Month: January 2024

Jay-Z recently chatted with Entertainment Tonight about the possibility of if he would ever do the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Although he performed before the Super Bowl in 2011 and joined as the NFL’s music entertainment strategist, he has yet to play the halftime by himself.

As it turns out, he still is on the fence.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I thought it would be selfish to pick myself too early. Maybe one year. Maybe.”

However, Jay-Z praised this year’s pick, as Usher will be performing when the Super Bowl is held in Las Vegas.

“I think he’s gonna take his rightful place,” Jay-Z added. “He’s one of the greatest performers we’ve seen in our time, and I think he’ll take his rightful place.”

Back in 2020, Jay-Z also revealed to The New York Times that the NFL had asked him to do a halftime show, but he turned it down after they wanted him to bring Rihanna and Kanye West to perform with him.

“Of course I would have,” he shared about the opportunity. “But I said, ‘No, you get me.’ That is not how you go about it, telling someone that they’re going to do the halftime show contingent on who they bring. I said forget it. It was a principle thing.”

Still, hopefully fans get to experience Jay-Z’s halftime show the way he wants it to be.

If Aaron Rodgers hadn’t ruptured his Achilles tendon on only the fourth offensive snap of his tenure as the quarterback of the New York Jets, maybe he would have been too busy to suggest that Jimmy Kimmel was linked to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein? Alas, he got injured and here we are.

Responding to the allegation, Kimmel said during Monday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live that Rodgers “genuinely thinks that because God gave him the ability to throw a ball, he’s smarter than everybody else. The idea that his brain is just average is unfathomable to him. We learned during COVID somehow he knows more about science than scientists.” Kimmel is willing to “accept his apology and move on,” but Rodgers isn’t saying sorry.

“A lot of people, and I’m quoting myself, ‘A lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, are really hoping that [list] doesn’t come out. End quote,” Rodgers said during The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, according to Deadline. “I was referring to the fact that if there is a list, which again hasn’t come out yet, this was just a deposition.” He added, “I’m glad Jimmy is not on the list. I really am. I don’t think he’s the P-word.”

“I totally understand how serious allegations of pedophilia would be. So for him to be upset about that, I get it. I’m not stupid enough, even though you think I’m an idiot and you made a lot of comments about my intelligence, but I’m not stupid enough to accuse you of that with absolutely zero evidence. That’s ridiculous.”

Rodgers also came with quips. “It’s impressive that a man who went to Arizona State and has 10 joke writers can read off a prompter,” he said. “My education at [junior college] and my three semesters at Cal, that I’m very proud of, has worked out for me and I’m glad to see it’s worked out for him as well. I wish him the best. Again, I don’t give a sh*t what he says about me. As long as he understands what I actually said and that I’m not accusing him of being on a list, then I’m all for moving forward.”

Rodgers explained his ill will towards Kimmel comes from the late-night host previously “[ripping] me about [the COVID vaccine] and that turns out to be an L on many occasions because the vax was not safe and effective like we were told it was in the beginning. There are a lot of injuries that we’ve seen related to the vaccine.” (No there aren’t.) He then went after Dr. Anthony Fauci, which is a thing we’re apparently still doing in 2024, calling him “one of the biggest spreaders of misinformation during COVID times.”

Even the YouTube commentators, of all people, are tired of Rodgers:

(Via Deadline)

Taylor Swift has been enjoying a well-earned break over the winter/holiday months before the Eras Tour kicks off again in March. Swift has been cheering on her boyfriend at NFL games, attending holiday parties in Kansas City, and hanging with her whole crew on her birthday … almost always with a drink nearby. According to US Weekly, throughout it all, Swift has a new “favorite cocktail” and it’s a very niche and nuanced sipper — the French Blonde.

The French Blonde falls into the early aughts resurgence of cocktail culture — the key giveaway is the use of elderflower liqueur St. Germain. Beyond that, the drink is a shaker that’s part Red Head, part Greyhound, and 100% fresh thanks to vibrant grapefruit juice and dry gin. It’s also not to be confused with the Parisian Blonde which is more akin to a Brandy Alexander (so cream-based).

Since this is a new fav of Swift, I thought I’d break down how to make the tasty cocktail below. Admittedly, this is a kind of fussy cocktail. Some of the ingredients are a tad harder to find and a trip to a very good liquor store will be in order (I link to everything hard to find below for delivery too). Fussiness aside, this is a very tasty, light yet deep, and balanced cocktail that’s — thankfully — not overly sweet.

Let’s dive in!

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French Blonde

Ingredients:

• 1 oz. London dry gin
• 2 oz. Lillet Blanc
• 0.5 oz. St. Germain
• 2 oz. fresh and strained grapefruit juice
• 2 dashes of lemon bitters
• Grapefruit peel
• Ice

Bombay London Dry Gin is a great cocktail gin that’s both affordable and available pretty much everywhere. St. Germain (elderflower liqueur) should also be available at most decent liquor stores in large 750ml, 375ml, and small 200ml bottles. Since this is a pretty niche additive for cocktails, I’d recommend grabbing the smaller bottle so that it doesn’t just sit on your shelf for months (or years).

Or, if you’re a huge Swift fan, grab the big bottle and go all in.

Lillet Blanc is a French aperitif that’s in the same vein as fortified wines like vermouth (and it’s usually used in the same way in cocktails). In a pinch, you can use dry vermouth, but you won’t be getting the same subtle sweetness and hint of bitter quinine. Plus, a good liquor store should carry Lillet.

Lastly, there’s the lemon bitters. Only really good full-service liquor stores will carry this. So you might want to just order it online and save a trip to, like, all the liquor stores in your town searching for it.

What You’ll Need:

• Coupe (prechilled)
• Cocktail shaker
• Cocktail strainer
• Jigger
• Fine mesh strainer
• Paring knife
• Hand juicer

Method:

• Add the gin, Lillet, St. Germain, grapefruit juice, and bitters to a cocktail shaker. Add a large handful of ice, affix the lid, and then shake vigorously until the cocktail shaker is ice-cold to touch.
• Fetch the glass from the freezer and double strain (with the cocktail strainer and fine mesh strainer) into the cocktail glass.
• Express the oils from the grapefruit peel over the glass and discard. Serve.

Bottom Line:

This is bright and super refreshing, which is a great feel for January sipping. It’s a great change of pace from the heavy winter cocktails that dominate the colder months, and it kind of feels like a good low(ish) alcohol cocktail for a “damp” January.

The grapefruit and lemon bitters make this cocktail pop on the palate. It’s truly vibrant in every way. The gin is there with a fleeting sense of botanicals, but it is never overpowering — you barely get juniper at all.

The overall vibe is soft yet bright and well-balanced between bitter, botanical, herbal, and barley sweetened — the sweetness only comes through with the Lillet and grapefruit (which is one of the sweeter citruses). For my palate, I have to say — it’s a pretty nice sipper.

Hidden Track: Vodka Diet Coke

So this — vodka and Diet Coke — is classically considered Taylor Swift’s favorite cocktail. Watch the video above again. She clearly actually drinks this. Which… are celebrities keeping Diet Coke alive? Why not Coke Zero? I digress.

Anyway, this is a super easy highball that anyone can make in an instant.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. vodka
• 4 oz. Diet Coke
• Ice
• Lemon wedge

These are easily sourceable ingredients from any store.

What You’ll Need:

• Highball glass
• Jigger
• Paring knife
• Straw

Method:

• Fill the highball glass with ice. Pour the vodka over the ice and top with Diet Coke.
• Slice a wedge from a lemon and pop it on the glass with a straw. Serve.

Bottom Line:

Okay, bear with me. I like this a lot more than the French Blonde. There’s something that vodka does to amp up the Diet Coke that just works. It’s fresh and vibrant while feeling like a sneaky treat with a hint of alcohol lurking beneath it all. You get the loving feel of the Coke without that acrid Diet Coke taste, which feels kind of like a magic trick. I can see drinking these all the time as end-of-day relaxation highballs, weekend brunch sippers, or just in general — which is saying a lot as I famously hate Diet Coke.

Nice one, Swift.

You might not know it from the trailers, but the new Mean Girls movie is actually a musical, based on the pretty popular Broadway production. So, yes, it’s a little weird that they aren’t leaning into the musical aspect of it, especially because a Gen Z pop star is leading the cast. But maybe that’s because we all know how long Broadway shows can be, and nobody wants to sit through three hours of teen angst.

The new Mean Girls film clocks in at 112 minutes, which is significantly less than the Broadway musical, but it’s still enough to make fetch happen.

The film brings back Tina Fey and Tim Meadows as the exhausted school admins who have to deal with these petty teens, played by Renee Rapp, Angourie Rice, Auli’i Cravalho, and Jaquel Spivey. Jenna Fischer, Busy Philipps, and Jon Hamm also star.

Here is the official synopsis:

From the comedic mind of Tina Fey comes a new twist on the modern classic, Mean Girls. New student Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) is welcomed into the top of the social food chain by the elite group of popular girls called “The Plastics,” ruled by the conniving queen bee Regina George (Reneé Rapp) and her minions Gretchen (Bebe Wood) and Karen (Avantika). However, when Cady makes the major misstep of falling for Regina’s ex-boyfriend Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney), she finds herself prey in Regina’s crosshairs. As Cady sets to take down the group’s apex predator with the help of her outcast friends Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey), she must learn how to stay true to herself while navigating the most cutthroat jungle of all: high school.

You can catch Mean Girls in theaters on January 12th. Grool!

Parenting is difficult, not only because raising unique human beings through childhood and beyond is complex on every level, but because it’s hard to know if you’re doing it right. And the internet definitely doesn’t help on that front, as everyone has an opinion on what constitutes good parenting.

Case in point: A mom who makes her teen son’s bed and picks up his clothes for him after she drops him off at school every morning.

Shannon Tarkey a mother of five (including triplets), shared a video on Instagram and Facebook showing how she makes her son’s bed and picks up his clothes, and people had feelings about it. The text overlay on the video as she’s tidying up reads:

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“I started doing this every morning for my teenager. Not because he won’t do it. Not because I do everything for him. But because teenagers are now growing up in a very strange and complicated world and I want him to feel at peace when he comes home.

People’s reactions to the video were sometimes drastically different, with some believing she was setting him up to be an entitled husband.

For instance, one commenter on Instagram wrote, “Ooooh he gonna make his wife so furious one day expecting a clean house but not helping.”

Another added, “Although this is very kind and sweet of you, when he gets married he will think this is also what his wife should do for him. I married a man who thought I was supposed to be just like his mom. It took many years for my husband to learn to serve in the home.”

However, others shared that they do similar things for their own kids or that their moms did those things for them and are grateful for the loving-kindness being expressed through such acts of service.

“My baby is 15 and after she leaves for school I clean her room,” shared one mom. “I plug up her iPad/Mac etc so they are charged and ready for when she comes home. I make breakfast, lunch, iron outfits, comb hair, and anything else I think she needs from me. She has years as an adult but her time as a child is limited.”

Another person added, “My Mother used to do that for me and said the same thing. I tried to do the same. There is plenty of time to be an adult…”

The comments go back and forth between people praising Tarkey for showing her son what kindness and caring for others looks like and people saying she was teaching her son that a woman will always clean up after him.

In the caption of the photo, Tarkey explained in more detail why she does this for her son after dropping him off at school:

“He has his own chores and has been taught his entire life to clean up after himself. But when he’s getting himself up early in the mornings and rushing off to school this is something I’ve come to enjoy doing for him. This way when he gets home he can get his homework done in his room and just relax. There’s plenty of other things Austin helps with around the house, and I can only imagine what it’s like being a teenager in today’s world. It is my job to make my children feel at peace so if it’s picking up a few pieces of clothes or making his bed then I am more than happy to do it for him.”

In the comments she shared that her son also helps with cooking and gardening, cares for the family animals, vacuums and organizes his room and has developed all kinds of life skills—fishing, hunting, car repair—most kids don’t have. She clarified that he does make his own bed some days and on weekends. “But when he’s rushed out for school I am not going to harp on him when he gets home when he’s incredibly responsible as it is,” she wrote. “He has plenty of chores and he’s also GRATEFUL I do this for him.”

The differing opinions in the comments are fascinating in that they offer an insight into how people view the balance between having expectations for our kids and being an example of caring and kindness. Naturally, people brought their own backgrounds and experiences into their opinions, sometimes without having all the information about this particular home and parenting dynamic, so it’s not all about this one mom and her son. But what one person sees as kindness, another might see as enabling. And in reality, they might be right or they might be wrong, depending on the circumstances.

Whether this teenage boy grows up to expect his wife to clean up after him or grows up to follow his mother’s example of caring for our loved ones depends on lots of factors—how such things are talked about in the home, the values instilled in him, the kid’s personality, how other responsibilities are handled and more.

What do you think? Does her reasoning make sense?

One of the major decisions a couple has when planning a wedding is whether guests are free to bring their children or if it will be child-free. Many people believe that children should be able to come to weddings because, after all, they are family affairs.

However, the counter-argument is that a wedding also costs a lot of money per guest, and people would rather have an adult enjoying a $75 plate of prime rib than a 5-year-old who will take a bite and then ask for some chicken nuggets.

Further, the child-free crowd may also want their party to be an all-out rave, which may be inappropriate for children to attend.

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A Reddit user took a lot of heat from her family for having a no-kids policy at her wedding and many folks applauded her decision. The bridge-to-be, 28, posted about her decision and the ensuing drama on the AITAH forum.

“I (28 F) am getting married in a few months, and my fiance and I have been planning a child-free wedding. We both agreed that we want our wedding to be an adult-only affair,” the bride wrote. “We made this very clear on our invitations! However, my sister-in-law (32) has four young children and she’s upset about our decision. She called me pleading to make an exception for her kids, saying that she couldn’t leave them.”

But the bride stuck to her guns.

“I empathize, but I stood firm on our decision, explaining that we wanted a more formal setting without kids running around. I suggested she could enjoy a night off and assured her we would help her find some childcare options,” the bride continued.

“She got upset, accused me of being heartless, and said if her kids weren’t welcomed, she wouldn’t attend. My brother (her husband) called me, saying I was causing unnecessary drama and that it was unfair to exclude her children. Now my family is divided,” the bride added.

So, is the bride right to keep her child-free policy even though it would mean that some family members won’t attend her wedding? [Am I wrong] for telling my sister-in-law she can’t bring her kids to MY wedding?” she asked the Reddit community.

The commenters overwhelmingly sided with the bride for a simple reason: it’s her big day and she can do what she wants.

“No, it’s your wedding. You’re allowed not to have children there if you don’t want them,” ShadoMonkey wrote.

LegendofLumis had the perfect response to family members who called her selfish. “You’re go***** damn right I am. It’s my wedding. Don’t bother coming if you aren’t going to follow my rules that I’ve made for my day,” they wrote.

Others note that having a child-free wedding comes with a cost and the bride should accept the fact that some people won’t be able to attend.

“As long as OP is okay with people not coming to her wedding due to her rules, then everything should be fine. There shouldn’t be drama on either side. … Hopefully, she’s flexible and fine if people don’t attend,” Throwra98787564 wrote.

The good news is that the bride and her sister-in-law were able to work out their disagreement.

“I explained how I envisioned my wedding day and why I preferred it to be an adult-only event. I emphasized wanting everyone to have a great time without worrying about kids being restless or not enjoying themselves,” the bride wrote. “Surprisingly, she was understanding! She admitted she was very upset but appreciated my honesty. We discussed alternative childcare options and she agreed to arrange a babysitter to look after her children during the ceremony and reception.”

Dads are fully capable of all the things a mom can do and one dad is on a mission to assert his abilities in an imaginary beef he has with his daughter’s preschool teacher. Jonathan Gregg posted a video explaining that he’s been working really hard to be able to style his daughter’s hair in ways that she likes.

In the caption he writes, “Sure, when I first started doing my daughter’s hair, it was like a blind gorilla trying to style a coconut.” But he goes on to say he’s good at doing hard things, so when he sent his child to school with a “high pony waterfall,” he was surprised when she came back with an asymmetrical French braid. Upon asking his daughter where the new hair style came from, she replied, “Ms. Yolanda.”

That was all Gregg needed to know, “Ms. Yolanda, I didn’t know you wanted problems okay. Don’t start none won’t be none but now we’re here. So now, I gotta spend all weekend learning the fishtail, made popular by Elsa Queen of Arendelle because Ms. Yolanda apparently chose violence.”

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The imaginary rivalry didn’t end there, before his daughter went on break he decided to tell her teacher about their beef. In an effort to make peace, Ms. Yolanda offered to give Gregg hair lessons but given the history, she could be trying to sabotage him. Commenters seem to be attempting to virtually hold him back.

“Nah…Miss Yolanda saw your masterpiece destroyed at recess and tried to fix it for you…she didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.,” one person writes.

“High pony waterfall would give me a hair stress headache if I wore it all day. Mrs. Yolanda’s probably just helping your kiddo out,” someone else says.

@jgregg_jonathan

TLDR: DadHairDay™️ is about to level up and Ms. Yolanda won’t even know what hit her. • Sure when I first started doing my daughter’s hair, it was like a blind gorilla trying to style a coconut. But I’m good at doing hard things, and I’ll be damned if my kids ever for a moment think I’m not willing to learn a new thing. New York ain’t seen beef like me and Ms Yolanda got since Death Row hit the ‘95 Source Awards. • Help fund my beauty school education, scoop up this suuuuuper comfy @Rhone shirt via the link in my bio. #dadhairday #hairstyle #manicure #queenelsa #frozen #foreverforward #wheninrhone #parents #toddlers #kids #children #dads #dadlife #family #instadads #dadsofinstagram #fatherhood #parenthood #deathrowrecords #sourceawards #gotbeef

Other commenters were quick to pick sides to keep the rivalry going and the subsequent videos did not disappoint.

“Miss Yolanda will be asking for hair lessons from YOU come springtime fishtail braid season,” a commenter jokes.

“I’ve got my Unbrush and hair ties in hand, sir. I’m ready to ride into battle. Let’s go,” one woman reveals.

New players have popped up in this beef and the series continues. The best part is, his daughter has no idea what’s going on and that thousands of people are taking bets on who wins this hair braiding battle.

@jgregg_jonathan

TLDR: MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE • OK that’s enough of that, time to get back to work. • #dadhairday #hair #parents #toddlers #kids #children #dads #dadlife #family #fatherhood #parenthood #christmas #merrychristmas

TLDR: MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE • OK that’s enough of that, time to get back to work. • #dadhairday #hair #parents #toddlers #kids #children #dads #dadlife #family #fatherhood #parenthood #christmas #merrychristmas

Is there an expiration date for infidelity? If you learned your spouse cheated on you 10, 20, or 30 years ago, would it be any more or less significant than if it happened last week? Is it easier to forgive something that happened years ago or does their silence over all these years make the indiscretion even worse?

A Redditor recently posted that he’s divorcing his wife after learning she cheated on him 20 years ago and the commenters overwhelmingly support his decision. Why? It wasn’t necessarily that she cheated, but how she handled the situation.

“My wife (44F) and I (43M) have been married 20 years,” the poster wrote. “We started dating in high school when I was a junior and she was a senior. We were long-distance for her first two years of college while I was in high school and did one year at community college, then we went to college in the same city for a year and have lived together since.”

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The poster later clarified that they were “long-distance,” but they were only about 3 hours apart and saw each other a couple of weekends a month.

The couple has two children, who are 19 and 17 years old. The poster says that their 20-year marriage had been “pretty good” until he learned the truth about what happened during the 2 long-distance years in college.

​The couple got together with some of the wife’s college friends after Christmas when the conversation strayed into some very sensitive area. “Her old college roommate commented that it was crazy that we met in high school, had a few wild years in college, then ended up together,” the poster wrote.

The problem was they were together the entire time.

“The roommate started to tell a story, but my wife cut her off and said she was uncomfortable about it. I sensed something was up, so I said that we actually started dating in high school and were together for my wife’s entire time at college,” the poster continued.

When it came out that they were together during his wife’s “wild” years, the old college friends got really quiet and the rest of the night was extremely awkward. When one of the roommates was leaving, she told the poster to have an “honest” conversation with his wife about their college years.

The next day, the wife admitted to sleeping with at least 10 men during her first 2 years of college when the couple was in a long-distance relationship. She also admitted that she introduced her future husband to 3 of them as “friends.” But she didn’t think it was a big deal because it was a high-school relationship she didn’t think would last.

The wife is still in contact with one of the men.

Now is where the husband has a real dilemma. Can he forgive his wife for cheating on him with a significant number of men while they were in a long-distance relationship and never telling him? The answer was no. The big reason was that she showed a complete lack of respect by parading the men in front of him.

“I’ve stood by my belief that cheating on me with multiple men for years is unacceptable no matter when it happened and the fact that she continued to maintain relationships with these guys right in front of me was an unacceptable amount of disrespect,” the poster said.

On January 2, the man filed for divorce from his wife. Five days later, he posted about the situation on the Am I Wrong Reddit subforum and the commenters overwhelmingly took his side. Some could understand a little cheating happening while they were long-distance, but no one could abide by the way she introduced her future husband to the men she slept with.

“I actually came into this thread thinking, ‘Well, I could understand him getting divorced over cheating in the past, but if it’s a 20-year happy marriage and a one-time mistake while they were in the very beginning of dating, I’d try to work on it.’ But the continuous humiliation of having your girlfriend cheat on you while you’re getting introduced to those men and still know one of them? Man, how do you get over that,” Candy Puppet wrote.

“It was 20 years ago, but that amount of savageness would be hard to look past, especially when she still associates with the other men. That is just a continual slap.” Thanos13 added.

They also praised the friend who told the poster to have a conversation with his wife.

“Honestly, her friend who took OP aside is a good human. Could have let it slide & let him go on clueless about the wife’s past.” Likeapuma wrote.

The post goes to show that there are no hard and fast rules to deciding how to deal with infidelity and some people are okay with forgiving an indiscretion that happened years ago. Getting carried away and sleeping with someone while in college is one thing, but few could forgive the way the wife seemingly shoved it in her husband’s face without him being aware years later.

Anxiety, jitters, nervousness…it all kinds of comes with the territory of being human, at least to a certain extent. That goes for kiddos too. Only children have the added challenge of not having all the necessary knowledge and tools to clearly express what they’re feeling on the inside.

But rest assured, kids are expressing themselves, in myriad ways.

According to therapist and mom of three Melissa Griffing, there could be as many as 15 different ways kids might be communicating their anxiety that parents are missing. And people are finding her list illuminating, to say the least.

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“Did you know kids talk about anxiety in a whole heck of a bunch of different ways that parents often don’t pick up on? Here are 15 different ways that kids say, ‘I’m feeling worried,’” Griffing says in a now-viral clip posted to her TikTok.

Her first one, “my tummy hurts,” was one several could remember saying as kids. One person even shared, “my stomach hurt a lot when I was a kid. It was 1000% my anxiety.”

But that’s not the only bodily ailment that could reveal something about a child’s mental state. Griffing also listed “my legs hurt” and “my arms hurt” as potential markers of distress, although she added the caveat that these could also be growing pains.

And let’s not forget “I’m not hungry,” “I can’t sleep,” “I need to pee again” or “I think I’m getting sick.” These health related ones can be especially tricky to interpret since, of course, sometimes it really could be related to health issues. That’s why Griffing still encourages going to a doctor first to be sure.

Finally, hear are the last few phrases Griffing mentioned:

“I don’t wanna go to school.”

“I hate you.”

Asking “what-if” questions.

“I don’t know.”

“I just wanna stay with you.”

“Nobody wants to talk to me at school.”

“Nobody likes me.”

“I don’t like it.

@momtherapist Helping your kids manage their own anxiety part one. #therapy #childtherapists #tipsfromatherapist #dallastherapist #parenting #thewellcounseling ♬ original sound – Melissa

…and if these sound like completely mundane, everyday expressions, that’s kind of the point. They can indeed be very easy to miss—and many parents showed their surprise in the comments section.

“Damn my daughter has said every single one of these. Especially the sick thing” one parent wrote.

“By the time you hit number 9 I was in tears,” added another.

Understandably, parents who watched the video were eager for solutions. And Griffing was happy to offer some tips in a few follow-up videos. But really, the basis of all her advice is founded on strengthening emotional intelligence. This goes for parents being able to recognize when kids are displaying these difficult feelings, and being able to help kids develop their own ways of identifying and processing those feelings.

Some children’s books that she recommended for this (for the kiddos) are “What to do When You Worry Too Much” by Dawn Huebner and “There’s a Bully in my Brain” by Kristin O’Rourke.

Lastly, Griffing suggests that for the real “overworriers,” parents can teach them to focus a little less on those intrusive thoughts by dedicating 10-15 minutes a day to “worry time,” where parents can listen to all those worries (no solving, just listening).

And for any concerns that might be shared during the day, parent can gently redirect those thoughts towards the set up “worry time,” and distract with a more comforting or pleasant focus for that moment.

This teaches kids that worrisome thoughts do have a place…just not 24/7. A fantastic skill for anyone to develop, no doubt.

For more parenting tips from Griffing, follow her on her TikTok.

It wasn’t long ago that Aaron Rodgers was a well-liked MVP-caliber quarterback who was in the running to host Jeopardy!. Now he’s injured, a “nitwit” vaccine skeptic, and he recently accused Jimmy Kimmel of palling around with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Kimmel addressed the baseless allegation during Monday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, calling the quarterback a “hamster-brained man.” The late-night host said “Rodgers is too arrogant to know how ignorant he is. They let him host Jeopardy! for two weeks, now he knows everything.” He added, “I also want to say congratulations to Aaron Rodgers, who has done the impossible: He made the New York Jets look even worse.”

Kimmel’s friend Howard Stern also had some words for Rodgers (not for the first time) on The Howard Stern Show this week. “There was a rumor that I had to help Jimmy Kimmel get rid of any evidence that he was on Epstein Island,” he said during the broadcast. “What the f*ck is with Aaron Rodgers? What a f*cking vicious thing to say. You know what it is? When someone’s not witty and they’re in a feud with someone, nowadays what they do is they just make up sh*t about you. They make up a conspiracy theory. F*cking outrageous.”

After comparing the recently-unsealed Epstein documents to the disappointment of Geraldo Rivera’s Al Capone special, Stern returned to Rodgers. “Isn’t that the guy from the Jets who made all that money this year for not playing? What’s his beef with Jimmy?” he asked.

You can listen to the segment below.