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Good morning moms, today is November 3rd, 2025. I  am Caroline Detman. This is The Modern Mom and it is time to clock in for a fresh new week.  And not only that, but it is a fresh new  month too.  It is the beginning of November and with Halloween this past Friday, we are now well on our way into the holiday season,  whether you're ready for it or not.

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But something I am ready for is our Monday meeting. So let's get it. These are the top trending topics to make you feel like you're still connected to the outside world and give you something to think about other than whether or not you need to order more diapers along with literally everything else you're already thinking about always all the time. Okay, buckle up because this is a big one. Dictionary.com has released their 2025 Word of the Year.

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and it has parents and teachers running scared.  That's right, it is six, seven, six, seven. Even though this is not a word, dictionary says the phrase is meteoric rise in searches this year makes it the top contender for word of the year. But yeah, we're all looking it up because we don't know what it means.  Even my first grader is saying it, but I don't think anyone knows what it means.

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Dictionary says it is derived from the song, Doot Doot by Skrilla, which then evolved into viral TikToks featuring basketball players and a young boy  who will forevermore be known as the six seven kid. Within weeks, teachers were trading tips online about how to get their students to stop saying it all day long.  Listen, I'm old enough that  I thought it was  because  six was afraid of seven because seven eight nine.

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So I'm probably not the person to be talking to about this, but if there is a preteen mom in your life, maybe don't ask her about it because she's probably been tearing her hair out over it for the past six months. Wait for her to bring it up and then you can commiserate about it because I think we're all ready for the next phase in our children's lives.  Maybe we can come up with a new catchphrase for the kids to use. Maybe like, listen to your mom or  something super cool like that.

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What can we make trending instead of 6-7? And  listen, obviously with the popularity of 6-7, it really doesn't matter what the phrase is.  It could be literally anything as long as we get the kids to repeat it. But in better news, Disney Plus has signed on for a four episode revival of Malcolm in the Middle,  which originally aired for seven seasons on Fox between 2000 and 2006.

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The mini series reboot follows Malcolm and his daughter as they are drawn into the family's chaos when Hal and Lois demand their presence for their 40th wedding anniversary party.  I  loved Malcolm in the Middle when it was first on and I feel like that was like the water cooler show for my early middle school years. It was one of those things that like, I liked the show, but I think what I really liked about it was being able to talk about it with my friends at school the next day.

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Do those kinds of things even exist anymore or are the kids just all talking about six, seven? Because like I know that like the K-pop Demon Hunters, is that what it's called? I know like that's trending right now, but because that's on Netflix, they just get to watch the whole thing in one go. Back when we were growing up kids, if you're in the car with your mom listening to this right now, we watched shows one episode at a time. So we watched one episode of Malcolm in the Middle and then we had a whole week to reminisce and talk about it with your friends before a new episode came out.

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Now you can watch the whole thing in one go. You can wipe out an entire season of a show in an afternoon, you know, if you're allowed that much screen time, but that's not how it used to be. And I remember watching shows like Malcolm in the Middle, talking about it with my friends at lunch all week long, and then having the fresh one the following week. News of the reboot broke late last month when Frankie Muniz, who of course played

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Malcolm on Malcolm in the Middle shared a behind-the-scenes picture featuring his on-screen brothers Christopher Masterson and Justin Burfield He captioned the post I was told not to post this yet But then I remembered the theme song which if you didn't listen the first time around  The theme song is basically just you're not the boss of me Repeat it over and over

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He continued and said, I'm just too excited for y'all to see the new episodes and I missed my brothers. The original show won seven Primetime Emmy Awards for writing and directing over the course of its run, as well as an additional two Emmys for guest star, Cloris Leachman. It received 26 additional nominations with Jane Kaczmarek and Bryan Cranston regularly earning nods for their performances. Not returning for the revival though is Eric Per Sullivan, who played  Dewey, the youngest brother.

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on the original show.  He has been recast by Caleb Ellsworth Clark.  And I'm looking at a picture of Caleb right now, and I don't think anybody could look more like a grownup Dewey than this guy. So kudos to the casting manager. However, the remaining original cast will be returning for the reboot.  There is not yet a official release date, but production began April 13th. Frankie Munoz later announced that filming had wrapped on May 16th.

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So needless to say, I'm excited about this reboot on Disney Plus.  I kind of have forgotten a lot of the plot lines since 2006. I mean, I've forgotten a lot of things since 2006.  So I might have to do like a review. I think it's on Disney Plus and maybe Hulu. So maybe I'll have to catch up a little bit before  this reboot.  And also in throwback TV news, Mariska Hargitay revealed

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that she was almost part of the iconic Friends cast instead of on Lawn Order SVU.  Huge if true. I mean, obviously it's true, but while on Amy Poehler's Good Hang podcast, she revealed that she auditioned for so many comedy roles, she thought for sure she was going to be a sitcom actress. She read for Seinfeld and was called back for Friends so many times to test for Monica  that she could have been.

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Monica, she could have been cast in that role. Believe it or not, she actually went to see a psychic on a whim with her friends  and the psychic told her that she would find fame in New York. She was making a stern expression while she was listening to the psychic and they said, yes, that's the face. That's the face that will make you famous in New York. And she was like, no, I live in LA and I'm a comedian. But a few months later, she was cast in Law and Order and as you know,

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She still has that role two decades later. Is the moral of this story that we should go to and believe psychics?  I don't know, but can you imagine her as Monica instead of, you know, the Monica that we were given? I don't think it can be done better than Courtney Cox did it. I think we were given the friends cast that we were always meant to have.

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I have always loved Friends and I think the Thanksgiving episodes are among my favorite episodes. Growing up, my uncle lived in New York City and we would go visit him for Thanksgiving and like my whole family would squeeze into his tiny, tiny apartment. So like New York City and Thanksgiving have always kind of gone hand in hand for me.  And growing up, like the night before Thanksgiving, we would go watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons being inflated.

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And then we'd wake up on Thanksgiving and get bundled up because back in the day, kids, it used to be cold in November and we would go watch the parade in person. And then we would go back to his tiny apartment for Thanksgiving dinner.  after a few years, my aunt actually moved into the same building that my uncle lived in. And between their two kitchens, we were able to make a full Thanksgiving meal,  but it involved like riding in an elevator with a raw turkey from one kitchen to the other.

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Everything had to be split between these two tiny apartment-sized ovens,  but they were some  real  interesting holidays for my formative years. And I don't know, correct me if I'm wrong, if you've lived through the  90s and early  2000s holidays,  that is just like the titular holiday season to me. Like when you think of cozy holidays, you probably think of like a home alone house style set, you know?

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I feel like we need to bring back some  90s vibes to our holidays. And I know that I usually advocate for taking these trending topics and using them to strike up a conversation with the mom next to you at soccer practice,  but are parents really supposed to be staying for sports practices? Soccer star Abby Wambach says no. On a very interesting episode of her podcast, Welcome to the Party with her cohost Julie Fowdy,  also a huge soccer star.

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By staying for practice, Abby says that it takes away from the coaching staff and children will then seek approval from their parents.  The purpose of practice, she says, is not for the kid to look over their shoulder and make sure that their mom or dad or parent is sitting on the sideline watching them. Practice is free play for them. Time to learn that there is nothing that's going to encumber them from trying something new, taking a risk, making a mistake, trying something, being successful. uh

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because what we're doing then is we're externalizing all of their motivation. And it then becomes very difficult to actually curate in themselves. She said it's better for them to have the internal motivation so the children can become self starters. And I mean, these women know what they're talking about. They are World Cup champions and Olympic soccer players. If they tell you that you can take a back seat to your children's sports practices,  you listen to them.

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that they also emphasize that this gives parents their personal time back.  I know a lot of us are looking at our calendars and all of these sports games and practices and wondering where we fit in amongst all those things. Not attending practices gives parents some personal time back to use for their own activities.  And she said that if you do still feel like you need to be in attendance at your child's practice, maybe try reading or doing another hobby in your car in the parking lot where you can still see the field, but you're not necessarily

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present or you can walk the perimeter of the field. Maybe there's a track at the sports complex that you can use while practice is going on. That way you don't have that mom guilt about not being at practice, but you're not physically present at the practice. But her best advice is to drop off your child to practice and then  leave. Not be in the line of sight of your child at practice. Well, listen, you know your kid best. If you have a stage five clinger who's going to need you there,

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maybe take it to the parking lot. Maybe sit in your car in the parking lot, read a book. If your kid is a budding independent like mine is, maybe  you go back home. Maybe you drop off and you go home, which sounds so weird to say, even just to think about leaving my kid at practice. And I'm not a clingy mom, you know? I  want my kids to be independent. I want them to have their own interests, even if it's not something that I want to participate in.

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So I think this is really  good advice. And I know that for a lot of us, the fall sports season is winding up. So keep this in the back of your mind if your kid plays in the winter or as we go into the spring sports season, be a games mom. Don't be a practice mom. As my husband likes to say, cut the cord a little bit, give them some space to be, trust the coaching staff to do their job, and then you can do yours, which is to enjoy your adult personal time. And I've really...

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been getting into like some soft hobbies right now for the winter. And I actually have had a needle point kit sitting on my desk for over a year probably. And I just started learning how to do needle point 10 out of 10, 100 % recommended. Did I think I was going to like needle point?  No, I thought it was going to be too slow and too detail oriented for me.  I have unmedicated ADHD and I have for like 20 years.  So a

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fine  needle art does not sound like something that would, you know, be in my wheelhouse, but it really truly is. Being able to do something with my hands while I'm watching a TV show or while my husband watches football  instead of like mindlessly scrolling on my phone is  so  much better. I can't even explain to you how much better it is. And if you're listening to me and you're thinking like, but that's my

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That's my enrichment time and my enclosure. You can have better enrichment than scrolling. I promise you,  if you still need to have some scrolling time, set a timer. Give yourself five, 10 minutes of scrolling time before you start your little hobby, which for me right now is needle point. I promise you that as you get more interested  in your hobby, you're gonna wanna scroll less.  You're gonna have that idle time and you're gonna go,

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You're gonna go to your hobby. You're gonna pick up the book and start reading. You're gonna pick up your canvas and start stitching. You are going to be the mom who doesn't hover on the sideline at your kid's practice. You're gonna be the mom who drops them off and sits in the parking lot in your car and does stitching, reads a book, does something enriching for your brain instead of just, I'm gonna sound like I do when I talk to my kids, instead of just rotting looking at a screen. Don't do that.

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And continuing on the theme of self-improvement, there is a trend going around right now called the Winter Arc, which if you haven't encountered it, it is basically building momentum in the last few months of the year so that you can go into the new year feeling prepared and ready instead of starting your resolutions from square one. It's like a gradual on-ramp to bigger life changes.

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which as you know is something that I am a big fan of. The winter arc is  huge with the wellness and clean girly influencers, but I think that it's something that we can all learn from going into the holiday season and eventually the new year. If you're one of those moms whose new year resolution every year is to get your life together, don't wait until January. Start getting your life together now.

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If you're sitting in your home and you're looking around and you're thinking,  I'm hosting  Thanksgiving here in three weeks  and I don't know where to start. Start now, start here.  On my Instagram at caroline underscore detman,  I am doing  a restart reboot ahead of the new year.  I don't have a title for it yet, but it's going to be a holiday arc.

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we are getting our homes ready for hosting the holidays, even if it's just your immediate family, like your kids and your husband, or if you're hosting 20 people from your family, your home is going to be hosting ready by the holidays. You are going to be calm before the Christmas crush because we are going to be getting our shopping done in the month of November. We are going to be  ready  for the holidays so that when they are over, we can

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cruise into the new year, feeling successful with all of that successful holiday hosting under our belts. And we will be ready to go take that energy into the fresh new year,  feeling encouraged, feeling bolstered, feeling emboldened by our successes so that we're not starting from zero in January. So here are the ground rules for our  winter arc for moms. We are going to be focusing on habits and goals.

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to get our jumpstart on the new year by making small, consistent changes before the holidays or the new year arrives. Timeline is we are working from now, from this very moment, through the end of the year, through the end of December, December 31st. Your individual goals for this winter arc will look a little bit different,  but overall, our goals and our motivation

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should be realistic and attainable, and we're not trying to change everything all at once.  Like I said, we're doing small attainable goals and consistent changes. Your winter arc goals will vary depending on what your overall goals are, but for the sake of conversation and content, we are going to focus our goals on  personal improvement, like fitness, having a daily exercise target, nutrition, like  having a more clean diet goal. uh

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having better sleep hygiene as a goal,  and also, of course, having our homes ready for the holidays. That's gonna be our main lock-in point. We want our homes to be warm, welcoming, a great landing place for your friends and family this holiday season,  and we don't want it to be a stressor for you in the holidays. There's nothing worse than hosting a holiday and, like, in the back of your mind, wondering if,  you know, the baseboard in your guest bathroom is clean enough.

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So we're gonna eliminate that as a pain point for you going into the holidays.  On my Instagram,  I have a post  breaking the month of November down into smaller digestible pieces.  And each piece is a different area of your home that I call  a route. Just because my overall home management plan, I like to call the routine roadmap. So this is like a little play on that. This is the route on your roadmap.  And each  route is a different area of your home. And for that period of time,

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you are going to be focusing on just those rooms in your home. And that is when you're going to do the detail cleaning of just  that area of your home. And the order in which we move from route to route is from your front door in.  So the very first block of the month, the first few days of November, which  is as you're listening to this,  we are focusing on the entryway of your home. So the

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front door of your house, the porch, the garage, your mudroom area, if you have one. For me, I have a breezeway when you first come in that is always the messiest part of my house because that's where everybody comes in and takes their shoes off, drops their backpacks after school.  It is where it needs the most help. And lest you think I am encouraging you to do a deep dive in this area of your home every single day,  I am not. You know me better than that.  What I am advocating for is when you are doing your regular home routines,

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Schedule in an extra 15, 20, 30 minutes  of your home routines  to focus in this area. So today is Monday, which means  my home routines include doing one load of laundry all the way through, which is going in the machines right now.  And then it also includes a full house tidy, including  dusting surfaces, wiping down mirrors and windows that need it,  and vacuuming the floors and  mopping in the bathroom.  I would add into there

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15 to 30 minutes in the route focus of that week. So after I complete my other Monday tasks, I'm going to take that energy  and bring it to the entryway of my home. I will already have window cleaning supplies out. I will already have vacuum and mop ready to go  so I can wipe down the windows in my breezeway. I can vacuum the floor. All the little pieces of leaves that have been tracked in over the last like two days, however long it's been since I last vacuumed out there. And Halloween was on Friday. So there are, you know,

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pumpkins caving in on themselves on my front stoop. I can chuck those into the woods.  Those can get gone.  You might still have Halloween decorations that can get gone in your house. If they are still lingering in your home entryway, this is the time. This is the time to get rid of them. Take that 15, 20 minutes that you have scheduled out for this and  take down your Halloween decorations. I will have the entire timeline laid out on my Instagram like I said, but

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After a few days of tidying in your home entryway, we will then move into the kitchen and the dining room. Making your way through these routes,  along with me, will ensure that your house is clean and tidy from top to bottom before Thanksgiving. Ideally, fingers crossed, that is the goal.  But more importantly, this is your winter arc to lead you into the new year. We are creating new habits and new routines for you in your home.

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You are making this normal for you now. It is not normal for you anymore to have a messy home. It is not normal for you anymore to be driving around  in a car full of crunched up goldfish crackers and two left shoes. You deserve more and your family deserves more. This is about creating a new normal for you where you have a peaceful home for you to land in. And you deserve that every day, but especially at the holidays.  And we were talking earlier about that

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feeling that you get in like watching a 90s, early  2000s holiday movie,  just how everything was warm and bright and cozy and just gave you that good,  that good wholesome feeling.  You can have that in your own home. It doesn't just have to exist in old movies. You can decorate your home for the holidays this year and  have that feeling in your own home.  And wouldn't that be great? Wouldn't that be the

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best gift that you could give to yourself and your family. Having a peaceful home for everybody to be in together. We don't have to let the winter arc belong only to the clean girl aesthetic girly pops. We can have winter arc belong to the mom girly pops too. Don't forget about yourself. You're not just a mom. So if you aren't already following me on Instagram, again, it is carolyn underscore detman.

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Join me there for more information about our Winter Arc and our home revolutionizing system of rhythms and routines. And if you have a question or a topic that you want covered on a future episode, you can DM me on Instagram, either at carolyn underscore detman or at the modern mom pod.  Or you can send me a text at the top of today's show notes. There is a link that says send us a text.

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tap it and it will open in your messaging app. You can send me your thoughts and questions and I would love to include them on a future episode.  And if you are a girl mom, if you have one or more daughters, it is your turn today to leave a five star rating wherever you are listening to this podcast, especially if it is Apple podcasts or Spotify podcasts.

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that really helps spread the word of our podcast and have more moms join our community here. And that is our episode today. It was great getting to catch up with you. I hope you have a great week and I will see you right back here next Monday on The Modern Mom.