Each month Meghan Corridan, a pediatric occupational therapist, joins Catherine to share some of the toys and activities she uses with her clients and her own 5-year-old daughter. This time, they talk holiday gift-giving, because Meghan has a huge list of ideas for kids and tweens on her blog MAC&Toys. You can also see Catherine's suggestions for active toys at her site. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, go to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience).

Thanksgiving weekend is a great time to let entertainment flow over you. For this week's post-Thanksgiving episode, Catherine and Terri start with a chat about the gigantic balloon hovering over the holiday, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, discussing live vs. home-viewing options, the fun Broadway show snippets, the possibility of heating the area where Broadway performers in skimpy costumes perform, and the certainty that whatever you are doing and wherever you are going at this point in history, you will surely hear Shawn Mendes singing "Stitches" at least once while you are doing it. Then we left the NYC hoopla behind to talk about houses that would probably fit inside some of those balloons and floats. Catherine watched a lot of Tiny House programming -- who knew there was so much? -- and reports in on how FYI and HGTV are making a big splash with little living. (If you're watching this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Was your Thanksgiving happy? Did you eat a lot of traditional family foods? Did many of them involve cream-of-mushroom soup, marshmallows, or Jello? To start off this week's group chat, we run through the many possibilities for turkey-day cuisine and draw the line at the things we will not eat. Or will, enthusiastically! It's like the battle of the Tootsie Rolls all over again.

Next, we move on to the other big activity of this holiday weekend: trying to find good deals on holiday gifts. Do we rush out and elbow folks at the Walmart for the best deal on a big-screen TV, or do we hide at home with our computers and cybershop? We discuss the merits of online versus standing-on-line shopping, strategies for holiday cards and gift cards, how early in the year it's acceptable to care about this stuff, and the impossibility of shopping for spouses.

Finally, we shared our recommendations for the week: Catherine suggests consulting her Round 3 podcast with grandparenting expert Susan Adcox on gift-giving issues; Terri mentioned our episode of Libsyn's "Thanks, Podcasting!" podcast; Amanda recommended an article on "8 Ways to Help Your Child With Food Sensitivities Enjoy the Holidays"; and Nicole enjoyed reading about how sweet-potato casserole came to be.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episodes and Kristen Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

Yesterday Catherine and Terri chatted about the first day of the Dancing With the Stars finals, and today they follow up with a quick review of the second day -- a two-hour show that offered approximately 105 minutes of padding, 10 minutes of competition, and 5 minutes of award-giving. But who's complaining? There were lots of slick pro numbers, video retrospectives, the return of defeated contestants, musical selections, and Victor Espinoza popping up like he was in some sort of giant Whack-a-Mole game. We chatted about the long-predicted winner, the gracious losers, and who they might scrape up ... that is, recruit for the next episode coming in the spring. Did you watch along with us this season? How do you feel about the results? Share in the comments here if they're working, and if not, find us on our Facebook page. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Dancing With the Stars has finally made it to the end, and we're one show away from someone hoisting the mirror-ball trophy. After watching Night 1 of the finals, Catherine and Terri discussed their favorites and predictions, the freestyles they liked and didn't, what constitutes a gimmick, how hard a lift is, and how enjoyable a show can be when you don't pack it full of unprepared non-professionals trying to learn too many dances. They'll be back tomorrow to discuss the winner, but in the meantime, they took a moment to chat about Netflix's new series Master of None and Terri's new favorite Undateable Live, which she finally got Catherine to watch. The verdict: thumbs up on both, but if you think Undateable's 8 p.m. timeslot means its safe for the kids, be warned that it very much is not, as the above clip will illustrate. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

It’s been a rough week out in the world and in our own little worlds too. We started with a gripe session about a pair of issues most parents have faced: a child's health crisis, and a doctor's clueless attitude that makes said crisis so very much worse. From prescriptions given to mollify mom to casual announcements that "It could be nothing, or it could be a brain tumor," we tell our bad doctor stories and praise the white-coats who really seem to get it. 

A scary story that's been on our minds this week, especially when it comes to how to explain it to children, is of course the tragedy in Paris. Where once we only had to worry about giving our kids the gentlest possible understanding of a horrific event, now we have to factor in what they're going to see on social media and what they're going to say on social media. Should they change their profile pictures in solidarity? If they make a post or a comment, will their understanding be peer-appropriate? Are social-media gestures in these situations like the Instagram likes of the news world, done more to fit in than to make a statement? Do we need to worry about that? We think back nostalgically to the days when you could just hide the newspaper and turn off the TV.

Finally, we share our recommendations for the week: Catherine liked blogger Rebecca Woolf's post on dealing with worldwide heartache; Amanda recommended a PBS Parents article on "How to Help Kids Feel Safe After Tragedy" and one from the Washington Post on "Don't Let the Paris Attacks Infuse Your Parenting With Fear"; Nicole appreciated Terri's article on the dreaded wait-and-see; and Terri passed on articles about choosing the right pediatrician.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episodes and Kristen Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

For this week's Round 4, Amanda once again recorded with her husband, Jon, our audio engineer and blogger at My Happy SAHD Life, to talk about one of the many not-so-easy pieces of special needs parenting—PTSD. Like many parents of kids with autism, they have a kiddo who has meltdowns, not tantrums. There's a difference and Amanda really, really wants people to understand and thus recommended this hugely popular article, "The Difference Between Tantrums and Sensory Meltdowns." (Yes, she wrote it, but, yes, you should also read it.) So, Amanda and Jon worry more about the “when-ifs” of a crisis occurring than the "what-ifs." They talked about how that affects their parenting: How do you keep calm so you don't create a crisis with your own reaction? How do you tag-team when both of you are feeling panicked and one person needs to at least appear calm? And how do single parents of tough kids handle all of the "when-ifs"?

Amanda and Jon share their experiences, frustrations, and strategies in a podcast that will have traumatized parents of complicated kids nodding in agreement and sympathy. And if you're not one of those parents, listen in to see what it feels like! (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience).

Susan Adcox, who writes about grandparenting for About.com, joins us on the third Wednesday of every month to chat with Catherine about grandparenting issues. This time, they spoke about some of the sticky situations that come with holiday gift-giving, from cousin rivalry to value clashes to what to do about those thank-you notes. They also have some gift recommendations for you that might help:

+ Gifts for Grandchildren of All Ages
+ Inexpensive Stocking Stuffers for Grandkids of All Ages
+ Active Toys for School-Age Kids
+ Active Toys for Toddlers and Preschoolers
+ Active Toys for the Whole Family
+ Board Games with a Healthy Twist

(If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

On a new Round 2, Terri and Catherine chat as usual about Dancing With the Stars, which this week included three dances for each star, a withdrawal due to illness, a number involving a rope and a nearly invisible bodysuit, another involving a box and another rope with a lightbulb on it, and a fake-out non-elimination that was really kind of mean. We chatted about this year's likely winners and how the show could be improved in the future, if the producers would just listen to us and people who write on Internet forums. Next, after discussing the problems with asking a 17-year-old to dance dirtier, we turned our attention to shows that ask kids to do other unlikely things, including fashion designing and cooking with unusual items. Catherine shared her thoughts on Project Runway Junior, Terri did the same for Chopped Junior, and they joined Catherine's dog in strategizing other possible reality-show permutations. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

A mention last week of a teen social-media queen's exposure of the falsifying of images and plea for kids to get real led us to talk more today about all the new-tech ways adolescent girls now have to feel bad about themselves. Teen actress Zendaya complained when a magazine doctored images to trim a little bit off her body, but apparently many girls are happy to do that to themselves on Instagram and other popular photo sites, and the falsification even goes so far as paying for "likes" and the status that goes with them. We compared notes on how our daughters are doing with this new opportunity to feel judged and inferior, and wondered what the equivalent was back in our day. 

We then gave some likes to the topic of regional expressions, drawing on our geographical distance from one another to create a collection of our own New England New Jersey Wisconsin California Canada Australia lingo. Listen to find out more about E-ticket rides, SIG alerts, sassy and wicked, thongs and rubbers, babies getting nookie, the right way to say "ayuh," the wrong way to order coffee, and what you call that carbonated beverage.

Finally, we shared our recommendations for the week: Catherine appreciated a New York Times Motherlode blog post on why kids love Snapchat and why that’s OK for making her feel better about her parenting; Amanda thought the Jezebel article "Trying to Change Your Regional Accent Is Practically Impossible" was wicked good; Nicole passed on a fun article about the fake vs real side of Instagram; and Terri had some articles from her site about the danger of using figures of speech with kids who have issues with language or literal thinking, and a good book for teaching those confusing expressions.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episodes and Kristen Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

Each month, Amanda gets together with Lexi Walters Wright to talk about the things that come up when you have younger kids. This week, what came up was a lot of agita and complaining. In particular, Lexi and Amanda had a lot to say about what it's like to feel exhausted, like you're messing up all over the place and missing those mom moments you're supposed to be around for.

When they weren't complaining, they did talk about how their husbands and support systems should be getting more credit than then advertisers would have us believe, as noted in this article, Lowe's and LG's Poor Portrayal of Dads Says We Still Have a Long, Long Way to Go. Skeptical? Check out the Lowes ad itself on YouTube after you listen to Amanda rant about it! (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience).

This week's Round 2 started as it has for the past many weeks with a chat about last night's Dancing With the Stars, which reveled in its live status by not knowing until the very last minute whether one of its stars would even be able to make it onstage to dance. But Tamar Braxton didn't let a little pneumonia keep her out of the race for the mirror-ball trophy, arriving from the hospital just in time to avoid automatic elimination. Did we mention this show is live? Tom Bergeron did, a lot. Also live: the NBC sitcom Undateable, which Terri is going to be talking about a lot until you watch it (or at least Catherine does), and the unfortunately titled Best Time Ever, also on NBC, which is maybe not the best time but still a good time and full of the kind of completely random entertainment moments you don't see that much of anymore. Catherine ended the episode by reporting on a re-watch of the movie Big with her son. Listen and see if the scene that got the biggest laugh in her house would get the same in yours. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

This week, the arrival of standard time and the influence of the Bloggess threw us into a tailspin of dark days and mortifying memories. After a brief opening chat that included the discovery that the "OJ Chase" is not something you can refer to and expect your teenager to know what you're talking about (it's what brought us the Kardashians, kids!), we compared notes on how we're surviving the change of time and light, and most especially the juxtaposition of the time change and Halloween, which is great for parents of teens, not so great for parents of tots who wake up at the crack of dawn demanding candy. (Where's that coffee IV when you need it?)

Next, inspired by a Twitter stream of mortifying events shared by followers of @thebloggess, we were moved to share our own misstatements (like saying "Love you!" at the end of conversations even when it's wincingly inappropriate) and missteps (like the one that sent Nicole sprawling on the floor of a Las Vegas casino). We wondered, among other things, why the sound in a room always drops just when you're yelling that embarrassing thing, and what the statute of limitations is for blaming farts on your kid.

Finally, we sought to redeem ourselves by sharing our recommendations for the week: Catherine introduced us to Minecraft Story Mode; Amanda liked a video called Taking Back Time that turns the time change into a disaster movie; Lexi passed on an article about long lines for story times; Nicole thought a video about a young woman exposing social-media deception had a worthwhile message, even if it made Terri grumpy (that video has since been removed, but you can get the gist from this one); and Terri shared an article of hers about time-change-related bad behavior (your child's, and yours too).

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episode and Kristen Eredics for our happy in-and-out music (and for being a live studio audience for part of the podcast). If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

[This is an encore presentation of a Parenting Roundabout episode originally released on April 1, 2015 as a Round 3. If you listened to it the first time, this is your second chance to follow up on all the resources and ideas mentioned that you just never quite got around to. And if you didn’t listen to it the first time -- hey, it's new to you! Either way, please listen and enjoy.]

Involving special-education students in IEP meetings is an important step along the road to self-advocacy, but one which parents may reasonably feel carries the risk of detonating a landmine. Terri chatted with Robert Rummel-Hudson, author of Schuyler's Monster: A Father's Journey with His Wordless Daughter and blogger at Fighting Monsters with Rubber Swords and Support for Special Needs, about that treacherous transition; how his daughter, Schuyler, now 15, is handling it; and how he's handling including her in an often hurtful and antagonistic process. We considered the power of a kid handing over an iPad with a question to be asked; our suspicions that the barrage of test scores that opens an IEP meeting is just there to break parents down; and how really lousy it must feel to sit in a room where people are saying things about you that you don't understand but that don't sound good. For more on IEP meetings, read Robert's recent blog post on IEPs and meet the players in Terri's IEP team article. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, please come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Each month Meghan Corridan, a pediatric occupational therapist, joins Catherine to share some of what she's learned from her clients and her own 5-year-old daughter. This time, they talk about rainy-day activities that can help kids be creative and independent, but have fun too. Read more of Meghan’s indoor play ideas at her blog, MAC&Toys, and see Catherine's activity suggestions and board game ideas at her site. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience).

This week's Dancing With the Stars left us a little underwhelmed, with poorly filmed dance-offs, uncomfortable baby-gender-revealing gimmicks, unnecessary lying on the floor in a fancy dress, and the departure of good-guy Andy. With hopes that perhaps the competition will step up a bit in the weeks to come, we moved on to a reality cooking show Catherine's been enjoying, My Grandmother's Ravioli, and then a more general discussion about whether we care as much as Terri's husband does about the lack of reality in reality shows, or whether we just want the food to look pretty, the houses-hunted to look interesting, and the dancers to look like they're having fun. Terri also encouraged everyone to get with a show she's starting to watch faithfully, Undateable live, and follow all the many, many Periscope segments the folks involved are doing. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, go to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

If you’ve had any exposure at all to social media this week, you will have heard the announcement from the World Health Organization that processed meat (especially and specifically BACON!) is cancer-causing. How seriously are we going to take this information? Not so seriously, as it turns out. Amanda is still clinging to sweet memories of a trough of room-service bacon; Catherine's buying her kids BLTs; and Terri has heard too many scare stories about favorite foods to take one about something so delicious seriously. We wondered at the difference between "raises your risk" and "causes," winced at the idea of how much snootier vegans will be now, and planned to listen to Jim Gaffigan's bacon monologue and take bacon as seriously as Ron Swanson (if that's even possible).

Next, inspired by Terri's nearly two hours in a traffic jam with her daughter in charge of the radio and her husband in full "These kids today with their rap and their dirty lyrics" dudgeon, we asked: How much does today's music enrage/amuse/bore us? Uptown Funk got our thumbs up, Selena Gomez's current hit our thumbs down, and the repeating repeating repeating of the same songs our thumbs in our ears. We wound up reminiscing about the old days when MTV played music videos and we could still believe that 17-year-olds know about heartbreak. (We were that young once, right?)

Finally, we moved on to our recommendations for the week: Catherine shared an article she wrote about how to add more vegetables to your family’s daily diet (with advice for beginner, intermediate, and expert levels!), Amanda passed on a Wired article delightfully titled "Bacon Causes Cancer? Sort of. Not Really. Ish," and Terri offered some assistance for your next great dietary dilemma -- what to do with all that Halloween candy.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episode and Kristen Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

[This is an encore presentation of a Parenting Roundabout episode originally released on June 24, 2015. If you listened to it the first time, this is your second chance to follow up on all the resources and ideas mentioned that you just never quite got around to. And if you didn’t listen to it the first time -- hey, it's new to you! Either way, please listen and enjoy.]

Halloween, when horror movies rule, seemed like a good time to revisit a chat Terri had with Kathy Ceceri, who writes about homeschooling on the All About Homeschooling Facebook page and her site Crafts for Learning, about kids and scary movies. Is it a societal contradiction that we worry about kids playing alone outside but don't mind them sitting in front of shoot-'em-up video games for hours? Should Lego be making playsets for movies that kids aren't technically allowed to go to? Are making-of documentaries a good way to introduce kids to scary fare or just a way to ruin all the fun? What's more scary, slasher movies, zombies, or Fraggle Rock? Listen in for some thoughts on whether horror movies and other scary fare are going to break your kids or help them get into film school. You can find Kathy's article on a birthday-party horror spree on Wired; if you're reading this someplace without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout for the full recap experience.

It was Halloween theme night on Dancing With the Stars, as well as team-dance night, which provided lots of opportunities for the costume, hair, and makeup folks to show off. (Or not: what WAS that thing on Bindi's head in the group dance? Andy's contacts for his couples dance were indeed fantastically freaky, though.) We then moved on to other unsettling things -- like news of Ricky Gervais hosting the Golden Globes and Chris Rock hosting the Oscars; or doing a sitcom live every week; or watching an actor you like in a show you hate. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlnks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com. And if you're interested in watching Undateable Live, it's on Fridays at 8 p.m. on NBC, as I should have remembered to say on the episode.)

Parents who think their children's activities give them a second time around for childhood too are getting us hot under the collar this week. Nicole is particularly steamed at parents who turn a kid's Halloween costume into a family affair, and even have the nerve to get in on the trick or treating. Catherine thinks parents who want to make their kids' sports all about them need to bench themselves. And Terri's worried that maybe her enthusiastic support of her daughter's marching band crossed the line.

Speaking of parents needing to change their ways, we chatted a bit about the habits and traditions we can't quite let go of, from Christmas PJs to driving kids everywhere to hanging on to work habits more appropriate to a college student than a creaky old mom. Finally, we shared our recommendations for the week: Catherine suggested you check out her article on 10 Things You Can Do to Fix Youth Sports if you're bugged by those over-involved parents or might be one; Nicole advocated for submarine parenting rather than the helicopter variety; and Terri wondered whether you've tried The List App (follow her @mamatude if you have).

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episode and Kristen Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

Susan Adcox, who writes about grandparenting for About.com, joins us on the third Wednesday of every month to chat with Catherine about grandparenting issues. This time, they spoke about fitting in fitness as part of their everyday routines, as well as some interesting recent news about aging with a positive attitude. Listen in to find out how they're getting in their daily activity — and how technology fits into the mix. Plus, lots of links for further reading:

+ Why Seniors Should Choose Water Exercise
+ 5 Fun Fitness Activities for Grandparents and Grandchildren
+ Why Grandparents Should Stop Complaining About Aging
+ Safe Routes to School
+ Shine Activity Tracker Review
+ Win Prizes with Your Fitness Tracker

(If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Famous dances of some sort or another were the focus of this week's Dancing With the Stars, and Catherine and Terri found both the dances and the judging to have no particular rhyme or reason. They chatted about the dances they liked and didn't, the scoring they liked and didn't, the readiness of Paula Deen to go home, and the unfairness of low-scoring anyone who has to dance with a snake. They quickly moved on to something a little more respectable -- the two stage shows Catherine managed to see in one week, Kinky Boots on tour and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeon Broadway. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

Screen content is usually the domain of our Round 2 mini-podcasts on entertainment topics, but for this week's group chat we wanted to revisit the question of screen time for kids in the context of a recent announcement from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The AAP is in the process of updating its policy guidelines on screen time for kids (which both Catherine and Amanda have written about), changing it from a hard line of no screens at all for kids under 2 and two hours a day max after that to a wavier line that seems to accept the fact that parents just do not want to go there. We chatted about whether there should be a guideline and how it should be determined, whether your personal pediatrician really cares one way or another, whether anybody in Canada is making these kinds of rules, and how many moms must have beat the AAP about the heads with iPads to inspire this change.

Jumping from the world of pixels to printed paper, Amanda had us wondering whether there are any book characters we wish we could be, and why. Listen to find out who wants to move into that little house on the prairie, who longs to be snoopy little Encyclopedia Brown, who wants to leave her kids home to frolic with the Cat in the Hat, and who thinks the cool mom of Henry and Mudge is about her speed. What book would you like to move into? Share in the comments or on our Facebook page.

Finally, we shared our recommendations for the week. Catherine mentioned being interviewed for the National Alliance for Youth Sports website; Amanda touted 4 Surprising Benefits of Video Games (and Terri mentioned some surprising benefits of TV watching to go with it); Nicole liked an article about managing your child's screen time; and Terri invited you to Scream Into the Void.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our podcast and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, go to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

The Insufficient Ice Incident of September 2015 prompted Catherine to take a closer look at sports superstitions. So in this week’s Round 4, she and Charlie Zegers discussed the difference between superstitions and rituals and how they work, both in the major leagues and in youth sports. Charlie writes about sports and also about parenting kids on the autism spectrum. He is also proud to say that he's able to watch major sporting events from any seat in his living room without fear. (If you’re reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, visit http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

[This is an encore presentation of a Parenting Roundabout episode originally released on May 13, 2015. If you listened to it the first time, this is your second chance to follow up on all the resources and ideas mentioned that you just never quite got around to. And if you didn’t listen to it the first time -- hey, it's new to you! Either way, please listen and enjoy.]

Fresh off hosting 75 people for a four-year-old's birthday party with a theme of "Space, Ranbows, and Superheroes," Lexi Walters Wright chats with Terri about present protocols, color-coordinated superhero cupcakes, backyards vs. bowling alleys, how birthday parties have changed over the years, and why you won't find a pinata at her house. For more advice on birthday parties, read Lexi's articles on Understood.org:

+ 3 Reasons Kids May Struggle With Birthday Parties
+ 8 Ways to Make Your Young Child’s Party a Success
+ Common Party Pitfalls for Grade-Schoolers With Learning and Attention Issues

(If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)