Posts

“There’s a negative connotation that comes with stepfamilies,” Sheryl Goodey, Ph.D., stepfamily program manager at Utah State University, told Fatherly. “But families are overcoming those connotations and becoming more accepted in our society.” That’s a good thing, because there’s an emerging consensus that kids who grow up with engaged stepdads enjoy many of the same advantages — known collectively as Father Effects — as kids raised by the men whose names appear on their birth certificates....

Either way, it’s not easy to find a good, honest mechanic. To help you do just that, Fatherly reached out to Amy Mattinat, owner of the award-winning auto repair shop Auto Craftsmen in Montpelier, Vermont, for her top tips in finding a reputable mechanic you’ll want to hold on to for life. Make sure they’re rated. Use AAA.com to ensure the shop is rated. Why? Because auto shops that follow AAA’s guidelines demand that Automotive Service Excellence (ASE)-certified technicians are employed for every repair....

“Some epidemiological studies have shown that stress also affects the population-norm male-female sex ratio,” study co-author Dr. Catherine Monk, professor of medical psychology and director of women’s mental health in OB/GYN at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, explains. Typically there are about 105 males are born for every 100 female births, according to the World Health Organization. This number has remained relatively consistent, except in the cases of acute stress....

“Our lives rotate around our kids but we don’t recognize we have a lot more flexibility than it seems,” explains positive psychologist Dr. Robert Zeitlin, author of Laugh More, Yell Less: A Guide to Raising Kick-Ass Kids. He notes that parents often feel like they’re trapped by a baby’s schedule, or may worry too much about their child’s fragility. “There’s a way to explore and expose our baby to fun things in different surroundings....

“Affectionate touch is how our biological systems communicate to one another that we are safe, that we are loved, and that we are not alone,” a Stanford psychology professor told the New York Times. Without it, in other words, we can feel unsafe, unloved, and very alone. But there is some good news. Virginia Tech aerosol scientist Linsey Marr told the Times that the risk of exposure during a brief hug can be surprisingly low, as it’s actually quite unlikely that a critical mass of copies of the virus — enough to make you sick — actually make it from the person you’re hugging to you....

First, though, the signs that it’s real: fever, vomiting, and severe diarrhea. Kids can’t really make this stuff up and most school districts (but not all) ask that children with these symptoms stay away, which is a reasonable request. “If there are obvious illness symptoms that you can’t ignore, such as a fever, runny, goopy nose, cough, or vomiting, that is a case where your child needs to stay home,” says Dr....

Which is why we thought it would be fun to excerpt a chapter or two showcasing some of the book’s easier or more fascinating projects that parents could try with their kids. And what better way to kick off the warmer months than by learning how to make a water gun from the early 1880s? Here it is. Sometime during the summer of each year, a boy used to appear with a squirt-gun made of a piece of cane....

Prep Time: About 15 minutes Entertainment Time: One hour What You Need: A pot3 cups of flour1.5 cups of salt6 teaspoons of white vinegar3 tablespoons of oil3 cups of waterFood coloring How to Make It:

My wife glanced over from the couch and I caught her eye. Her look was clear: my emotions were disproportionate to the moment. I knew that rationally, and yet there I was at the computer, struggling to create an online video game account for my son and fuming. At that moment, I was a failed stoic and a questionably effective father — one of many in the world at this particular historical moment....

Now, passive aggression is a common behavior pattern across varying relationships, from business (i.e. a work email that includes the phrase “Thanks in advance”) to personal (a person says “I’m not mad” but — spoiler alert! — they totally are mad). It develops when one or both parties don’t have, or refuse to use, the coping skills to deal with conflicts head-on. So they resort to an indirect expression of anger....

When Dr. Fogg received his doctorate in experimental psychology, he was largely focused on how people can use tech to better their lives. But at some point he felt he had contributed all he could to tech and that human behavior — good, bad, healthy, or unhealthy — would be his next mountain to tackle. During his research, he came across a surprising discovery: the smallest, tiniest habits are the ones that can radically change a person’s life....

A few weeks ago, I was sitting with, let’s call them Henry and Cara, and they were arguing about their weekend. Cara was upset with Henry because they didn’t get as many tasks done over the weekend as she had hoped. “You don’t get it,” she said. “We have so little time during the week. We can’t just hang around all weekend.” “I get no time with the kids during the week,” Henry replied....

READ MORE: The Fatherly Guide to Sex After Kids Do Your Homework Please, don’t get ahead of yourself. Maybe getting handcuffed to the bedpost looks cool in the movies, but it could be a real nightmare when things actually come to pass. If you find yourself drawn toward any kind of R-rated activity, try doing a little research. Take the time to figure out if what you’re thinking about is strictly fantasy, or if it’s something you actually want to bring into the bedroom....

READ MORE: The Fatherly Guide to Car Seats It’s worth repeating the hardest of hard facts: Being unrestrained is incredibly deadly for children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, motor vehicle traffic crashes are the leading killer of children under 15-year-old. Of the child occupant deaths in 2016, nearly 40 percent of fatalities were unrestrained. “If you’re not wearing your seatbelt, you’re not only risking your own health but those of everyone else in the car,” explains AAA State Relations manager Richard Romer....

Simply, Libby is a smartphone app that lets you check out ebooks and audiobooks through libraries. It’s made by OverDrive, a digital content distribution system used by 40,000 libraries and schools in 70 countries including, probably, your local library. Here’s how to set it up to make your next family trip much more bearable. Step 1: Download Libby and Connect to Your Library Account Go to the app store of your choice (iOS, Android, or Windows 10+) and download Libby....

Believe me, I wasn’t alone. And I would do it all over again. Reading stories about the recent college admissions scandal and the rich parents busted for buying their way into top universities (and Wake Forest) has been a sort of odd experience for me. I find the scam ludicrous and don’t sympathize with the parents: Merit-based admission is inherently ridiculous for three-year-olds, but ought to be meritocratic for young adults....

The Icelandic government undertook two separate four-day workweek trials in the country, where 2,500 people across 100 different workplaces took part in the study, and found the trial a resounding success.Those who took part in the trial worked 35 hours a week instead of 40 with no significant reduction in their salaries, and the results coming in from the two separate studies show that the four-day workweek could be the next frontier in work life balance, something of particular import to working parents, who struggle to juggle child care responsibilities and responsibilities in the workplace....

Anyway, after Episode 3 “Echo,” and head of episode 4, here’s where we’re at with all things Hawkeye. Alaqua Cox is Awesome Episode 3 builds around Alaqua Cox’s Maya “Echo” Lopez, the character introduced at the end of last episode. The leader of the tracksuit mafia, Maya is fixated on Kate Bishop’s connection to Ronin, the vigilante who killed Maya’s father (a vigilante who happens to be Clint Barton during a very dark spell, though neither Kate nor Maya knows this)....

The company never comes out and says what the Real Life series is all about, but if you’ve ever seen The Simpsons, Friends, or Stranger Things will immediately recognize what’s going on. Using IKEA products — couches, tables, rugs, paint, plants, and the like — the company recreated an iconic living room from each show. Some had to be personalized or painted to get the right look, but the results are kind of incredible....

According to FastCompany, the original lawsuit filed against Johnson & Johnson claimed: “The packaging of the Infants’ Tylenol product was misleading because the product itself contained the same amount of liquid acetaminophen found in Johnson & Johnson’s Children’s Tylenol, yet the Infant’s Tylenol cost more.” And that’s no joke. One of the things I used to countdown to when my kids were little was hitting the age where they can use regular Children’s Tylenol instead of the small but pricier bottles of Infants’ Tylenol that came with the dropper....