Your perfect kid routine is here

Hello everyone! This past weekend marked the most common birthday of the whole year: September 9 (thank goodness, the world needs more Virgos). Turns out nine of the top 10 most common birthdays are all in September, which makes us think: Have the moms been taking “labor day” a smidge too literally?

What Sophie Turner Tells Us About the Way We View Moms

ICYMI: Actor/general icon Sophie Turner and boyband pioneer Joe Jonas are getting a divorce after four years of marriage. Celebrity splits aren’t usually breaking news for parents like you, but in this case…we had to chime in.

Tabloids and even some more “mainstream” media have been smearing Turner as a “bad mom,” essentially for what appears to be 1) continuing to work after having two children and 2) grabbing a drink with her friends. To that we say…WTF?

In her newsletter, Men Yell at Me, journalist and author Lyz Lenz explores why Turner has been so harshly criticized for, well, being a human. Here’s a hint: “There are few things society loves to laud more than a woman who is a mother. And there are few things society loves to hate more than a single mother,” Lenz writes. Highly recommend reading this piece after doing bedtime tonight.

Feel Like You’re Losing Control?

Time for a reframe: “It’s not about control, it’s about connection.” That’s what child development specialist Dr. Siggie Cohen told us in this new episode for Common Parent members.

Because parenting teens and tweens can feel like a constant battle for control. But we learned from Dr. Siggie that focusing on connection instead of control unlocks a whole new parenting world—and lets us simplify the maze of parenting. Listen to the episode here.

Your Daily Dose of Inspiration

We love finding a new person for our teens to look up to. And no one appears better suited for the role of role model than 18-year-old Vance Walker, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 18 months old. Walker, who was told by doctors he’d have to use leg braces for his whole life and bullied throughout school, just won the television competition American Ninja Warrior. 👏

You Want to Hear What This Sex Expert Has to Say

Sex & Relationship Expert Shan Boodram is the internet’s most sought-after certified sex educator and relationship expert with over 100 million YouTube views. We interviewed her in our classic unfiltered style. And you want to give it a listen…trust us.

The perfect recs to help your teen or tween get into a routine (routeen? We’ll see ourselves out) now that school’s back in session. Because the routine you lived by when they were newborns? Even more important now that they’re a decade older.

• The pre-school morning routine that’ll help your family stay on track (without forgetting to brush your teeth).

• An after-school routine optimized for structure, with all the elements you may have forgotten to think about.

• A real life-approved example of a routine (for both morning and nighttime!) tailored for the needs of a child with ADHD.

• Camila Alves McConaughey, mother of three, author, and entrepreneur, told us all about how to implement healthy, lifelong habits that will stick with your kids. Yes, habits like eating healthy.

• And one for the little kid parents introducing something new to the routine: How to get a child to leave somewhere they don’t want to leave in simple, easy steps that will help you (get ready for this one) avoid the dreaded tantrum.