Got information overload?

Hello everyone! One of the things we think about most as moms (other than “am I doing this right”) is how to make sure our kids aren’t doing anything bad/scary/questionable on their iPhones. It’s also one of the questions we get from you most. So we recorded a little tutorial on setting limits on your teen’s iPhone and shared it on the discussion board for our Common Parent members. If you’re already in the crew, check out the tutorial here and if you want to join the fun, do that here!

That Google Search Won’t Help You

Are you dealing with information overload? Chances are high the answer is yes every now and then. A recent study in Sweden found that tons of parents are struggling with information overload—aka feeling wayyy overwhelmed by the sheer volume of parenting tips and content out there.

Turns out, parents who aren’t the most confident (which, let’s face it, is all of us at some point) are more likely to overdo it with the “is this normal” Googles. So? Here are some tips to find helpful information about parenting online without totally overdoing it.

P.S. This is part of why we started The Common Parent—to help you navigate the chaos without making things even harder.

Teens + Tobacco = a Major Issue

You may have heard your teen talk about an Elfbar recently. It’s not a Keebler cookie or a new makeup product—it’s a disposable vape, often in fruit- and candy-flavored varieties. And these things are everywhere.

• FYI: The CDC says the number of e-cigarette brands in the U.S. grew from 184 in early 2020 to 269 by late 2022. And guess what—that has coincided with a major spike in the popularity of disposable vapes like the Elfbar.

• More than 2.5 million high schoolers and middle schoolers use e-cigarettes—that’s about one in four tweens and teens vaping daily.

Want to talk to your kids about tobacco use? Here are some risks (worth sharing, not scaring) of e-cigarette use. You can also check out this episode we made with Ray Lozano, who speaks to kids about vaping, marijuana, and substance use in schools.

September Is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month!

Did you know: About 1 in every 285 kids in the US will be diagnosed with cancer before their 20th birthday, and 300,000 kids are diagnosed with cancer each year globally. So we’re making the most of the last week of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month by sharing some of the awareness and fundraising events from the American Childhood Cancer Organization. It’s super easy to find a way to participate and support kids and their families going through the unimaginable—and talk about setting a good example for your kids!

Is Responsive Parenting Right for You?

With so many “types” of parenting, from authoritative to gentle to permissive, it can be tough to take any newcomers to the parenting style conversation seriously. But this idea from a Q&A with Jordan Shapiro, author of the new book Father Figure: How To Be a Feminist Dad, has some serious legs.

It’s called responsive parenting. “It’s this idea that you're not writing the narrative that everybody else is abiding by. Instead, you're responding to other people's narratives,” Shapiro said. It’s about treating your kids as individual people, not supporting characters in your own life.

You can check out the full convo with Shapiro here. Maybe send it to a feminist dad in your life?

The perfect recs to get the whole family involved—we’ve curated something for them and something for you. Because you can do things together without subjecting yourself to yet another three-hour YouTube video about how cars are made.

• You read: Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey // They read: Just Because by Matthew McConaughey (it’s his new kids book!)

• You drink: A festive fall cocktail (we’re eyeing the vanilla chai old fashioned) // They drink: A festive fall mocktail (the autumn harvest punch has our kids written all over it)

• You watch: You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah // They watch: You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (what can we say, we’ve heard amazing things from everyone)