May is the most manic month to be a mom. One minute you’re enjoying Mother’s Day muffins in bed with some snuggles, then next thing you know you open your inbox to find that your son’s elementary school is giving you six new to-dos by Memorial Day. Head spinning? Here are five pieces of pop-culture to help relax, delight and entertain you.
Watch…
Children Ruin Everything (The Roku Channel)
We could all use a LOL right now. Enter Children Ruin Everything, the hit Canadian comedy series which gets its American debut on The Roku Channel Friday 5/13. Created by Emmy-winning writer and producer Kurt Smeaton (Schitt’s Creek), the show stars Meaghan Rath and Aaron Abrams as Astrid and James, a couple experiencing the day-to-day joys, frustrations and general ridiculousnesses of parenting young children. Half-hour episodes center on this family of four as the parents grapple with their children’s hijinks while clinging to – or at least trying to remember – their pre-kid identities. Everything about this show feels very real; Astrid and James juggle all the things we all juggle, including careers, family-planning, and the unsexy stuff like budgeting (just like us!). But one of the many pleasures of Children Ruin Everything is how breezily it goes by, with emotional moments that are truly endearing. As you know, child rearing is a demanding, round-the-clock job. Thankfully, the fine network execs at Roku are not only recognizing parents in their programming, but also giving us what we want: a good hard laugh. Bonus: the series is available for free via web.
Subscribe…
Youngna Park’s Making It Work (Substack)
Time to meet your new mom crush. Youngna Park’s Making It Work newsletter is a weekly reminder that no matter what you see on Instagram, we’re all doing the best we can. Park – a Product Consultant (who happens to focus on making things for kids and parents) by profession and mother of two in Brooklyn – is a refreshing voice of reason. What I love about her writing is that it strips away the BS of parenting, reminding readers to go easy on themselves and their kids. Recent favorites include essays on scaling back extracurriculars and being more self-aware about social media sharing. Each Making It Work newsletter pairs perfectly with the beverage of your choice – no matter what stage of parenting you’re in.
Follow…
Mrs. Dutchie (TikTok)
The star of my phone lately has been Mrs. Dutchie, a Kentucky Queen who creates custom tumblers on TikTok Live. Each tumbler is an epoxy masterpiece of color, glitter, and something she lovingly refers to as “glow.” Mrs. Dutchie started crafting after her father passed away as a means of grieving, and when her 15-year-old daughter set her up on TikTok, Mrs. Dutchie’s natural charm led to a huge following. Mrs. Dutchie’s live feeds have up to 30k viewers, and her followers have named themselves the Dutch Dynasty. Watch a few and you’ll find yourself peppering her catchphrases into your life. Mercy sakes!
Read…
Sari, Not Sari by Sonya Singh
In case the brilliant title isn’t enough to hook you, I’m here to say this is the romp of a story you need right now. The story: Manny Dogra is the CEO of Breakup, where she made a fortune writing breakup emails for a living. And now she’s having a bit of a breakdown. She doesn’t know how to break up with her fiancé, she deeply misses her parents who died in a car accident, and she feels at odds with her Indian identity. When she can’t shake an irritating client, Sammy Patel, the two make a deal in which he’ll take her to his brother’s wedding to “teach her how to be Indian.” And, well, I’m sure you can guess what happens from there. Is it formulaic? Yes. Is it swoon-inducing? Also, yes.
Listen…
On Being with Krista Tippett
On Being with Krista Tippett has been around for a while—and is everything you’d expect from an award-winning podcast that grapples with what it means to be human—but the show has been producing some especially exceptional episodes this spring. My favorite is a conversation between Krista and Kate DiCamillo, a children’s book writer whose books bring our family immense joy. In this hour-long conversation called “For the Eight-Year-Old in You,” DiCamillo discusses everything from her troubled childhood to the marriage of sorrow and pleasure in art. Other guests this season include Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein, Irish poet Pádraig Ó Tuama, and climate activist Colette Pichon Battle. It’s a great listen for when you’re sorting yet another pile of laundry or driving to Target on your way to buy your teachers end-of-the-year gift cards.
