Bunch Family

What we’re reading today:

1. Teaching kids to live frugally has many benefits, like learning to be more creative with their play and the value of delayed gratification.

2. In what comes as no surprise whatsoever, kids who aren’t super-keen on reading are more likely to be interested in banned books than non-controversial ones.

3. After a recent measles outbreak, the pro-vaccine activists remind the anti-vaccine parents that it’s about keeping all the kids safe, not just their own.

4. Moms don’t really talk to their daughters about math. Let’s change this! Addition at the grocery store, fractions while cooking/baking, geometry everywhere, etc.

5. The hidden power of siblings! TED presenter Jeffrey Kluger talks birth order and life-long bonds. Is there anything better for parents than seeing their kids work together and help each other out?

Photo by Scot Rumery via Flickr  Read more...

What we’re reading today:

1. A school district in Virgina wants to ban cross-dressing among its students. The Suffolk school district wants kids to only wear clothes that reflect their gender. Um, does that even entail? No pink polo shirts for boys? Nothing with a sports team for girls? Apparently the school district thinks this will help kids that could be a target for bullies.

2. Have you seen this ad for graduated milk? Did you know graduated milk was a thing? The ad says it’s for that toddler stage when between breast milk and regular milk. What? Yeah, sounds like a made-up fear. Thanks, Natrel.

3. Do all anti-vaccination people have an air of superiority about them?

4. Some studies say that couples are less happy in their relationship after the first baby arrives, but this couple says kids are key in lovenomics.  Read more...

What we’re reading today:

1. Have your kids shown any early political aspirations? One dad looks back on his girl’s push to be class president, again and again and again.

2. It’s illegal and just a terrible idea to let your kid have an infected lollipop you got in the mail.

3. Photographer mom Emily Cleaver takes photos of her infant that recreate classic movie scenes.

4. One career woman-turned-stay-at-home-mom offers her explanation as to why mommy blogs are so fascinating.

5. Three-year-old shares her playpen with vicious lion:

Photo by Emily Cleaver via Flavorwire

What we’re reading today:

1. You will not get to see Carla Bruni’s baby.

2. Should you be getting your kid two doses of chicken pox vaccine? The Canadian Pediatric Society thinks so.

3. Have you seen Abe’s Peanut? It’s a kids’ magazine that keeps readers engaged by sending out postcards and coming up with some pretty creative storytelling.

4. Crazy hard to get in schools in New York are changing their admissions policies.

5. Kermit the Frog reports from the first day of school:

Photo by The Prime Minister’s Office via Flickr

What we’re reading today:

1. Surrogates, sperm donors and adoption have really changed the picture of the family tree.

2. Avoid talking to strangers at all costs? Have a baby and maybe you’ll come around to the idea of chatting up random people.

3. Charlotte Bacon moved her husband and kids to Bali. She says it’s not quite like Elizabeth Gilbert’s Bali. Gilbert seems to have left out the part about minding the vipers when making your way to the washroom in the middle of the night.

4. Some pediatricians are turning away parents who don’t get their kids vaccinated according to the vaccination schedule.

5. With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 coming out next week, we’ve been thinking a lot about the whole Harry Potter universe. Just what are the main differences between the houses in Hogwarts?

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What we’re reading today:

1. The Giver, one of the best young adult novels ever, might finally be put on the big screen. Jeff Bridges originally acquired the film rights to it thinking that his dad, Lloyd Bridges could play the titular role, but now that he’s in his 60s, it’s just right for him. Did anyone else read The Giver and picture Shel Silverstein?

2. Last day of school! Hurray! Kids heading off to camp soon? Here’s how to get them prepared.

3. Babies under six months are too young to get vaccines, which puts them at risks for flu and such, but pregnant women who get the vaccine reduce their babies chances of catching anything.

4. Chocolate Milk: Is it a healthy option and delicious way to get calcium, or with all that sugar is it simply “soda in drag”? Schools in Los Angeles are going with the latter.  Read more...

What we’re reading today:

1. An anti-vaccine group has taken out a huge video ad in Times Square, claiming they have “the facts,” but pro-vaccine groups say that a giant ad like this could cost thousands of kids their lives. Salon’s Rahul Parikh says, “high-profile defenses of vaccines are still few and far between.” Do we need to hear what the anti-vaccinationists have to say, or are they causing, as one medical ethicist says, “nothing less than a scandal”?

2. One 10-year-old girl is sick of the boys who stereotype all girls as pink-loving, doll-toting, nail polish-wearing girlie girls. Here’s what she has to say to them.

3. Tennessee has passed a “Don’t Say Gay” bill that prohibits the discussion of anything non-hetero before grade nine. This sounds very healthy and accepting. We’re quite sure this won’t have any negative consequences for young teenagers either having to deal with their own non-hetero sexuality or being tolerant of others. It’s not like there’ve been any crises involving gay teens recently.  Read more...

What we’re reading today:

Seinfeld actor Len Lesser, better known as Uncle Leo, has died. Reportedly, he went peacefully in his sleep. He was 88. Uncles are pretty great. We think this is a good opportunity to call your uncles and tell them so.

We were so happy when Alyson Schafer said you’re not a bad parent if you don’t limit screen time. And her not limiting screen time led her 15-year-old daughter to build a website and do some volunteering in Africa. But some parents aren’t sold. Australian mom Susan Maushart convinced her three teens to go without their electronic devices for six months. SIX MONTHS. You can read about their wireless adventure in her book, The Winter of our Discontent. Via GeekMom  Read more...

What we’re reading on the blogs today:

Have you seen these Kanye West “Monster” videos… featuring actual monsters? (By actual, we mean Cookie and Grover and their ilk) The editing is stellar and matches up nearly perfectly with Kanye’s song, but we’d still rather see the monsters actually singing the song like they did for “Bohemian Rhapsody:”

And while it might be some time before we see something as excellent as the above video, the good people at Flavorwire went and rounded up some pretty great Muppet music video mash-ups.

Warning: Like the Kanye video, these mash-ups are of the original songs, which means some songs contain explicit freaking lyrics. Miss Piggy as Peaches is genius, though.  Read more...