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Where do babies come from is *nothing*

Puberty is kicking our you-know-whats

Hello and time for a reality check! Don’t know how to sew a homemade Halloween costume? Pick one up from your local Spirit Halloween. Don’t know how to make perfect caramel for candy apples? Store-bought will do just fine. Don’t have the patience to carve jack-o-lanterns or the time to clean up the mess it’ll make? Grab some of the plastic ones and call it a day.

You’re doing your best, every single day. And that’s what your family will remember most about this time of the year. No one is judging you as harshly as you’re judging yourself. So sit back, relax, and enjoy it all. ✌️🎃

 The Common Parent Guide to Puberty

Puberty is like one giant question mark…that also slams every single door. So what are we as parents to do when our teens and tweens start to go through one of life’s biggest changes? How do we answer their questions (which get so much more complicated than just “where are babies from,” by the way)? When’s the right time to start talking about sex? How can we be supportive and encouraging when their worlds feel so topsy-turvy?

We genuinely wanted to know the answers (a solid chunk of our seven kids are around this age). So we brought in two experts—Vanessa Kroll Bennett and Cara Natterson, MD, authors of This Is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained—to give us the full rundown. 

How to Talk to Your Kids About Guns

The conversation about teens and guns is getting more and more important. About a decade ago, a top US gunmaker reportedly signed a previously undisclosed deal to put its rifles in the popular video game Call of Duty. The reason? This gunmaker wanted to reach young customers…aka our kids. 

It’s heartbreaking that our kids have to endure the fear of a potential school shooting every day. And now we know that the people making these guns might be working to market their weapons to teens? It’s heavy stuff…which makes it all the more important to talk with your kids about. Here are some resources for navigating a conversation about gun violence.

Got an Anxious Kid?

Source: Transitions Counseling and Consulting

We’ve got the resource for you. This edition of the Parenting Translator newsletter covers it all, from understanding whether your child might be experiencing anxiety to showing you what you can (and can’t) do to help them. ❤️‍🩹

How to Keep Your Whole Family Healthy…

…Especially when everyone and their brother is getting sick. ’Tis the season for colds, flus, Covid-19, and every other nasty, contagious bug your kids are bringing home from school. Want to know the most common cold weather illness symptoms, how they spread, how to treat them, and when you (or your child) can re-enter society? We’ve got you covered.

The perfect recs to help you parent through the holiday some of us love to hate and some of us hate to love: Halloween. Candy, costumes, and calendar-sanctioned mischief…what could go wrong? 

Here’s your regularly scheduled reminder that two best friends don’t have to be two twins. The two of us? Couldn’t be more different (especially when it comes to mimosas, see here)...but here we are, besties until they kick us out of the nursing home.

That’s one of our favorite parts about female friendship—to the right people, it doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, what weird positions you sleep in at night, or what total maniac behavior you exhibit (this episode is proof). They love you and accept you and will drive the getaway car if you need them to.

Our final tour dates of the year for the live version of Cat & Nat Unfiltered are kicking off this weekend and we can’t wait to celebrate female friendship with you and your besties (and you might even win a VIP package if you’re coming to see us 🥂). Catch you there!

—Cat & Nat