IndiaPix/IndiaPicture/IndiaPicture/Getty Images Getting a period is a social and developmental milestone that many American girls are reaching earlier than their mothers and grandmothers. About six months earlier on average, according to one 2024 study. Researchers, parents, and doctors, reasonably, want to understand why this is happening, and one commonly reached conclusion is higher obesity levels have corresponded to early puberty. But a more recent study published in Human Reproduction suggests it’s not obesity levels that affect the onset of menstruation, but diet. Researchers led by Holly Harris at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle studied more than 7,500 children,...
Healing Your Inner Child While Raising A Child Is F*cking Hard
Parenting is not for the faint of heart. Add on trying to heal wounds from your own childhood while being a kind, gentle, patient, non-reactive parent to your kid, and it can feel… even more overwhelming. Buzzwords like “gentle parenting” and “reparenting” fly around the internet, centered around the idea that we’re trying to do things differently and maybe fill some of the gaps we experienced as children. But, honestly, sometimes the overlap between healing and parenting feels like waiting for a bruise to get better while being punched in it over and over again. If that sounds a little...
Nanny Warns Of Common Summertime Foods That Present Choking Hazards
Oscar Wong/Moment/Getty Images Summertime is hands down the most nostalgic time of year. Christmas puts up a good fight for winter, but at the end of the day, everything about summer makes us think about being a kid. Few are more nostalgic than all the foods we associate with this warm, balmy season. Ice cream cones, s’mores, watermelon, and more. But summertime also bring about unique dangers for children. Drowning risks, of course, but also there’s a number of those very same foods commonly associated with summer that present choking hazards to little ones. The Enchanted Nanny (we’ll call her...
Does Your Dog Or Cat Actually Know Their Name? Kind Of, Vets Say
Westend61/Getty Images It never gets any less cute, the way your dog tilts their head when you say their name, or how your cat comes pitter-pattering through the house with a little “brrrrow” after you call. It’s enough to make you wonder, do dogs and cats know their names? They definitely respond to them, but do they think it’s just another word for, “Hey, you with the fur, look over here?” Or, do they know that they are the Fluffy or Fido in question? Do dogs know their names? What about cats? According to Dr. Aimee Warner, resident veterinarian at...