In June, about 46,000 children had been confirmed to have lost a parent, meaning that nearly 100,000 more have been added to the total number of kids left without parental figures due to COVID. Researchers conducted the study by using U.S. census data on mortality and fertility rates to estimate how many orphans COVID has created. The data suggests that between April 1, 2020, and the end of June in 2021, more than 140,000 kids under 18 “lost a parent, custodial grandparent, or grandparent caregiver who provided the child’s home and basic needs, including love, security, and daily care....

Unless you swallow a toy dinosaur, you’re probably not going to notice the plastic in your toilet bowl. The plastic in our poop is known as “microplastic,” particles smaller than a few millimeters wide. While mostly too small to spot with our own eyes, microplastics are now scattered all over the world — from human bodies to the bottom of the ocean. And though the effects of microplastics on human health aren’t entirely understood, some researchers are concerned about the impacts these materials might have on our bodies, especially in younger kids....

Conducted in November by U.K. newspaper Metro, the study swabbed screens at eight different McDonald’s locations in London and Birmingham. All of the self-order kiosks tested positive for an array of harmful bacteria. “We were all surprised how much gut and fecal bacteria there was on the touchscreen machines,” Dr. Paul Matewele, senior microbiology lecturer at London Metropolitan University, told Metro. “These cause the kind of infections that people pick up in hospitals....

At first glance, the container looks like a bucket of giant cotton balls you’d buy for an arts and crafts project. And while it screams “Hours Of Fun!” across the front, one can’t help but dismiss the claim with an eye roll and gear up for a whole two minutes of entertainment. Of course, they’re a cheap novelty toy that ends up at the back of a closet after the holiday, never to see light again until the trip to Goodwill....

Grill and Fire Safety “Every year we see burns associated with grilling, especially toddlers who touch hot grills,” says Dr. Christina Johns, Senior Medical Advisor at PM Pediatrics. She notes that kettle grills especially attract little kids because they tend to be visually appealing and lower to the ground. “There’s something about that reflective round shape that kids want to go up and touch, which is just the nature of developmental pediatrics....

Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 has made life significantly harder for LGBTQ+ youth. More than 80 percent said that the pandemic made their living situation more stressful, and 70 percent said their mental health was “poor” most of the time or always during COVID. Almost 40 percent of those who had a job lost it during the pandemic. Thirty percent are living with food insecurity, with more Native/Indigenous and Black youth having trouble affording enough food....

For only $71,000 less than the grown-up model, your 3 to 8-year-old (who weighs less than 81 lbs) can zip around the neighborhood in a miniature, battery-powered replica of the Tesla Model S. It looks almost exactly like the one not parked in your driveway. The base model’s equipped with all the bells-and-whistles that kids have come to demand in their luxury vehicles: Forward and reverse, a trunk, a working horn and headlights for night riding, and a sound system/audio jack....

I lost my job. Me and millions of other Americans during this pandemic, I know, but I’m still taking it super personally. My job in many ways showed my kids that I was worthy. I provided. I made things. I had an office that they could come to and see that I was part of the world outside the house. So I don’t know what to say. I haven’t told them....

‘The Field Goal Slide’ has nothing to do with that coin-drop trick, but similarly, it’s a mind puzzle that’s all about execution — and it really comes in handy when you’re sitting in a booth at a restaurant and trying to entertain your kids. You position four butter knives on a table in the shape of football goal post and try to move the knives in such a way that the upright is recreated, but the salt shaker is now outside the posts ⏤ and the attempted field goal is no good!...

Get Better Weather Reports With Big Sky Alexa comes with the ability to tell you the weather. But Big Sky is much more useful than the Echo’s built-in weather skill. Its hyperlocal, hour-by-hour data is tied to your street address, not just your city name. With better data comes the ability to ask hyper specific questions such as “Will it rain in the next three hours?” You can even pay for a premium version that will let you ask about other locations around the world....

Ice Hockey If your kid can’t stop looking at Gretzky highlights, parents might be in for some financial duress. Between the equipment and ice time, they can expect to shell out some serious dough. Plus, as Michael Schupak, CFP, of Schupak Financial Partners points out, “You can get stuck with really odd ice time hours, like 7:00 AM on a Sunday.” And as it’s often said, time is money. There are numerous stories out there about the high cost of youth hockey....

But the fact is, regardless of which sleep training method a parent chooses or which expert they listen to, there is a core of issues every parent will need to navigate. And without acknowledging the harsh truth about sleep training, success and sanity will remain dubious. Harsh Truth #1: Parents Get Shamed Regardless of Sleep Training Method Are you using a no-cry fading method? Some will say you’re coddling your kid....

7. Pro Sports Game If your child wants to bring one friend to an NHL game and call it their birthday party, sounds great. Taking along two pals is trickier (do trios ever get along?) but probably still doable. Any more kids than that is a very bad plan. First, the cost. Even if the other parents pitch in, the tickets and concessions are astronomically priced, no matter which pro sport or stadium....

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, by 12 months, your offspring will be getting used to feeding him- or herself with a spoon, or, more likely, fingers. By 15 months, your kid will actually be able to maneuver food from a plate into his mouth. And, if you have a MENSA candidate on your hands, he or she will even fill up a spoon and get the contents of the spoon where they belong....

When using a sling, use your common sense and practice a few times to avoid common mistakes, says expert Dr. Benjamin D. Hoffman, the chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention. “With slings, the head can be completely obscured by the sling and unfortunately horrible things can happen. Be very conscious of the airway and head and neck,” he says. The advantage of the sling is many – they’re super-easy to clean and don’t take an engineering degree to strap on....

When you’re shopping for Bluetooth speakers, you want to look at whether they’re waterproof (for pool parties, of course), how long the charge holds, and whether it’s easily integrated with your smart home technology. Oh, and of course, make sure it looks good, too. See more: Best Headphones For Your Kids So you already know you want to go Bluetooth, but the options out there can be deafening. We’ve narrowed down the myriad choices to seven of our favorites....

DEET is the active ingredient in many popular bug repellants; it works not by killing mosquitos but but deterring them and keeping them away. Per the American Academy of Pediatrics, bug sprays with 30 percent DEET are considered safe for children; bug sprays of any variety are not safe for babies 2 months old or younger. A spray with 10 percent DEET provides about two hours’ of protection. And a product with 30 percent DEET gives you about five hours of protection....

The job of the lure, of course, is to imitate what the fish are feeding on. Some work to imitate food fish always love (like crawfish); others work to annoy or tempo a fish into an aggressive bite. When stacking up your tackle box you’ll want to think about those that imitate common food in the water where you are fishing. You’ll want to carry a variety of colors in the same lures, and you will also want to think about lures that allow you to fish different depths of the water column....

Christmas gets all the hype, but Halloween decorating is way better. You can turn your yard into a full graveyard, haunted house, or zombie graveyard that leads into a haunted house. And while Jack-o’-lanterns and hanging skeletons are great, Halloween lights really bring a creepily curated yard to the next level. We don’t mean simple pumpkin lights. Rather, we mean some of these lights, lanterns, and effects packages, which look great and help you go to the next level....

When choosing a flashlight, try to get one with a rechargeable battery. Pay attention to whether it’s water-resistant or not, especially if you’re using it during hikes or campouts, and how heavy it is, for obvious reasons. In terms of how much light a flashlight puts out, the key word here is lumen. One lumen is about as bright as a birthday candle. A regular 60-watt lightbulb is equal to about 750-850 lumens....