00:12 Good morning moms, today is Monday, March 2nd. That means it is a fresh new month as well as a fresh new week. So let's get ready to clock into our mom job together. When I left the corporate world and moved my role back here to home, I had just had my oldest son, Jack. And what I missed most about the corporate world wasn't the workload, obviously. It was the people that I interacted with every day. Suddenly I went from... 00:39 being surrounded by like-minded peers to being at home with a newborn and a dog. And I could talk to them all day long, but they didn't really give a whole lot back to me. And I have since been able to kind of replicate the camaraderie that I had at my workplace, but I understand that that's not the same for a lot of moms. So what I want the modern mom to become for you is that missing social outlet, that 01:08 friendship, if you will. So even though I won't hear you in real time, you can talk back to me. You can write back to me. You can text me. I will be here to listen to you. Mom Life is absolutely a job and it is a very tough one, especially if you're going it alone. So let's be that community for each other, shall we? And if Mom Life was a job that we actually attended, these are the trending topics that we would be chatting about at the water cooler instead of, you know, at the playground. 01:37 It is a great time to be a millennial, even though it's been more than 20 years since Gossip Girl first graced our bookshelves and our airwaves on TV. But author Cecily von Ziegzar is reviving her most iconic character, Blair Waldorf. Coming to Market is a brand new standalone novel titled Blair Waldorf, catching us up on where the Queen Bee has been for the last 20 years. Many details about the book are being kept very... 02:05 Hush, hush. And if in your teen years you read the books as well as watch the TV show like I did, you know that the series ended on TV with Blair and Chuck being together. But in the book, that is not the case. Is Blair's fashion empire going to pivot to become a fashion influencer? Did she step in as the new headmistress as Constance or does she have children attending the school? Nobody really knows. And as far as a screen adaptation of the new novel, 02:35 That is also being kept very quiet. However, Alloy has retained the film and TV rights and Leighton Meester has said that she would not rule out returning to her character. In other millennial revivals, six of the original historical American Girl dolls have been given modern era makeovers by Mattel. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of American Girl, the brand released a new line of 14 inch dolls 03:03 that have reimagined Felicity, Addy, Molly, Kirsten, Samantha, and Josefina as modern day girls. These dolls are not replacing the 18 inch original dolls, which is great news for all of us OG collectors. But not only are these dolls smaller in stature, but they are also quote updated for the 21st century. Which one Instagram commenter writes, my girl Kirsten did not go through watching her friend die of cholera for you to give her ozempic space buns. So. 03:32 There's a lot of discourse amongst millennials about this reissue. They're also made of entirely plastic instead of the soft body original dolls and their original outfits have been reimagined as mini skirts and crew socks. I don't know. I'm looking at the picture. I think that they're pretty cute. I think that American Girl, you you can't, you can't fault them for trying to appeal more to the new generation. Our generation loved the historical angle of the original American Girl dolls. 04:02 with good reason and you know those are still available. You can still get those dolls. You can still get the books. This is a good entry level for girls who might not be ready for that. The global head of dolls at Mattel told the New York Times that the new line is meant to celebrate the original historical characters yet in a different form saying younger consumers are more interested in their contemporary offerings. If millennials really want younger generations to love the historic dolls as much as they do, oh 04:32 perhaps starting with a modern version is actually the way in. And as much as it pains me to say, the 18-inch historical dolls might be a little bit out of style. They were meant to appeal to the children of the 90s. These new dolls are meant to appeal to the children of today. And if you can use that as leverage to get your girls into reading the OG historical fiction of the original dolls, 04:59 I think that's a win. Also in American Girl Doll News, I don't know where all of this is coming from, when we last left Samantha Parkington, she was a nine-year-old girl, but it has been 40 years now, and that plaid-wearing orphan from 1904 is all grown up and stepping into her own. 05:18 novel adaptation of her future self in Samantha, the next chapter. Now, of course, Samantha was one of the first three historical characters introduced by American Girl in 1986, alongside Swedish immigrant Kirsten and World War II heroine Molly. They taught us girls of the 90s courage, compassion, and resilience. And each of those 18 inch dolls came with chapter books with a historical fiction story and the historical context surrounding it. 05:47 This is how a lot of us learned history and now Samantha has finally grown up. This book is set in the 1920s and the story features a now 25 year old Samantha who just happens to be a proud suffragette. She's living in New York City and she is helping educate women about the important role of voting in their first presidential election. Author Fiona Davis was tapped by the American Girl Company to write this re-imagination. 06:14 And she hopes that reading the book will be like reconnecting with a childhood friend from the sweet nostalgia of shared adventures to the mutual wonder at the women we have all become. It is currently available for pre-sale and will be released officially on October 13th of this year. And I don't know about you, but I am adding that to my To Be Read pile. And in my final millennial revival news story of the week, 06:37 McDonald's has brought back its most requested Happy Meal toy that parents who grew up in the 80s and 90s may remember collecting. And that is the changeable. Now, this news story did not spark any memories in me until I saw the pictures. And then I had the memory, the memories of finding changeables in my Happy Meals. And I explained to my own children, 07:05 about these memories and took them to McDonald's to find one for themselves, only to find out that other millennial parents had already bled them dry and there were no changeables to be had. My children were not pleased. So we are still on the hunt. And if you are not familiar, the changeable collection are mini plastic robots that can transform into 07:27 your favorite McDonald's menu items with a few clicks. There are 10 choices in all and they each come with their own trading card that includes a fun fact and a catch phrase. Now, a few years ago, McDonald's did bring back the Halloween Boo buckets as their Happy Meal prize, which was also a requested revival. And the third most requested Happy Meal toy of our childhoods is the Teeny Beanie Baby, which begs the question, 07:56 Will that be what we see coming out of the Happy Meal bags next? It is an interesting pivot in my opinion to go away from licensed characters in upcoming movies and TV shows to a McDonald's original. The changeables is something that McDonald's invented, they own the rights to, and there's no screen tie-in. 08:20 They are Transformers adjacent, yet they are not Transformers. They are McDonald's specific. And as it does rekindle childhood memories for many of us, it does also lend itself to starting conversations and interacting and bonding with our children. And who would have thought one could relate bonding with your child to McDonald's Happy Meal? And speaking of bonding activities, a writer for Scary Mommy, Alexia Dellner, 08:47 has created what she is calling the Brady Bunch Test. She poses the question, can two parents be in the same room and talk about something other than their kids or household logistics for at least 60 seconds? Now she put the Brady Bunch Test to the test in her own marriage without telling her husband over a three day period. And she notes the first two days were not great. She was not able to maintain a conversation for more than a minute with her partner that did not 09:18 revolve around her children or her home. It took a lot of concerted effort on her part, but she was able to steer a conversation by the third day. And it's really easy to hear that and think, no way, could that be me and my husband or my partner in my relationship? But think about it. When was the last conversation that you had that didn't turn to discussion of your children or? 09:44 tasks in your home. In the article that she wrote for Scary Mommy, she does also interview family therapists and social workers and they had some interesting takeaways. They note that when life gets busy and relationships can take a back seat, couples end up spending most of their quality time together addressing tasks instead of each other. Noting that it's not that couples don't want to, want to connect. 10:08 They've just gotten so used to talking about kids and logistics that that fills up all of the space. So tonight, after you put the kids to bed, I want you to take the Brady Bunch challenge. I want you to attempt to have a one minute conversation with your partner or your spouse about literally anything other than your children. And I know that it's really easy to ask them how their day was and let it go from there, but I want you to think about a conversation starter. 10:34 that has a little bit more depth. And while that would be a really good Mom Hack Monday, that's not my official Mom Hack Monday. My official Mom Hack Monday for this week, which is of course one small tweak for a calmer week, it can be summed up as using Facebook. And let me be more specific. My kids are all outgrowing their clothes at seemingly the same time, which is fine because I have two girls and for my two girls, 11:02 The growth spurt literally means taking clothes out of one girl's room and putting it into the other girl's room and calling it a day. But kids are notoriously hard on clothing and you don't exactly want to be breaking the bank every few months when they outgrow the size that they're currently in. And at the same time, you don't want your kids to be wearing threadbare hand-me-downs or clothes that don't fit your aesthetic as tacky as that may be to here. 11:32 I'm really kind of picky about the clothes that I put my kids in. I don't like them to be in a lot of character clothing and obviously if they ask me for it, I'm not gonna say no, it's just not something that I necessarily seek out for them. And to be honest, they don't really ask me for it. My son likes to wear sports themed clothing and my girls like to wear girly clothing. They like to wear dresses, they like to wear colors. And... 12:00 one of my favorite brands to purchase for my girls is Mini Bowden. And Bowden is a, it's a UK based clothing company. make women's clothing and children's clothing, but they specifically make cotton clothing, not, not stiff cotton, but like thick cotton clothing. And it washes and wears really well. And 12:28 it can last for more than one child very, very easily. So that's kind of a long introduction to say that I joined a few BST, which stands for buy, sell, trade, bowed in groups on Facebook, where moms like me whose children are outgrowing their high quality cotton bowed in clothing are reselling it at a lower price point. So essentially I'm 12:55 buying somebody else's hand-me-downs that still have a lot of life left in them. And my kids love the clothing. If you're not familiar with Bowdoin, they have a lot of like animal and fantasy theme clothing. uh And they have like, they call them play sets, but they have like full outfits. So it's like a tunic top with coordinating leggings. And it's really high quality. So I don't mind spending a few dollars on a hand-me-down knowing that it will also make it through my two girls. 13:25 And there's actually a lot of integrity in the group and people are very transparent with the condition that the clothing is in. But people are really mindful about only passing on clothing that they would be comfortable with their own children wearing, you know? So you're not buying duds. But here's the hack. You can also resell your children's clothing that they've outgrown and use that money to purchase 13:53 more clothing. So it's like, it almost becomes like a clothing rental service for your kids. But they have, they have these groups for literally every brand and genre you can think of. Like, my son is playing baseball this spring and they have a baseball lifestyle 101 BST group where, you know, people are selling brand new with tags and very gently used. 14:20 baseball lifestyle shorts for a fraction of the retail price. And it's a really easy and economic way to make sure that your kids are wearing the current size of their clothing without going out and purchasing hundreds of dollars of wardrobe every few months. And beyond just brand specific, when my kids were younger and they wore a lot of like monogrammed or smocked clothing, I was in Facebook groups for those as well. So my daughter, 14:48 Pearl, you know, her name is not very common, but I was in a P monogram group and people were selling outfits that had just the letter P monogrammed on them or other names that start with P. And obviously I had a lot more traction in the Jack monogram group and, you know, slightly less in the Grace monogram group, but they exist. And same thing, people were selling their custom high quality monogrammed items. 15:16 that their children had outgrown or stopped using. So buying and selling on Facebook doesn't necessarily have to be on Marketplace. So if you listened to my last episode with the Marketplace mom, so if it felt a little bit intimidating, the idea of buying and selling on Facebook Marketplace with just like everyone who has a Facebook account, consider joining a BST group for your child's favorite clothing company. And I have been in BST groups for literally ever in my 15:45 20s, I was really into Lilly Pulitzer clothing and I was in a bunch of Lilly BST groups and I have, I've actually formed some like lifelong friendships with the girls who were in that group. So it's a really interesting kind of a subset of the internet. But while we're on the topic of the internet and my feed has been kind of inundated with people talking about what they're doing differently in the Christian season of Lent. And if you are not a Christian, Lent is the season. 16:15 between Ash Wednesday and Easter. It's 40, notionally 40 days. It's technically 46 because Sundays aren't included, but we're getting really deep in theology on that one. Lent is the 40 days before Easter and traditionally Christians pick something either to fast from or to change in their life to kind of appreciate the struggles that Jesus felt leading up to Easter. Now. 16:39 Ash Wednesday was kind of early this year, it snuck up on me and in Massachusetts we actually have a school vacation in the month of February, unlike a lot of other states, and we were away on Ash Wednesday. So I didn't really have the forethought to plan anything for Lent. So I'm kind of behind the eight ball and starting late this year, but I do still plan on kind of some distractions and focusing more on faith and dependency in God instead of, you know, 17:09 earthly things. And people all over the internet have been talking about the brick. If you haven't heard or seen about the brick, it's literally a $60 piece of plastic that has a magnet inside it and like an NFC chip. And when you tap your phone to the brick, it will turn off any selection of apps on your phone that you have kind of designated as your time wasters. 17:37 and it will not allow you to use those apps until you return to the Brick and tap it with your phone again. You can also set up schedules through the accompanying app that make it so that there are certain hours during the day where your Bricked apps are, you're unable to use them. Brick says that they help you break free from distractions, stay present and create balance with their tool designed for living. Users report that 90, 18:06 95 % of users report that they are less distracted, 93 % say they have better focus, and over 99 % are able to reduce their screen time with the average user using their phone about three hours less per day, which honestly sounds appealing. I've tried using Apple's native screen time app and it was too easy for me to circumnavigate when I really needed to look something up. 18:35 the physical returning to the brick to re-unlock my phone is probably enough of a deterrent for me to be just scrolling. And it's an interesting juxtaposition for being somebody who's chronically online as like a business because there's a certain amount of scrolling that I have to do to stay relevant, but 19:03 it's really easy to kind of slip into doom scrolling, which is something that I've kind of been uh trying to avoid. So if you are a brick user or if you are like me and interested in brick curious, I want to hear from you. want to hear if using a brick has changed anything for you and if you would recommend it to others. 19:28 have seen discount codes floating around. do know that Welcome 10 will give you a 10 % discount because $60 without free shipping is kind of a steep hill to climb to justify it. But if you get three hours a day back, 19:45 You can't really put uh monetary value on time. So I don't know. Is it worth it? That wraps up our first Modern Mom meeting of the month of March. If you did enjoy this show today, please give us a five star review before you click out. As always, you can find me on Instagram every single day. I am at caroline underscore Detman or at the Modern Mom pod. And I will see you right back here again next week. Bye.