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YouTube Kids Is Google’s First App Designed for Children

New app gives parents more control over their children's YouTube browsing.

by D. Frank Smith, EdTechMagazine
One of the world’s most powerful online educational tools just got a new, kid-friendly package.

On Monday, Google released YouTube Kids for free on Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. In a blog post on YouTube, the app is billed as "the first Google product built from the ground up with little ones in mind" and one that makes browsing the video site’s massive library safe and easy for kids.

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Reclaiming the Spark

 By Tzipi Sutin for jnmagazine.com
I have a confession: Shabbos isn’t so fun for me. During the week I’m busy taking care of my toddler, cleaning and organizing the house, preparing meals, running errands and helping grow a small doula business. By the time Thursday night or Friday morning arrives, I have very little energy left to put together a 4-course meal.

I tried for a while. I would stay up very late or wake up very early and make sure the house was just perfect and that each recipe was prepared with loving tenderness and deep kavanah. My husband didn’t like to make early Shabbos so I would try to keep my daughter up for Kiddush and Hamotzi but it didn’t always work, and if it did her sleep schedule was so twisted that the next day was awful.

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To the Woman at Target Who Shamed Me & My Son

Rachel Wallenstein for Kveller

Out of the corner of my eye, as I was pushing my cart with my shrieking 3.5-year-old to our car in 86 degree heat, I saw you watching me. I promptly forgot, though, as I was hyper focused on getting my son safely in the car to calm down.

When you knocked on my window, as I was about to start driving, I hesitated because I had a feeling I knew why you were there. Still, I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt; maybe you needed some help. The pamphlet on “Discipline” that you tried to give me, and then–when I declined–placed on my windshield, made me laugh heartily. Especially because after you first tried to hand it to me, I simply said, “No thanks, my son has autism and is having a meltdown–not a tantrum.” Then you said, “It still applies.”

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The Trip to Costco That Made Me Cry

Maurie Backman for Kveller.com

Last week, with my mom around to help me out at home, I decided to take advantage and drive over to Costco to stock up on some much-needed potato chips supplies. I had to time my outing perfectly so as not to leave my mother with two screaming newborns on her hands, so the moment I finished changing and feeding them, I grabbed my toddler and immediately jumped into the car. Taking my son along would undoubtedly slow things down, and I only had a short window of time before my girls would need to eat again (ah, the joys of nursing twins). But there’s a reason I chose to bring him, and in hindsight, I’m thankful I did.

My 3-year-old loves Costco–as in, he’d pass up a trip to Toys R Us any day of the week for a chance to walk those massive warehouse aisles, taking in his surroundings while sampling freebies. Now as anyone who frequents Costco knows, weekday food distribution can be very hit or miss. Sometimes they’ll have so many food samples on hand it’s enough to skip your next meal; but other times, you’ll be lucky to snag a shot-sized cup of Vitamin Water in the very back corner.

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Harvard psychologists have been studying what it takes to raise 'good' kids. Here are 6 tips

Curator: Maz Ali for Upworthy

Help unlock your child's best self with a few tried-and-true strategies.

A lot of parents are tired of being told how technology is screwing up their kids.

Moms and dads of the digital age are well aware of the growing competition for their children's attention, and they're bombarded at each turn of the page or click of the mouse with both cutting-edge ideas and newfound worries for raising great kids.

But beneath the madness of modernity, the basics of raising a moral child haven't really changed.

Parents want their kids to achieve their goals and find happiness, but Harvard researchers believe that doesn't have to come at the expense of kindness and empathy. They say a few tried-and-true strategies remain the best ways to mold your kids into the morally upstanding and goals-oriented humans you want them to be. Here are six practical tips:

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The Myth of Perfect Parenting

Three ways to let go of impossible expectations and embrace imperfection.

by Adina Soclof for aish.com

Many mothers, and some fathers too, have shared with me their insecurities about parenting. All their questions and concerns have one underlying theme: Am I doing this parenting thing right? Am I really a good parent?

This pressure seems to be a modern phenomenon. In the early 1900’s, a new field of study was born: child psychology, pioneered by Freud. He believed that the way that parents handle their children during childhood has a profound and lasting influence on the overall development of their psyche.
In some ways this knowledge has taken away our confidence and has given us unrealistic expectations of parenting. We want to make sure that our children have idyllic childhoods so they reach adulthood unscarred. It has us striving for something unattainable: perfection in parenting. Aiming for perfection is robbing us of the simple joys of parenting.

Here are three ways on how to let go of the myth of being the perfect parent:

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