Bunch Family

What the cool parents are reading today:

1. Aiden, Jayden, Brayden; Mia, Leah, Sophia; why do the popular baby names rhyme? And it’s not a recent phenomenon either; back in the 40s it was Marilyn, Evelyn and Carolyn and even further back to when Social Security first starting tracking these things in the 1880s, all the girls named ended in -ie.

2. So you know how maternity/paternity leave in the States is terrible? The National Partnership for Women and Families has made it official by giving 18 states an F grade. California and Connecticut are good places to have a baby since they each got As and Washington, Oregon, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Maine and Hawaii are all OK.  Read more...

What we’re reading today:

1. A quarter of American moms go back to work within two months of giving birth, which is really too bad. Ideal maternity leave: 40 weeks?

2. How to explain to your 12-year-old that Santa isn’t real. (Alternatively, you could get Rebecca’s 3-year-old to break the bad news.)

3. Speaking of different cultural holiday traditions, here’s one interfaith family talking about how Judaism became more important after kids came into the picture.

4. This headline actually made us laugh out loud: Striving for gift parity among siblings. Ahh! I know right? Heaven forbid you spend $25 more on Grace than Nathan… except that you got such a great deal on Nathan’s big item so it’s actually worth $30 more than Grace’s etc etc. Will someone freak out Christmas morning if they suspect you didn’t get them as many gifts? (We would think not)  Read more...

What we’re reading today:

1. “Mommy, if Santa and Judah the Maccabee got in a fight, who’d win?” A guide to Christmas specials for Jewish parents.

2. Working moms are happier. Agree?

3. Speaking of working moms, whoever thought they’d be cheering for a Fox News anchor? Megyn Kelly took some flack from radio show host Mike Gallagher when he called her measly three months of paid maternity leave “a racket.” Her response: “What a moronic thing to say.” Indeed!

4. Parents don’t want to have spoiled kids, but they feel guilty about saying “no” to their kids during the holidays. So, Mom, how about getting me that pet baby sloth?

5. Ahh! We’re totally worried 8-year-old Evan Doherty is going to fall and break something, but he’s just SO awesome.

Photo by owillis via Flickr

What we’re reading today:

1. Good job, Scandinavians, Norway is the #1 best country for moms. Moms live long, don’t die in childbirth, and get a great maternity leave. Afghanistan is the worst place for moms, according to this annual survey from Save the Children. Canada ranked 20th while the U.S. is 31st.

2. Babble’s found 10 Angry Birds-inspired dishes. TheBabybel one is pretty great.

3. Reuters has compiled some “eerie links” between Harry Potter and Osama bin Laden. BoingBoing suggests these so-called links are pretty ridiculous. Good for the book-burning set we guess? A sample: “Just as Voldemort was shaped by his mother’s death and his father’s abandonment, Osama was shaped by his personal struggle between Western pleasures and Islamic discipline.”

4. Sarah Newton, aka the Youth Expert, wonders if today’s mean girls are meaner than mean girls a decade or two ago.  Read more...

Megan Pettit shares stories from a new mom

Going back to work after a year-long maternity leave is hard, but when you do not enjoy the job you’re returning to it’s almost impossible. I didn’t realize how much I disliked my warehouse job until I was away from it. After 11 years, it had become a part of my life — something I had to do like flossing. The pay was decent and the job wasn’t stressful. Why bother quitting when there was nothing else I cared to be doing for 40 plus hours a week? Nothing that paid anyway. Yelling at the hoarders on the show Hoarders is more volunteer work than a paying job.  Read more...