Parenting Roundabout

It's a hot topic on TikTok: Are you an almond mom [https://www.self.com/story/almond-mom], or did you grow up with one? Today we complain about these moms, but also about how hard it is to handle difficult topics related to weight, nutrition, and health.

We debate the best response to friendly children who volunteer personal information. Is polite chit-chat cute, or creepy?

If you take us out to lunch, we will gladly pay our share and maybe even yours too. (Just please, take us out to lunch!)

Our kids are in the hot seat on complaint day again this week. This time it's because they have a bad habit of breaking our stuff... until we admit that we're pretty good at breaking our own stuff.

On this week’s Roundabout Roundup, Catherine has a two-fer: the book The Lincoln Highway [https://www.amortowles.com/the-lincoln-highway-about-the-book/], and Little Free Libraries [https://littlefreelibrary.org/], which is where she found her copy. Nicole recommends the Waze app [https://www.waze.com/], which has been helping her navigate LA traffic. And Terri's happy it's pumpkin season, so she can enjoy pumpkin spice cookies from Tate’s Bake Shop [https://www.tatesbakeshop.com/pumpkin-spice-cookies.html] and pumpkin spice tea from Gold River Trading Company [https://goldriverco.com/products/pumpkin-spice-tea].

On the one hand, we're nostalgic about all the tasty home-made foods that we got and our kids didn't. On the other hand, they've had many more opportunities to try cuisines from around the world--and vegetables that haven't been boiled within an inch of their lives.

This is the third installment [https://www.parentingroundaboutpodcast.com/blog/wildlife-invasions] of a series [https://www.parentingroundaboutpodcast.com/blog/emboldened-animals] in which we complain about critters. This time around, we're dealing with raccoons, opossums, and spotted lanternflies [https://nj1015.com/spotted-lanternfly-quarantine-zone-expanding-to-all-of-nj/].

On this week's entertainment-themed Round 2: It was Disney+ Night on Dancing with the Stars, which meant varying degrees of commitment to costumes from Disney properties: Alan unrecognizable as a zombie (Hocus Pocus 2), Sasha and Selma snappy in suspenders and saddle shoes (The Muppet Show), and Emma as a sexy race car driver (Cars), which prompted a mention of the song "Sexy" from Mean Girls, the musical [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KycXHeUxho].We said so long to Sam, and Vinny and Jessie bounced back from harsh criticism last week to fervent praise this week. Next: Most Memorable Year on Monday, 10/17, and Prom Night/Dance Marathon on 10/18. That means we'll bring you Round 2 on Wednesday, 10/19, instead of our usual Tuesday.Over on Rutherford Falls, it was road-trip time: Terry, Reagan, Nathan, and Bobbie traveled to New York--and away from advancing the plot. Still, we got to revisit season 1's NPR Josh and Rutherford Inc.'s former PR boss, Kaitlyn. Next: S2 E6, "Halloween" (how timely!).

Nicole's daughter is in her last year of university, and Catherine's is right behind her. We've barely had time to digest the Big Life Decisions they had to make to get to this point, and now it's time for more.

Back in 2016, we shared our most frequently used emojis [https://www.spreaker.com/episode/18922749]. Then we revisited the topic two years later.

The World Health Organization recently issued screen-time guidelines for kids: No screens at all for babies under a year old, and one hour a day max for kids 5 and under [https://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/no-screen-time-babies-only-1-hour-kids-under-5-n998051]. Our response to this is to laugh heartily, and reminisce about all the fun (and useful) screen time we had with our little kids. We loved this expert take: 4 times it's okay to hand over the iPad at Today.com [https://www.today.com/parents/screen-time-kids-4-times-it-s-ok-hand-over-t104254].

On this week’s Roundabout Roundup, Nicole shouts out a West Coast coffee chain called Dutch Bros [https://www.dutchbros.com/] that's a fun Starbucks alternative (her favorite is the Golden Eagle). Terri's daughter got her playing Crowd Sort [https://apps.apple.com/ug/app/crowd-sort-color-sorting-game/id1584996888], a color-sorting phone game (because we can always use another game). Catherine's enjoying both the latest season of The Great British Baking Show and the Not-So-Great Defector Bake-Off [https://defector.com/tag/nsgdbo/], in which the host of her recent pick, the Normal Gossip podcast [https://www.parentingroundaboutpodcast.com/blog/roundabout-roundup-gold-river-trading-co-chamomile-tea-and-the-normal-gossip-podcast], and a colleague attempt the technical challenges from the show every week.

The Apple Watch has some pretty fancy features [https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/whats-new-apdb93ea3872/watchos], but we have some suggestions for improvements that would really make a difference for parents.

We reviewed Grown and Flown's list of 5 things not to get stressed about during senior year [https://grownandflown.com/kid-senior-5-things-not-stressed-about/], which is the current situation for Catherine and in the rear view for Nicole and Terri. Catherine feels entirely justified in the stressors she's experiencing. Mentioned: Senior picture stories [https://www.parentingroundaboutpodcast.com/blog/speed-round-sunday-senior-pictures].

On this week's entertainment-themed Round 2, Dancing with the Stars felt the need for a James Bond-themed evening, which meant nothing but slow rumbas and the occasional tango (and poor Jessie James Decker dipped in gold paint). Next: Disney Plus Night.On Rutherford Falls, Reagan encountered a bureaucratic level of hell that reminded us of The Good Place. But thanks to her new curator, Nelson, she succeeded in her quest to apply for a land assignment--and she has a new love interest, too. Next: Season 2, episode 5, "Adirondack S3."

It's sweater-weather, fall-foliage, pumpkin-patch season ... at least for two of us. Nicole is nostalgic for Canadian autumns from her home in the southern California desert.

Turns out we're better at passing along clothes, toys, and baby gear than we are at tossing birthday cards (with a few special exceptions, of course).

In the complaint department today: We try and try to teach our kids basic life skills, like laundry and cooking. And yet (some of) them just don't seem to get it. We'd like our appliances to step up and share some of the burden.

On this week’s Roundabout Roundup, Catherine's been enjoying the YouTube series Jet Lag: The Game [https://www.youtube.com/c/jetlagthegame] with her son. Nicole is trying out the Rover app [https://www.rover.com/] for pet care (and has an inside look at how the company vets its caretakers). And thanks to Dancing with the Stars, Terri's checking back in with an older show she enjoyed: Brothers and Sisters ​(available on Hulu) [https://www.hulu.com/series/brothers-sisters-f5b3f0f0-b0c4-46d7-8e7a-0bbebfdb9b30].

Terri was surprised to learn that her husband carries a comb to touch up his 'do while he's at work, which got her (and us) obsessing over how much personal grooming we do in public. Or in private, for that matter.