That’s what SHE said: find out your “American Dream” score, learn a few things you might not know about flying with kids, read one man’s personal experience with slavery and another man’s experience as a stay-at-home dad. All that and more….

8 surprising rules about flying with children that every parent should know from Caroline with Cool Mom Picks

“Yes, the TSA can dump your breast milk.

This may be old news for experienced jet-setter moms, but it was a surprise to this novice that TSA reserves the right to dispose of a small portion of breastmilk. If you’re carrying more than 3.4 ounces of breastmilk in your carry-on, you’re required to inform the TSA officer.

If you’re lucky, they’ll just run the container through the X-ray machine and send you on your way; but they do have the right to opt for more extensive screening measures including transferring a small quantity to a separate container to test it.

If you refuse? You may be subject to even more screening measures. Another pat-down, whoo! Just what we all want.”

Our Mothers as We Never Saw Them by Edan with The New York Times

“For daughters, these old photos of our mothers feel like both a chasm and a bridge. The woman in the picture is someone other than the woman we know. She is also exactly the person in the photo — still, right now. Finally, we see that the woman we’ve come to think of as Mom — whether she’s nurturing, or disapproving, or thoughtful, or delusional, or pestering, or supportive, or sentimental — is also a mysterious, fun, brave babe.

She’s been here all this time.”

 

   

What’s Your American Dream Score? This Quiz Will Tell You by Eillie with Fast Company

“Cresting the heights of the American Dream is, in the popular imagination, often seen as a matter of brute-force bootstrapping: Who can work the hardest to overcome their odds? Who can persevere in the face of the harshest adversity? The roles of luck, or circumstance, or the invisible marionette strings of the job market and the economy are never considered, McKinnon says. Success in America is a marketed as a man-made phenomenon….

By getting people to think more holistically about the factors that contribute to success, McKinnon wants to break down what he sees as the two most harmful fallouts of the self-made-person mythology that still persists in America.”

Link to the quiz

My Family’s Slave from Alex via The Atlantic

“She lived with us for 56 years. She raised me and my siblings without pay. I was 11, a typical American kid, before I realized who she was.

To our American neighbors, we were model immigrants, a poster family. They told us so. My father had a law degree, my mother was on her way to becoming a doctor, and my siblings and I got good grades and always said “please” and “thank you.” We never talked about Lola. Our secret went to the core of who we were and, at least for us kids, who we wanted to be.

After my mother died of leukemia, in 1999, Lola came to live with me in a small town north of Seattle. I had a family, a career, a house in the suburbs—the American dream. And then I had a slave.”

The Upside of a Crush—Even If You’re in a Committed Relationship from Jennifer via Goop

Crushing on someone (at any age) can feel equal parts awkward and exciting, particularly when you’re in deep, can’t stop thinking about them for the life of you, and/or the subject of your desire feels like forbidden territory—i.e. he/she is a coworker or you’re already in a committed relationship and “shouldn’t” have a crush in the first place. But psychological astrologer Jennifer Freed, Ph.D. argues there’s no harm in harboring a crush; it doesn’t mean you’re reverting to your teenage self or that your current relationship (if you’re in one) is doomed. Freed says that crushes have a lot to tell us about ourselves—she sees them as rooted in our own unmet needs—and that they can actually serve to kick-start our mojo, even if we never act on them.

FEMINISM DOESN’T MEAN LIKING EVERY STUPID WOMAN YOU MEET from Jennifer with Harper’s Bazaar

“We need to stop confusing feminism with girl power.

Tomi Lahren declared that “The true intention of feminism will be restored when women stop bringing each other down out of jealousy, pettiness and self righteous BS.”

God, I hate women who say bullshit like that.

And that is fine.

Because feminism does not dictate that you are required to like every stupid woman you encounter. Feminism isn’t a hot air balloon designed to lift already privileged ladies to new joyful heights. Those women are thinking of “girl power” or “bootyliciousness” or “domestic feminism”—some other term that was intended to act as a milquetoast substitute for actual feminism.

Feminism is a life raft. Unlike “girl power,” feminism is scary, because it demands change, and does not just entail sexily singing that women are terrific.”

Dad’s Hilarious Notes Express The Joys And Pains Of Parenting by Cierra via CarbonatedTV

“What began as a simple inside joke between a husband and wife has taken the internet by storm.

Stay-at-home dad Chris Illuminati quit his job to be a full-time parent upon realizing how expensive day care is. When the 39-year-old first began the journey, his wife, Libby, 36, would constantly remind him of tasks he needed to complete while watching their first-born baby.

As a joke, Chris began grabbing post-it notes to write down all of Libby’s instructions, but over time, the notes transformed into silly parenting anecdotes that he would pin all around the house.”