Ms. Rachel, the teacher and social media creator beloved by kids everywhere, has been creating videos on Cameo and donating all the profits—including fees and tips—to Save the Children, a humanitarian nonprofit that helps protect and provide for kids in conflict zones all over the world, including, notably, in Gaza. Ms. Rachel’s fundraiser quickly raised $50,000 to provide healthcare, food, and other aid to kids in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, and other conflict areas. “Children should never experience the horrors of war,” she said in her first announcement, adding in another post that ..read more

May is Drowning Prevention Month, but according to a recent CDC report, drowning deaths are on the rise. Water safety information is now even more crucial for parents to learn as we head into the summer months. Casey McGovern, executive director of Every Child a Swimmer, tragically lost her 19-month-old daughter, Edna Mae, when she drowned in a pool. Since then, she’s made it her life’s mission to help prevent any more children from drowning by helping spread awareness and access to the best prevention tool: swimming lessons. “Drowning can and does happen to amazing parents, the stigma attach ..read more

After tweens went viral for their Sephora shopping hauls, a California lawmaker wants tighter restrictions on products they can buy. California bill AB 2491, introduced by San Jose Democratic Assemblymember Alex Lee, would ban selling anti-aging skincare products to kids under 13 years old. “Kids don’t need anti-aging products, and AB 2491 will protect children and preteens from the potential harms of using products that may lead to short- or long-term skin challenges they wouldn’t otherwise have,” Lee said in a press release. Children do not need anti-aging products. Using these powerful pr ..read more

Potty training can be a tough time for families. One dad, who went on a family vacation to his parents’ timeshare in the middle of potty training his two-year-old daughter, Anna, wrote a now-viral Reddit post about the family argument it caused — and now he wants the internet to weigh in about who’s in the wrong. “We arrived in Hawaii two days ago, and she had quite a few accidents – I suspect because she’s dealing with an unfamiliar place and new people. Right before dinner, Anna had an accident on the pullout sofa, which necessitated a call to housekeeping to swap out sheets and cushion ..read more

With more and more women being ignored in the medical field for ongoing symptoms—being told they should just eat less, and workout more, or completely ignoring pain management when inserting IUDs—it looks like all of us need to focus on finding more female doctors when setting up our care, according to countless studies. Statistics show female doctors typically spend more time with their patients and interrupt their patients less often than male doctors do, which according to studies, leads to more accurate diagnoses and treatments, as well as ensuring things aren’t missed or ignored. Because ..read more

From the moment you step one foot into the giant, open-air lobby of the Hilton Riviera Vallarta, you’re transported. There’s no question that you’re on vacation—not a “trip,” as many parents lament when traveling with their families, but a full-blown vacation in a dream location. The hotel invited me to spend four days enjoying everything the property has to offer, and that’s exactly what I did. On the drive from the airport (a convenient 30-40 minute ride), I knew I wasn’t in a “resort strip” location. Puerto Vallarta may be a popular destination for vacationers and cruise ships, but it’s so ..read more

In a new interview with PEOPLE, Jessica Biel opened up about her struggles to conceive, revealing that she “had a lot of trouble” both times she and husband Justin Timberlake tried to get pregnant. It seems the experience made her realize she didn’t know as much about her body as she previously believed she did, and now she wants to chip away at the stigmas surrounding reproductive health. Biel recently released A Kids Book About Periods, with the normalizing the discussion around periods for kids. Now, she’s telling the outlet that she was “shocked how little” she knew about her own body unti ..read more

Of all days, how lucky that this miracle would take place on Mother’s Day. My twin sister, Rebecca, and I, both ten, were kneeled over, crouching down into the family game closet—more like  a catch-all storage depot, really—in our rundown, two-story nondescript tract home in in an even less descript neighborhood of Huntington Beach, where we grew up. Our cat, Herbie, a calico, and still a kitten herself, was giving birth. She made a nest in that closet among the broken jump ropes, deflated basketballs, unstrung tennis rackets, and 20-year-old coats. Those coats belonged to my dad. And sin ..read more

Six years ago, when Mother’s Day came around, we had brunch at a restaurant. I was pregnant then with my first. Along with my mom and MIL, we all got Mother’s Day flowers. It was my first. I felt cute. Four years ago, when Mother’s Day came around, I don’t remember brunch. But I remember reaching out to a friend, who was struggling to conceive. That Mother’s Day, she was all I could think about. Three years ago, when Mother’s Day came around, I took a pause, rested my hand on my empty womb, in remembrance of the life that was once there but was not there anymore.  Related: Why I love moo ..read more

I grew up in the country and didn’t have consistent internet until I left for college. My cellphone flipped open and used T9. Reading in my spare time came a little more naturally to me than my kids’ generation. Things are much different now. My kids grew up with the internet, a smart TV and people shoving phones in their face since they were babies.   Society can sometimes make it sound like kids who watch TV or use technology can’t also be readers. Television gets villainized and reading gets glorified—but I don’t think they have to be mutually exclusive. We can watch Toy Story for ..read more