Are influencers getting to your kids?

Hello everyone! Next week is mid-winter break here in Canada. We’d call it spring break like they do in the US, but here? Spring is still, like, three months away. Regardless, we’re excited to relax, unwind, and…oh wait, we still have hockey practice every day? And we have to feed and entertain seven kids between us for a full week? Cool. How long ’til summer?

How to Protect Your Kids from AI

This is so sad: Students at a middle school in Beverly Hills used artificial intelligence to make fake nude photos of their classmates. Yes, AI-generated fake nudes. Of middle schoolers. This is real.

According to the school district, the photos superimposed students’ faces onto nude bodies. And unfortunately, this isn’t the first time this has happened—similar stories have rocked high schools in New Jersey and Washington.

So how do you help your kids stay safe when AI tech is getting a little too scary? Teach them about the ways AI can actually protect them. Check out Common Sense Media’s free AI Initiative reviewing AI tools and products. And read this—5 steps to help kids use AI safely.

Yes to Sports, No to Locker Room Talk

We love sports, but we don’t love sexism, misogyny, aggression, and hypermasculinity. Unfortunately, those things often come with the territory, especially for men’s sports.

So how do we encourage our kids to pursue sports but keep them from falling into the worst parts of that “bro culture” of toxic masculinity and dangerous attitudes?

Dr. Teresa Anne Fowler, who has a PhD in gender and sexuality studies, joined us to break down her research into the cultural reproduction of masculinity and how parents can work to make change and protect their kids from the worst and most unhealthy side effects of sports. Check this one out—it’s so useful!

P.S. This one is for members of our Common Parent community. Want to join? Get a free 14-day trial here.

Are Influencers the New Disney Princesses?

Chances are you’ve seen it. And if you haven’t, your daughter has: The makeup brand Tarte just hosted an incredibly lavish influencer trip in Bora Bora. We’re talking the fanciest cabanas, thousands of dollars of free products, and a metric ton of TikToks.

Plenty of moms have criticized Tarte for what could only be an outrageous budget for this trip, but none hit the mark quite like TikToker Cheldin Barlatt Rumer (see her take here).

• Her POV? The trip isn’t supposed to appeal to moms (or anyone paying a mortgage).

• It’s supposed to appeal to our tween daughters, who are inevitably going to beg for early allowance and then beg for a ride to Sephora to buy Tarte makeup.

Rumer says influencers like those on this Tarte trip are the new Disney princesses…the unrealistic characters whom our kids now aspire to be when they grow up. What do you think?

Is it just us or did teens and tweens everywhere start getting pickier after our generation? Seriously! Mealtime is a battle more often than not. So today: The perfect recs to make meals a breeze.

• 6 breakfast rules this cookbook author (and mom of 3) swears by

• We know it’s not always possible (trust us), but when you can make it work? Family dinner really makes a difference

• Dinner ideas for picky eaters? We are so in

• This was all the lunchbox inspo we need to get more creative than PB&J for yet another school lunch