Realistically, few people are going to totally bail on plans this close to Christmas. Unlike 2020 when a lot of families chose to stay home for the holidays, a better understanding of COVID and wide vaccine availability provide more options than last year. So when it comes down to holiday plans, “it’s really based on risk tolerance,” said epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina, PhD, who runs the popular Your Local Epidemiologist account on Facebook, on a recent panel....

Don’t be an old man. Despite your job as a dad and the advancing ravages of age, you have the advantage of being not dead, probably! The bachelor party very much represents a night out, and you still get those. It’s perfectly acceptable to have a night to yourself. That said… For the sweet love of God, don’t be a young man. Don’t say “bruh.” That was a test. If you didn’t recoil in instant horror, we’re going to have problems....

The initials test can be a helpful tool when picking out a baby name. If you don’t think about it, your beautiful little Hannah Aileen Grant could be called Hag for the rest of her life. Have you considered how much nickname potential your baby’s name might have? Little Michael might be lovingly referred to as Micky, but Micky turns to Hicky real quick, and little Dick won’t have a fun middle school experience....

Now, more than ever, as we all stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic, it’s even more urgent to identify the causes of these arguments and make new plans to ensure they don’t happen. Otherwise, quarantine is going to be even more tricky to navigate. The imbalance of shared housework is a common one in marriages, and it boils down to couples not setting expectations at the outset. Whether they realize it or not, men and women bring with them preconceived notions about how a household should function, ideas that have been formed from what they witnessed in their own homes growing up....

Gender is everywhere, says Russ Toomey, Ph.D., professor of family studies and human development at the University of Arizona. “Kids understand gender,” Toomey says. “It is, by far, one of the most commonly and widely used ways that we organize ourselves in society.” Kids also know a lot more than adults give them credit for. By 3-years-old, kids begin to label their gender, and they’re constantly absorbing the information about gender around them....

“A parent can tell when the baby is really looking and engaged, and the difference between that and just staring through you into space,” says Dr. Glen Steele, chairman of the American Optometric Association InfantSEE program. The issue is figuring out what it means when a kid is not optically engaged. Given how common autism has become, there’s a fair chance that a child might be on the spectrum. But there’s also a fair chance the kid just can’t see well....

“We were very surprised that getting up at night to go to the bathroom shows any statistically significant association with workplace productivity, after you take into account all the other potential factors associated with productivity,” study coauthor Marco Hafner, a senior economist at the nonprofit organization RAND Europe, told Fatherly. “This association is particularly strong for individuals reporting two or more voids per night, which represents in the data a critical threshold after which it starts to affect individuals in a negative way....

“Relationship dynamics with contrasting mindsets and attitudes create unique challenges,” explains Sam Nabil, CEO and Lead Therapist of Naya Clinics. “But, in doing so, we push ourselves to compromise and understand each other’s boundaries. We add depth to our relationships, enjoying both balance and each other’s individuality.” While, he says that introvert-extrovert relationships require more planning to ensure both partners receive what they need, Nabil says that they also can be more resilient to external stressors and general wear and tear, due to the reinforced bond from working and navigating around each other’s differences....

This was not a money-making venture. Everett just really wanted one thing for his birthday, and one thing only: a Ninjago “Kai Mech.” The $60 that it cost, though, was more than either his little friends or my husband and I were going to spend on a 5-year-old’s birthday present. Plus, fresh off the heels of Christmas, I couldn’t stand the idea of another unneeded toy piling up in the corners of our house, collecting dust after 10 minutes of play....

Peace might be hard to achieve — impossible even — but it was nonetheless my destination after I received a copy of Dr. Laura Markham’s new Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids Workbook. Markham is an outspoken proponent of parenting with a huge dose of mindfulness and love. She does not believe in discipline. She believes in connection and empathy. She’s a super smart and nice lady I talk to sometimes. I like her and I wanted to believe that I could put her strategies to good use....

Experts predict Omicron cases are likely to spike between Christmas and New Year, peaking around mid-January. And although early reports suggest Omicron causes milder symptoms, Anthony Santella, professor of health administration and policy and University COVID-19 Coordinator at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, advises not to be swayed by that. “We don’t yet know the long-term impacts of COVID…so I don’t want it, even if it’s mild,” he says....

Considering the benefits for all families — including seeing other LGBTQ+ families like yours, or showing up as an ally if your family members are straight and cisgender — the answer is absolutely. Not to mention that these educational aspects of Pride are paired with joy and celebration. But it is necessary to talk to kids about new things they may see at Pride before diving it. Why Kids Should Go to Pride Pride parades started as a political event, first held in New York in June 1970 to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots....

In other words, what really kills American babies? There is a clear answer to this: Prenatal complications, issues during birth and labor, birth defects, infectious disease, homicide, car crash, and drowning are the most likely ways a baby dies in America, in that order. Dig deeper into these numbers and a story reveals itself about where America fails its most vulnerable population, and how parents can keep their kids safe — and themselves sane....

This year, the weather is expected to be colder even as already surging energy prices continue to climb. It all adds up to a grim reality: staying warm will be decidedly more expensive this year than it was last winter. How Much More Expensive is this Winter Going to Get? According to the Winter Fuels Outlook, a document published by the U.S. Energy Administration, nearly half of households that heat primarily with natural gas will spend an average of 30 percent more than they did last winter....

The painting hung in the preschool for a while, but it eventually came home — as all school paintings do — and was stored away in a portfolio. But I kept thinking about it. I’m slightly prone to obsession and I obsessed because it felt like there must be something be something captured there beyond a flippant, ill-coordinated gesture. I’m not under the mistaken impression my son is an artistic savant, but there was so much intention in the painted figure — the three red dots in the center of a blue circle, the outstretched blue-green arm — that it felt dismissive to file it away with the rest of the early work....

But while most of the country knows Wallace as a journalist, to a select few, he’s simply known as dad. Wallace is a father to six, some of whom have kids of their own. To find out his thoughts on fatherhood, we presented him with the Fatherly Questionaire. In it, he discusses his proudest moment as a father, his lack of culinary skills, and his affinity for talking trash with his kids during mini golf games....

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced the policy change in a White House briefing earlier today. The IRS will waive interest and penalty fees for those who owe up to $1 million for 90 days after April 15, effectively moving the dude date for paying what you owe the IRS back three months. It’s an unprecedented move from the Treasury Department mant to provide relief to taxpayers facing the economic cataclysm that is the COVID-19 pandemic....

Released on the (w)heels of Mattel’s other big new tech toy MindRacers ⏤ a Hot Wheels collaboration with Osmo that hit stores last week ⏤ Kamigami are scurrying six-legged robots that mimic the motion of actual bugs. They’re a joint effort with California-based Dash Robotics and are built, as the origami-inspired name might suggest, by folding and snapping together flat sheets of plastic. The 35-piece DIY Kamigami bug robots bots reportedly take about an hour to assemble and include a bevy of sensors like a 3-axis accelerometer and gyroscope, IR transmitter, and tri-colored LEDs....

Ames’ description of the ability of a Kindergartner sounds straight out of Tom Sawyer and movies like The Sandlot — a good old-fashioned childhood. Your Five Year Old is a historical artifact proving kids were once autonomous creatures with few directives other than make it home for dinner. They ran the neighborhood, meeting up with friends by chance for pickup ballgames and resolving scuffles without adult intervention. Without constant access to the internet, they were left to kick dirt around and argue over questions that weren’t yet Googleable....

“I’d do anything,” he said. “Yeah, I think Rose is the one who he seems to respect and love, and she’s his safe place, and I just seem to be sheer entertainment. Do you know what I mean? And not even very good entertainment. Just entertainment.” Harington, who is married to his former Game of Thrones co-star Rose Leslie, told Jimmy Fallon that his son loves it when he does ridiculous ‘dad dancing....