Parenting Roundabout

On today's episode, one of us is responding to some new offerings from Target [https://www.sheknows.com/living/articles/2564294/matching-family-outfits-target/] by complaining about matching outfits for families. The other two are confessing their own past experiments with coordinated costuming.

On this week's entertainment-themed Round 2: "An Unthinkable Fate" on Bridgerton might be marrying your love's sister, or being disinherited by your awful grandparents, or becoming a (!) feminist. But mostly it just meant we're waiting at least another week for Anthony and Kate to kiss already. Next: "The Choice."On The Afterparty, the episode title "High School" departs from convention because no one knows the storyteller's name, even though he's the one throwing the fateful St. Patrick's Day party 2006 party that changed everything. (It's Walt. WALT!!) Next: "Zoe."

Today, we're inspired by the Walker Hayes song "Craig" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pLNTewIfrg] and the book it. in turn, inspired, called Glad You're Here: Two Unlikely Friends Breaking Bread and Fences [https://www.moodypublishers.com/glad-youre-here/]. The incident that prompted this unlikely friendship got us talking about those times when people have noticed and taken an interest in our kids, and how meaningful that is.

We have tales of being bit by dogs and monkeys and even bicycles, but we're not holding grudges. (If those lizards menacing Nicole ever do attack, though, they're dead to us.)​

With her daughter off to college soon, Nicole is obsessed with teaching independence and life skills. Terri and Catherine offer advice, despite having yet to push any of their children out of the nest.​

On this week’s Roundabout Roundup: Nicole's enjoying audiobooks on Audible [https://www.audible.com/], and mentioned that it's now integrated with the Waze app [https://www.waze.com/]. Terri shouts out Parks and Recollection [https://teamcoco.com/podcasts/parks-and-recollection], an episode-by-episode Parks and Recreation podcast (just like we did here on Round 2--only this one has Rob Lowe). And Catherine discovered a new (to her) drink at Starbucks: the Royal English Breakfast tea latte [https://www.starbucks.com/menu/product/465/hot].

We take a cue from the Bobby Bones Show [https://overcast.fm/+IvaKUKVgg/16:12] and obsess about what we'd do to transform a company if we had the funds to purchase it and remake it to our liking.

But should there be? Huckleberry [https://apps.apple.com/us/app/huckleberry-baby-child/id1169136078] is just one of many baby-tracking and sleep-promoting apps out there. Your podcast panel is divided as to how terrifying this is.

On this week's entertainment-themed Round 2, the "victory" of Bridgerton's title could have referred to a number of events, but none of them were truly victorious victories. At least one was revealed to be a big mistake (huge) almost the minute it happened. Next: "An Unthinkable Fate."And on The Afterparty, Chelsea's story didn't take us too much farther into the mystery of who killed Xavier, but we did get to see the next place Aniq found to eavesdrop. Next: "High School."

It's almost Mother's Day, so we shared some of our favorite memories of our own moms (including how they are with our own kids). We hope all our listeners feel appreciated this week and every week.

It's a good time to set feet free from shoes and socks. But sandals can be problematic if your spouse disapproves, you have a foot condition that requires sturdier footwear, or your part of the country demands pricey versions.

We've tried cute little notes, temper tantrums, and repeating ourselves over and over (and over) again. And yet, our families ignore our wise counsel and basic rules.

On this week’s Roundabout Roundup, Nicole's enjoying traveling the world with Ed People on TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@edpeople]. Catherine's shouting out Milk-Bone Good Morning Daily Vitamin Treats for helping her dog's creaky joints [https://www.milkbone.com/dog-treats/vitamins/good-morning-healthy-joints]. And Terri has a spiffy new tripod standing desk that lets her travel from room to room with her laptop [https://www.intension-design.com/tripodtable].

Spontaneity is easy and fun when you have no jobs, kids, or pets. At our stage in life, we require plenty of time for advance planning and advance worrying.

An article suggesting "10 Practical Ways to Improve Happiness" [https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/04/happiness-research-how-to-be-happy-advice/629559/] got us complaining about exactly how practical it is, for example, to walk an hour a day, read for pleasure an hour a day, and exercise, and socialize with your colleagues, and on and on. It doesn't make us happy to have to follow these rules, OK?

On this week's entertainment-themed Round 2: Bridgerton took a bit of a darker turn and gave us some traumatic Bridgerton family backstory. So we forgive Anthony's rakishness, for now. Next: "Victory."Luckily, The Afterparty brought the mood back up with a lightweight musical episode. It didn't bring us any closer to solving the mystery, but it was fun to watch. Next: "Chelsea."

Like Duh-nelle on TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@i.talkwith.myhands/video/7079877885867314478], we are unapologetically not crunchy moms. We are the opposite of cloth-diapering, gardening, chemical-free parents--which makes us soggy moms. How about you?

It's the kind of thing we'd love to say that we do—especially Terri, who used to work for Hallmark—but between the cost and the time and the organization needed to actually buy and mail something, we're not exactly on it.​

In this episode, we're talking about kids today—or really, kids' activities today and how they're really kids' and parents' activities. Because why wouldn't we want to balance parenting, working, family relationships, and maintaining a home with a full-time job as a soccer mom?

On this week’s Roundabout Roundup, Terri recommends Wakeout!, an app that she says makes exercise fun [https://wakeout.app/]. And in Nicole's absence, Catherine resurrects the Instagram Minute with her shout-out of Depths of WIkipedia, which will add randomness and giggles to your Insta feed [https://www.instagram.com/depthsofwikipedia/].