Pointer to funny SNL video

Dads took center stage on SNL last week in their "Westminster Daddy Show" skit.

​Enjoy :)

Pointer to a funny SNL video

Last night I went to bed way too late. I had no business watching YouTube after climbing under the covers, but I did. This SNL video called "Best Christmas Ever" was "recommended" so I watched it. And I liked it, a lot, for two reasons:

1. It made me laugh (which wasn't helpful in terms of falling asleep)
2. It made me feel like a good parent (while I could relate to the family in the video, our family isn't that bad :)

Maybe you'll enjoy it too. Good luck as we head into the holiday homestretch.

Pointer to an interesting HBR article about working parents 

If you spend time wondering how your career and/or your spouse's career might affect your kids, you'll want to read this HBR article: How Our Careers Affect Our Children by Stewart D. Friedman.

Here are just a few of the interesting insights provided by studies outlined in this relatlvely short article:

• Children’s emotional health was higher when parents (both fathers and mothers) believed that family should come first, regardless of the amount of time they spent working 
  (i.e. Attitudes and priorities are more important than the number of hours you work)
• Children were better off when parents cared about work as a source of challenge, creativity, and enjoyment (regardless of the time spent on it) 
  (i.e. Your attitude and feelings about your career make a difference in your kids' lives)
• Children were more likely to show behavioral problems if their fathers were overly involved psychologically in their careers (whether or not they worked long hours)
• To the extent that a father was performing well and feeling satisfied with his job, his children were likely to demonstrate relatively few behavior problems (independent of how many hours he worked each day)
• For mothers, having authority and discretion at work was associated with mentally healthier children
  (i.e. They found that children benefit if their mothers have control over what happens to them when they are working) 
• Mothers spending time on themselves (for relaxation and self-care, but not housework), was associated with positive outcomes for children
  (i.e. What mothers do with their time at home is more important that how much time they spend in the home each day)
• The time parents spent working each day did not influence children’s mental health

A great idea from Dr. Alison Escalante: Sigh, See, and Start

​If being a great parent only required us to read the right articles and follow the advice provided in them, more of us might consider ourselves great, or at least pretty good, parents. But most parents would probably agree that reading and following the advice provided doesn't alway produce the results we expect! No two kids are alike, and we've yet to find any advice that works for everyone who follows it. 

Many corporate leaders tell their employees, "We're paying you to think, not just follow instructions." Jobs that only require people to follow precisely defined instructions rarely pay as much as jobs that require people to think in the midst of challenging situations. And most parents would probably agree that if parenting were a paid gig, it would definitely be one of those jobs that requires a lot of thinking during challenging situations!

Dr. Alison Escalante's recent TEDx Talk called Parenting the "Shouldstorm" is very entertaining and uplifting. She describes how we can get caught up trying to do all of the things others tell us we should be doing, and she recognizes that the advice isn't always helpful. Often, as parents, we've got to think through unique ways of dealing with our challenges. In the TEDx Talk Dr. Escalante outlines a great process for engaging your brain during tough situations, and it might just change the way you parent. We highly recommend it! 

Pointer to an audio story from Carlos Kotkin on The Moth

While listening to Latino USA on NPR earlier today, we caught a funny and compelling story called a Ready or Not which originally aired on The Moth.

Parents will appreciate the way the story teller, Carlos Kotkin, weaves humor and touching moments as he tells the compelling story of expecting and meeting his new baby.

An election night image

They say that a picture is worth a thousands words. But sometimes a picture can be summed up in just two words; "Working Parent". 

We couldn't help but smile when we saw this picture of four-year-old Catherine with her mother, Abigail Spanberger, on election night as Abigail gave her victory speech after winning the election to represent Virginia's 7th Congressional District.

Most working parents learn to balance work and parenting, and some, like Abigail, appear to integrate them on occassion.