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If you live in Australia, where Bluey lives, it’s about time to start taking sweaters and warm socks out of storage. Winter is coming to the Southern Hemisphere. But if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s summer time, and that means tank tops, sunscreen, and, of course, lots of fun water games with your little ones. And since Bluey and her family like a good splash in the pool, ocean, creek, pond, and more, there are plenty of water games inspired by Bluey that can get you and your kids using your imagination, learning, and having fun this season.
We dug deep across the series’ three seasons and more than 150 episodes for some of our favorite water-based games from Bluey, from the silly to the STEAM-inspired to cover a wide range of moods and interests. Whether you want to jump in the pool or just splash about in the rain, we have some ideas that will elevate your child’s fun in the water.
Salad Spinner
“Trampoline” | Season 1, Episode 33
How To Play: Set a sprinkler under your trampoline and just start running around pretending to be leaves of lettuce. You’ll be surprised how long this can be entertaining.
— Disney+
In this episode, Bingo and Bluey keep trying to get their dad to stay home and play with them, but Bandit has to go to work. Still, softy that he is, he keeps getting pulled into their various trampoline games. Finally, on his way out, he informs her that she, too has an important job: to come up with new games. Soon she invents “salad spinner” which involves her putting a sprinkler under the trampoline and the running about pretending to be salad getting washed for dinner. It’s a simple game but loads of fun. (Even Chilli joins in the frolicking.)
Swim School
“Swim School” | Season 2, Episode 21
How To Play: Choose one family member to be the swim instructor, preferably a younger child, and everyone else pretends to be brothers and sisters. Hilarity will ensue.
— Disney+
Lounging by a pool in Bali doesn’t mean the Heelers are going to stop playing make-believe. While on vacation, the family decides to play “Swim School.” There are two classes, Little Fish and Big Fish and if you want to pass Little Fish you have to listen to the instructions of “Karen” the instructor (aka Bluey pretending to be a grown-up). When Bevin, Sharon, and Merifyndor (Bandit, Chilli, and Bingo) passes Little Fish they go to Margaret’s class (also Bluey pretending to be a grown-up) and she’s a much tougher (and sillier) instructor. Kids love a little bit of role reversal in their imaginative play. It’s not often they get to tell anyone what to do, so we imagine this will be a hit the next time the family heads to the pool.
Barky Boats
“Barky Boats” | Season 2, Episode 38
How To Play: Find small sticks, wood chips, or other naturally occurring, buoyant objects. These are your “boats.” Find a stream or fountain and place your “boats” in the water at the same time. Whoever reaches the end of the course (or designated endpoint) first wins.
— Disney+
While playing with their “buddies” (older kids who come to mentor the younger kids at Bluey’s school), we learn about a game that appears to be a staple of Glasshouse Primary School: Barky Boats. Taking strips of bark or wood chips found on the ground, two kids (in this case Bluey and her friend Mackenzie) race their boats down a little spout that ends in a pond. It’s a bit like “Pooh Sticks” for you Winnie the Pooh fans out there.
Building A Dam
“Rain” | Season 3, Episode 18
How To Play: When it’s raining, or you otherwise have a steady source of water, try to build a dam to block it from flowing away. Get creative with your materials? What works? What doesn’t? Figuring it all out is half the fun.
— Disney+
This beautiful, wordless episode is a great example of how play can lead to creativity and learning, even play as simple as splashing about in the rain. When a rare rainstorm rolls in over Brisbane, Bluey is having fun splashing around in it. But when she sees the downspouts of her house releasing a small river down her driveway, she gets the idea to create a dam to keep it from flowing away. She engineers a small dam to hold it back, but can’t do it all on her own until mom comes in to help.
Bug Inspector
“Slide” | Season 3, Episode 46
How To Play: Set up a water slide in your backyard. The first child down the slide is the “Bug Inspector” to make sure there are no insects or other crawly friends who need to be cleared from the plastic tarp — they’ll slide slowly and look carefully, moving any bugs that get in the way. (Feel free to call other friends to observe the bugs you find.) Once they call all clear another friend can use the slide normally. Kids take turns being the Bug Inspector.
— Disney+
In this episode of Bluey, Bingo and her bestie Lila are playing in the backyard. They’re excited about using the water slide Bandit has set up, but run into a problem when bugs start to move onto the slide. To solve this problem, they take turns patrolling for bugs and clearing them to safety. They seem to have just as much fun playing “Bug Inspector” as they do actually using the slide as intended. In the end, they’re visited by a caterpillar they spared, now in the form of a butterfly. (A very important butterfly, it turns out.)
If you’ve had anything to do with adolescents in the last few years, you might be feeling more than a bit worried about their mental health. There are surging rates of anxiety and depression in teens, increases in death by suicide, a jump in the numbers of girls who are seriously considering attempting suicide. School absences are high, test scores are historically low, and teens in most developed nations have reported feeling lonelier than ever.
At the same time, they all have smartphones. Are these two things related?
If you read Jonathan Haidt’s new book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, or caught wind of it in the latest media frenzy, then you know his answer is a definitive yes. Haidt draws on an impressive range of studies to make the case for a relationship between declines in teen mental health and the tidal wave of technology that has hit our society since 2010. In fairly frightening language, he posits that the youth today have served as guinea pigs for technology that rewires their brains and their lives, creating a disembodied, asynchronous, multitasking life lacking in substantive relationships while simultaneously having their growth stifled under the thumb of overprotective parents.
The answer he proposes comes in the form of a pledge (not unlike the abstinence pledges of a decade ago): Parents should affirm that their kids will wait until they’re in eighth grade to get their first smartphone and that they won’t use social media until they are 16 — ages that he argues, reasonably enough, mean kids are better equipped, neurologically speaking, to handle the technology.
It’s worth noting that reporters and researchers familiar with the data on tech say he has carefully chosen studies that fit his thesis. Even if we take at face value that Haidt’s a reliable reporter of data others consider equivocal, we would still have to confront that old axiom that correlation does not equal causation — something Haidt vehemently argues he has controlled for (others disagree). The source of kids’ current discontent seems to be foiling us adults precisely because there are so many troubling things happening at once; that Haidt believes we can view them in isolation or extricate phones from all the other variables at play is optimistic at best (though he does try very hard).
It is easier to blame a shiny inanimate object and ineffectual parenting for our individual ills than to admit that policy mistakes have been made and targeted moderation could limit some of this harm — and that arrayed in opposition to systemic change are the people profiting off the flood of shit streaming onto those devices at all times. Laying the responsibility at the feet of overburdened parents (let’s be real, mothers) and suggesting that we should be the ones to resolve it is not only insulting, it’s pushing conservative notions of individual responsibility while ignoring the broader societal structures at play. One doesn’t have to strain to imagine a phone-free childhood becoming yet another marker of intensive parenting and breaking down along class lines. To actually help all children, not only would a not insignificant portion of the American families have to agree to this shift away from smartphones, we would have to repave the well-worn roads of modern socialization all while neglecting corporate responsibility measures to rein it all in.
Although Haidt dedicates space to solutions for tech companies, the marketing of the book is aimed squarely at today’s parents — who are, arguably, the original anxious generation.
Living in Germany during my child’s youth, I had the privilege of implementing the kind of phone-free childhood Haidt advocates for, even if I wouldn’t have called it that at the time. Thanks to a year’s worth of pay postpartum and free zoo passes, my kid didn’t see a smartphone in their first year of life. Come toddlerhood we had a spot in a full-day subsidized day care with well-trained caregivers who emphasized getting muddy over watching cartoons. We lived a block from a playground and our kids could play street hockey in a cul-de-sac after school. Elementary school students in Germany learn cursive penmanship and how to make posters on poster board instead of the ins and outs of PowerPoint and Google Classroom. The parents in my kid’s school defaulted to keeping our kids off phones and smartwatches, so we made play dates when we met in the school’s drop-off areas, something we could do because we nearly all had shorter working days that allowed us to walk or bike the kids to the neighborhood school. In other words, we could raise our kids with the privilege of living a non-phone-based lifestyle because the broader infrastructure was in place at every other level.
That idyll ended when the pandemic shut schools and playgrounds and forbade nearly every activity, including meeting with friends outdoors, for months. Schooling became divided between the have-Zooms and have-nots, and phones became a necessity. It was during that time of social isolation (and for some, economic devastation) that many kids also developed mental health issues. Were the phones to blame (those same phones that were connecting them to friends and teacher) for their struggles, or could it have been literally anything else happening around these highly attuned kids? How do you even control for the causes in as unprecedented a situation as that?
Haidt’s not wrong that we are all, as a collective, on our phones too damned much, and our kids are no exception. Children learn what they live. But have you seen the way adults behave online? Blame phone overuse on the underdeveloped prefrontal cortex all you want, but even if they can’t put it down, many teens today have a better understanding of what’s appropriate behavior online than their grandparents stuck in the newstainment outrage cycle do. And as one researcher, Christopher Ferguson, a psychology professor at Stetson University, told Platformer via email, “Middle aged white men are three to five times more likely to kill themselves than are teen girls. There’s just no evidence for the common but largely mythical idea that somehow young people are more vulnerable to media effects than are adults.”
Child safety online requires not only kids (and their parents) turn off the social media spigot, it also demands the implementation of actual guardrails on those platforms; still, Haidt’s shifting arguments for how best to establish those guardrails worry those with knowledge of the industry. It’s important to protect kids, without removing vital pathways for connection and community. “It’s difficult to separate the technology of smartphones from the fact that they’re important sources of information, including about mental health, and even agency for young people,” Bradford Vivian, a professor in Penn State University’s Department of Communication Arts and Science and author of Campus Misinformation: The Real Threat to Free Speech in American Higher Education, told me. “Banning phones will restrict many young peoples’ access to both, and possibly their rights in the process.”
Laying the responsibility at the feet of overburdened parents (let’s be real, mothers) and suggesting that we should be the ones to resolve it is not only insulting, it’s pushing conservative notions of individual responsibility while ignoring the broader societal structures at play.
Although Haidt dedicates space to solutions for tech companies, the marketing of the book is aimed squarely at today’s parents — who are, arguably, the original anxious generation. I wish instead of doling out advice aimed mostly at worried parents, this social psychologist who teaches ethical leadership at a leading business school had instead aimed his argument at the white men his age who are serving as business and political leaders in the same institutions whose lack of adequate governance has created this situation. Though I suppose it might be easier, or at least marginally better for the economy, to put restrictions on teenagers rather than on all the corporations — tech and otherwise — who profit off them.
Contextualizing The Anxious Generation alongside Haidt’s previous works, which include political treatises like, “Can’t We All Disagree More Constructively?” as well as The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Kids Up for Failure, you get the feeling that the problem is less with phones than with kids and where they are getting their information from. If current events play a role in the mental health crisis, he writes, it’s the result of the news of such events “suddenly being pumped into adolescents’ brains through their phones,” not the impact that a growing array of tragedies (climate change, mass shootings, crumbing democracies, etc.) might have had on kids as they enter adolescence. Not only does that underestimate how attuned teenagers are to societal ills, it suggests that their increased political awareness is something of a social media-driven fad and not because they are experiencing the consequences of disastrous policies firsthand.
As parents, there is only so much we can do individually without greater societal support. We aren’t handing off phones to our kids because we prefer spending our leisurely summer days indoors in front of a screen; we’re doing it because camps cost upward of our entire salaries and we don’t have 12 weeks of paid vacation. Our kids aren’t choosing to play Minecraft instead of hitting the swimming pool during yet another record-breaking heatwave — the pool’s closed because there’s no funding for lifeguards, and anyways, the air quality index is off the charts again because the oil companies won’t stop pumping or adhere to emissions limits. After all, kids can’t pass a math test if there are no math classes taking place. What are they supposed to do: log in to Khan Academy and take lessons on their phone?
Germany is often the butt of jokes due to its lack of digitalization, but unlike the United States, its privacy regulations and intense austerity measures under Merkel meant that prior to 2020, there was little to no tech in classrooms. At the same time, Jessica Grose writes in The New York Times, tech became omnipresent in public school classrooms in the United States: “Companies never had to prove that devices or software, broadly speaking, helped students learn before those devices had wormed their way into America’s public schools. And now the onus is on parents to marshal arguments about the detriments of tech in schools.”
Once our kids reach a certain age, it’s not our job to protect our children but rather to accompany them through life’s hard stuff.
In proposing solutions that involve loading more work onto already harried parents, we’re absolving the broader whole of their responsibility in raising the next generation. But I’m not even sure that we’re all on the same page of just what that entails anymore. After all, we live in a country that, out of concern that it would infringe on parental rights to educate and discipline our children, has not ratified the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. While Haidt cites its predecessor, the 1959 UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child, as enshrining children’s right to play, the declaration is meant to outlaw the use of child soldiers, child labor, and early marriage, not necessarily to secure their right to experiential learning or to meet friends at the playground. Given recent legislation rolling back child labor protections, I can see why we don’t have a chance of agreeing to even that shared value in the near future. Why are we asking kids to give up phones when we cannot even agree to afford them these otherwise basic rights?
In any case, credit where it’s due: Haidt recognizes a problem and the necessity of collective action to pull us out of the tailspin. We do, as a culture, need to stop entertaining ourselves to death. But why is the solution that we all make a pledge to do it alone? Go ahead and put down your own experience blocker, as Haidt calls them, and sign an unbinding commitment that your kids won’t get smartphones until eighth grade or be on social media until 16. Pull out your high school memory boxes and teach them the dynamics of 10-digit texting on their new flip phones, a retro throwback that’ll go well with the wide-bottomed JNCOs they’ve revitalized. Maybe they’ll even learn some responsibility by getting jobs at the mall — if they’re lucky enough to live within walking distance of one that’s still open. It won’t necessarily slow climate change or reverse learning loss or stop any wars or bring back the joy we had living through ’90s latchkey childhoods, but it will give us some illusion that we are each as individuals still in control of our children’s lives. At least those of us who can afford to be.
But I’ll be over here, reflecting on what one child-free friend who spent years peacebuilding in war zones reminded me about parenting: Once our kids reach a certain age, it’s not our job to protect our children but rather to accompany them through life’s hard stuff. That’s where I think we will find our middle ground in this war for attention — not by signing arbitrary pledges that further divide our kids between those who have the privilege of a play-based childhood and those who have unfettered access to tech. We need to establish firm boundaries of what we will tolerate in our society and contribute to one that fosters all of our kids in their growth as they navigate what feels like uncharted waters.
One of the things I love most about a Disney trip is the prep work beforehand. Thanks to Disney being such a huge brand, you can find great Disney tees, Mickey ears, and even some fun souvenirs at your favorite retailers before you even step into Magic Kingdom. And whether you have a Disney party or trip planned (or just really love those iconic ears), Aldi is now a place to add to your Disney shopping list — Aldi Disney sneakers are back this summer for both adults and kids, and they are literally less than $15.
That beautiful Aldi Finds aisle is always my favorite when I stop in the store for groceries, and lately the chain has made sure to keep up with Disney-loving fans by keeping a steady supply of Disney ear headbands, clothing, water bottles, and even earrings on the shelves. The latest addition are the Aldi Disney sneakers, which come in three fun designs and are available in women’s sizes, children’s sizes, and toddler sizes.
But you’ll want to run to your Aldi quickly. The Aldi Disney sneakers will be available starting May 1, but they won’t last long — last year, the shoes only lasted one day.
— Aldi— Aldi— Aldi
All three shoe designs are available in women’s sizes 7 to 10 for $14.99, but the silver Mickey design is not available in the children’s sizes or toddler sizes. The children sizes include sizes 1 to 4 and retail for $12.99 while the toddler sizes include sizes 7 to 12 and retail for $11.99. You truly can’t find a better price for such fun shoes, and the little ones will love matching you on your next Disney trip.
Cheese is pretty much the food equivalent of a big hug. It’s all warm and melty — heck, even when it’s cold, it’s still delicious. When it hasn’t been your day, your week, your month, or even your year... cheese will be there for you. Adding cheese to your day can only make it better, which is why these cheesy dinner recipes are perfect to turn to when you need a comfort meal.
At the end of a long, hard day — or even just a really busy one — having a comfort meal just makes sense. Whether you’re in the mood for a giant bowl of pasta or a platter of roasted vegetables, smothering whatever you whip up with gobs of ooey-gooey cheese instantly transforms it into a comfort meal. These recipes are also great to serve your kids after a long day of testing at school, a difficult conversation, or when the stress of growing up just starts to get to them. I’ve even seen cheesy dinners mend broken hearts. (Your mileage may vary.)
All of that to say, cheese feeds the soul. So, the next time you need a heaping helping of cheesy goodness, reach for one of these cheesy dinner recipes.
Three Cheese Baked Gnocchi
— Pinch Of Yum
Baked pasta in tomato sauce covered in melty cheese? Sign me up. From Pinch Of Yum, this recipe for three cheese baked gnocchi uses mascarpone to make the sauce creamy and cheesy. Then, the whole thing is also topped off with mozzarella and parmesan to up the cheese factor.
Broccoli, Ham, & Cheese Soup
— Damn Delicious
In terms of comfort meals, soups rank high on the list of the best options. This recipe for broccoli, ham, and cheese soup from Damn Delicious will not only fulfill your cheese fix, but ensure you get some protein from the ham and nutrients from the broccoli while you’re at it. It also comes together in about an hour using leftover ham, so you’ll get a comforting, cheesy meal that’s relatively easy to make.
Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti
— A Spicy Perspective
The first time I made chicken spaghetti, I swore I would do whatever I could recreate that meal at least once a month because all four of our kids ate it so well. While I can’t guarantee that will happen if you make this cheesy chicken spaghetti from A Spicy Perspective, I can tell you that it’s topped with crushed crackers and loaded with cheese, which is exactly like every casserole my grandma ever made, and those always hit the spot.
Cheesy Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake
— A Spicy Perspective
From A Spicy Perspective, this recipe for cheesy chicken alfredo pasta bake pretty much has comfort baked right into it. Pasta? Check. Chicken? Check. Cheese? All the checks. If you’re looking for cheesy dinner satisfaction, you’ll find it here.
Asparagus & Goat Cheese Frittata
— A Pretty Life In The Suburbs
Breakfast for dinner is on the menu at my house at least twice a week mainly because it’s easy and everyone enjoys it. The next time your need for a cheesy comfort meal falls on a breakfast-for-dinner night, this asparagus and goat cheese frittata from A Pretty Life In The Suburbs checks every single box — even the green vegetable one!
Slow Cooker Cheesy Mexican Chipotle Corn Chowder
— Baked By Rachel
If you’re a person who hears the word “chowder” and is immediately drawn to the comforting appeal of a steaming bowl of creamy soup, you’re going to love this cheesy dinner recipe. From Baked By Rachel, slow cooker cheesy Mexican chipotle corn chowder is what you get when you take tortilla soup ingredients and throw them in a crockpot with corn chowder and tons of cheese. You really can’t go wrong with this one.
Sloppy Joe Casserole
— Princess Pinky Girl
My kids love nothing more than a good, old-fashioned sloppy joe night. If your family loves them too, then this recipe for sloppy joe casserole from Princess Pinky Girl is sure to hit the spot. Though I don’t always put cheese on my sloppy joe’s, when I do, they’re extra tasty, so I can only imagine that an entire casserole dish made in this same manner (but with pasta instead of a bun) would be even better.
Ravioli Lasagna
— Gimme Some Oven
Gimme Some Oven calls this recipe for ravioli lasagna a lasagna “shortcut” because that’s basically what it is. When you layer up Italian sausage, marinara, cheese, and ravioli filled with cheese, you get a super cheesy casserole that’s way easier to put together than a full lasagna, but equally as satisfying.
Broccoli Cheddar Chicken
— Half Baked Harvest
With some cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and time in your crockpot, you can have an incredibly cheesy dinner ready to feed the whole family. This recipe for broccoli cheddar chicken from Half Baked Harvest is an absolute gem of a find in terms of classic comfort and convenience. Plus, it’s finished with garlic thyme brown butter that’s totally “optional” but there’s a reason I put quotes around that word — it’s too good not to make.
Buffalo Chicken Pasta Bake
— Inside Bru Crew Life
This is the comforting cheesy dinner to make when it’s been a rough day and you’re feeling feisty. From Inside Bru Crew Life, this recipe for buffalo chicken pasta bake is made with tons of shredded cheese and gets a kick from shredded chicken tossed in your favorite buffalo sauce.
Baked Ham & Cheese Rollups
— The Comfort Of Cooking
Looking for a dinner to make that’s as easy as it is cheesy? Look no further than this recipe for baked ham and cheese rollups from The Comfort Of Cooking. It uses refrigerated pizza dough to encompass a melty spiral of cheesy, meaty deliciousness that’s super kid-friendly, but also hearty enough to serve as dinner with a side of veggies, some chips, or even a salad.
Cheesy Cauliflower Pizza Casserole
— Jessica In The Kitchen
Two words: pizza casserole. That’s really all you need to know to fall head over heels for this cheesy cauliflower pizza casserole from Jessica In The Kitchen. It’s basically love in a casserole dish. Plus it’s vegetarian, but you could easily make swaps to use vegan cheese or even add some pepperoni or sausage if you prefer.
Crockpot Cheesy Grits & Shrimp
— Family Fresh Meals
As any Southerner worth their salt knows, a big bowl of cheesy grits and shrimp is a top-tier comfort dish. From Family Fresh meals, this recipe comes together in your crockpot, so you don’t have to worry about standing over a stove to stir your grits so they don’t stick. (IYKYK — and this Gulf Coast gal knows.)
Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese
— Foodie Crush
An oldie, but a goodie, the humble grilled cheese is the ultimate cheesy star of any meal. This recipe from Foodie Crush for jalapeno popper grilled cheese kicks the classic comfort food up a notch. Make this recipe when you want to take your comfort meal to the next level. (Or when a heated PTA meeting leaves you feeling extra spicy.)
Roasted Vegetable Macaroni & Cheese
— Gimme Some Oven
Mac and cheese is a classic, but this recipe from Gimme Some Oven is packed with tons of hearty vegetables like mushrooms, squash, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and bell peppers. All you need is one pan (for roasting) and one pot, and you have a dinner for the days when you want a comfort meal but also want to keep your healthy habits in check.
The next time you need some gooey deliciousness in your life, these cheesy dinner recipes will be ready and waiting. You really can’t go wrong with a comforting plate of pure, cheesy goodness.
In 2023, in some corner of the internet, someone coined the term “bed rotting.” It gave a name, and a feeling of purpose, to that after-bedtime period when moms schlump into bed and try to recover from the mayhem of the day. If your partner likes to go full carcass mode to rest and recharge, she’ll love these cozy Mother’s Day gifts that are perfect for bed rotting. From ultra-soft pajamas to candles that smell like a resort lobby, these presents will help her create the perfect atmosphere in which to rot.
If you’ve never bed rotted, here’s the gist: you crawl into bed, get horizontal, and stay there for a prolonged period. You do nothing of importance — maybe you’re even ignoring texts, if responding feels like too much effort — and you just... chill. No one is touching you, asking you for anything, or interrupting your thoughts. Now’s your chance to read, watch that show you’re super into, scroll TikTok, or do whatever sparks joy for you, all in a maximally comfy, horizontal position. Bed rotting is meant to be restorative, and in order to really get her R&R in, your person could probably use some upgrades. So, give her one of these gifts, and then leave her to rot in peace.
The perfect rotting pajamas are so soft you can barely feel them, and loose enough that there’s no uncomfortable bunching or tugging. These luxe Short Sleeve Bamboo Pajamas from Cozy Earth are right on the money — they’re incredibly soft, stretchy, and cooling — and they’re available in sizes XS to XXXL.
If your girl likes to go full carcass, but also likes to read in bed, she needsa tablet holding arm for her Kindle. She can attach it to her nightstand or the bed frame and get comfy while she reads her book hands free. But in order to enjoy it to its maximum potential, she’ll need the next gift on this list to go with it.
Hands-free reading only works if she doesn’t have to tap the screen to get to the next page. Let this little remote control page turner do it instead. Just clip the clicker onto the Kindle, and she can bundle up under the covers and boop her little remote to read on without lifting a finger.
The ultimate blanket should have it all: fluffiness, softness, and joyful colors. This Marshmallow Cloud Fleece Throw Blanket has all three, and it’s big enough she’ll never be like “hmm, should I sacrifice my shoulders or my feet to the cold this time?”
Moms need support, especially after they carry their team all day every day. The Yogibo Support is a body pillow she can lean into, sleep wrapped around, and use in all the ways her body needs for maximum comfort.
The main flaw of most beds is that they don’t come with cup holders, but with this cup holder tray, she can bring her own. This 10” by 10” tray includes three cup holders — including one that is designed to fit mugs — and a few special slots for ear buds, snacks, and other bed rotting essentials. Oh, and there’s a detachable phone holder, too.
Stanleys might be the trendy cup right now, but tip one over and see how much you still love it (they leak). If the mom you love always has a water nearby, upgrade her to a Brumate Era 40-ounce cup. It’s big enough she won’t have to get up and refill it, and you can twist the top to prevent any leaks should the cup get knocked over.
Laying down with your hair up could definitely be comfier sometimes, and these satin sleep pillow scrunchies from Kitsch will make her messy bun way squishier to rest on. These plush, oversized scrunchies will contain her mane without doing any damage, thanks to their silky satin construction.
Bookworm wives would love a book valet, which organizes her reading essentials — book itself, with her page held, glasses, and her beverage of choice — into one compact place on the nightstand. There are lots of variations on this design on Etsy, including some that can house her whole TBR pile.
When you’re lounging, that’s a great time to marinate — you know, slather on all the intense moisturizers, face masks, deep conditioners, and foot balms. Throwing on some extra soft socks, like the CozyChic Heathered Women’s Socks from Barefoot Dreams, will keep her creams and salves off the sheets.
If the whole Kindle arm setup doesn’t work for your bedroom, consider gifting her a little tablet stand pillow instead. She can move it around easily and even throw some snacks in the bowl of the base.
If you live in a small space and don’t have room for a nightstand, or hers is already overloaded with other things, a bedside caddy might make a nice gift. It’s a slim, easy-to-reach place to keep books, magazines, pens, journals, or whatever it is she needs when she’s mid-horizontal recovery.
Does your gal like a physical book over a Kindle? Then she needs this rechargeable book light, with nearly 15,000 reviews on Amazon and a 4.8-star rating. It comes in four cute colors (or white), has five brightness modes, and indicates how much charge is left using those little green lights on the front. She’ll get 10 to 80 reading hours out of one charge, depending on how bright she likes her light.
Listen, sometimes laying down is just more comfortable when you have something to wrap your arms (and legs) around. This adorable Milly Chili pepper body pillow from Smoko fills that void nicely.
For a successful rot, you need the right atmosphere. Turn off the big lights and switch on some warm white fairy lights. They come with their own little remote so if she happens to get sleepy, she needn’t even stand to shut them off for the night.
The Vacation Partial Ocean View candle is designed to smell just like an expensive hotel room, where there’s nothing to do all day but lounge by the pool and take an I-just-spent-all-day-sunning afternoon nap (an elite snooze every time). If she can’t escape to the Maldives this weekend, this will do nicely in the interim.
Summer weather beckons us all outside, even those who take to bed at every opportunity. That’s where a really good hammock comes in, like these hanging chair hammocks from Yellow Leaf. They’re made of an ultra-soft weave and expand enough that you can recline fully, so it’s basically like a backyard swinging bed.
If your bed rotting queen wants to adorn her favorite place in the house, this funny pillow from Ban.do will do the trick. Most gals who enjoy their end-of-day carcass time can relate to its message.
The ideal rotting scenario involves slipping between fresh sheets that still smell like your favorite detergent. Bath & Body Works now makes laundry detergents in some of their best-selling scents, and a few new ones designed to make your bedding smell incredible. You get 64 washes out of one bottle, and this fragrance — orange flower, soft musk, and fresh raindrops — sounds perfect heading into summer.
If the recipient tends to sit up in bed to read, scroll, or watch, a triangular positioning support pillow will make it so much more comfortable. No more stacking endless regular pillows together to achieve the perfect angle and readjusting as they fall.
So grab one or a few gifts off this list for the bed-rotting mom you’re celebrating this Mother’s Day. And then maybe give her a few hours to actually do the bed rot with her new items.
We live in the the Stanley Cup era, a time of trendy stainless steel water bottles and endless sippy cups that we lug everywhere for our children from the moment they’re first allowed to drink water. But how much water do kids really need? Our parents certainly didn’t panic if they left our water bottles at home — if we even had one at all. To find out whether we’re over-hydrating, Romper asked two pediatric health experts whether we modern moms worry too much about water.
Turns out, being mindful of water intake (if not completely obsessed) isn’t a bad thing. “It is definitely something we need to pay attention to,” says Dr. Samantha Dahlberg, D.O., pediatrician at Texas Children’s, who thinks we worry “the right amount.” (She adds that it’s particularly important for any kid who struggles with constipation. “If you have one of those kids who struggles with bowel movements, then it’s really important to have water be a staple of their diet.”)
Like almost anything else with parenting, there’s a sweet spot between “too much” and “not enough”: “I feel like there are some parents that worry way too much about it and their child’s really getting enough, whereas there’s definitely parents that don’t push it enough or don’t consistently give their children the fluids that they need,” says Lindsey Donovan, MS, RDN, a pediatric clinical dietitian at Wolfson Children’s Hospital of Jacksonville.
So what actually is “just right”?
How much water do kids actually need a day?
The answer depends on how old your child is. Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) has a handy chart on their website where they recommend kids drink one 8-ounce cup of water per day for every year of their age. So, a 1-year-old needs one cup, a 2-year-old needs two cups, and so on. That rule of thumb works until age 9 and up, when eight 8-ounce glasses of water is the standing recommendation.
Toddlers
“For 1 to 2 years old, it’s usually going to be around 32 ounces of fluids a day,” says Donovan. “That’s obviously going to vary. What I usually say is, no one’s going to meet that. That’s just what’s recommended, so if you’re meeting close to that, you’re perfectly fine. For preschool age children, so more like your 3 or 4-year-olds, usually it goes up to about 45 to 50 ounces a day of fluids. That can be from water or milk.”
This differs a bit from CHOC’s recommendation, which is strictly about water intake, but Donovan’s numbers also account for milk and fluids in general.
When it comes to water specifically, Dahlberg’s recommendation match the standard. “You can start water intake at 6 months, and I think actually that surprises most parents to learn that,” she says. “You’ll get somewhere between a half cup to a cup once you hit one. Once you hit two, then thinking about getting two cups. There is obviously some range in there, but that’s sort of a quick and easy way to remember. At 2 to 5 you want to get one to five cups a day.”
School-Age Kids
For kids ages 5 to 8 years old, Donovan recommends around 57 ounces a day of fluids. At age 9, the guidelines differ a bit for boys and girls, she says. “For boys age 9 to 11, about 80 ounces of water a day, which does seem like a lot, so I doubt everyone’s actually meeting that. And for girls 9 to 11, about 70 ounces of water per day for fluids.”
Teenagers & Youth Athletes
As a general rule of thumb for teenagers, Donovan usually recommends half an ounce per pound that they weigh. So, if your child weighs 130 pounds, they should aim to drink 65 ounces of water per day. This can be a helpful metric to use for older kids too, according to CHOC, if shooting for 80 ounces for your 11-year-old is just not realistic.
For kids who play sports, however, it is important to take in some extra water. “During exercise, for ages 9 to 12, you want to be pushing probably three to eight ounces every 20 minutes. Teenagers are going to be about 34 to 50 ounces per hour (that’s 4 to 6 cups). You especially want to be paying attention to keeping them hydrated when they are visibly sweating a lot,” says Donovan.
Should you be supplementing your kid’s water intake with sports drinks too? They need the electrolytes, right? If they’re super active, then yes — but they don’t need a ton. “For youth athletes, I’d stick to one, maximum two per day,” Donovan says. “Look out for the ones that are high in sugar because sometimes they can even cause more dehydration, and a lot of the sports drinks that are high in sugar can cause diarrhea. Pedialyte is usually sugar-free, so that’s always a good option.”
In The Summer Heat
If you’re playing outside on a hot day, be sure to bring plenty to drink for your kids and yourself. “Definitely have more water in the summer. A lot of kids are involved in sports — baseball, soccer, all that where they’re outside. I would say double the amount that you usually take and always have water. Water access is really important,” Dahlberg says.
Most Important: Don’t Stress
If these numbers seem impossibly high, don’t freak — Donovan and Dahlberg both agree that most children probably aren’t drinking this much in a day. If your child is healthy and happy, they’re hydrated enough. Having access to water — which means lugging their water bottle everywhere, yes — is the most important thing you can do to make sure your child is staying hydrated. (And if your kid is a super-drinker and you’re worried they’re going overboard, these recommended amounts probably mean they’re doing just fine as well.)
Want some insight into your child’s hydration? If you don’t want to track their intake throughout the day (or can’t, because they go to daycare or school for the bulk of it), you can take a peek at the color of their urine. “If it’s dark urine, that just means they’re not getting enough fluid and you might need to just push a little bit more throughout the day,” says Donovan. “If it’s super clear all the time, and they’re going a million times a day, they’re probably getting more than they need.”
