Your Daily MomScope for August 02, 2025
Aries
Release the hounds! The tyke needs help finding the lost homework or binky or whatnot. You may have to seek in the most unlikely of places -- but all that matters is that you find it in the end. And you will.
Taurus
The tortoise beats the hare today. Let the tyke spring their surprises: A last-minute project to prepare for school or a dish of bake-sale brownies to bake because they 'volunteered' you. Just take everything as it comes -- you'll do just fine.
Gemini
Mid-spring madness makes you feel like a kid again. Maybe if you asked nicely, you could take part in the kiddo's puppet show or wrangle an invite to their tea party. The little ones will be thrilled to have you around.
Cancer
Got to work, get the kiddo to day care, attend that committee meeting, pick up something for dinner -- small wonder some days your energy wanes. It will return if you take time to regroup now and then -- like today.
Leo
One thing's for sure: If you belong to a group, sooner or later you're going to be bothered by pettiness. You can always find a way to rise above such nonsense. Today you may be called upon to give your kiddo a lesson in this. Looking for a better romance? Find the empowerment you need with our Karma Love Report. 💞
Virgo
Rise and shine -- you've got a lot to do today including getting everyone out the door on time. The day unfolds pretty much as you wish. Especially if you wish for a little get-together with your other half after lights out tonight.
Libra
This is a good day to get projects launched. Whatever you turn your hand to has a better than average chance of taking flight. Just keep an eye on the kiddo, who might be tempted to test the principles of aeronautics -- using homemade wings.
Scorpio
Your little one would benefit from some wisdom of the elders today. It might come from an older relative or friend, or from someone you often meet at the park. Let them absorb the many lessons within the experiences of these people.
Sagittarius
Confidence is key today. Yours may get a big boost when you receive favorable feedback about an impressive performance during a presentation or meeting. Encourage your little one to enjoy similar success at show-and-tell.
Capricorn
Ever notice how your little one fearlessly dares to dream their biggest dreams? You should do the same today. Even though you might not be able fully realize them today, if you persevere virtually anything is possible.
Aquarius
You've got big plans for this day and can't wait to launch them. You and the tyke will no doubt be exploring new and unfamiliar territory at the park or mall. Wherever you two go, giggles and mirth seem to follow. Get it in gear!
Pisces
Who knows best? Around the office, it's the boss (whether they really do or not). If you just keep your head down and get your work done, you'll be fine. Once you get home, it's a case of mom knows best -- always. What does the moon say about your emotional nature? Master your emotions with a Natal Moon Report!
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an hour ago
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Lily Phillips tackles dark side of motherhood with Edinburgh Fringe show
IVF struggles, a traumatic birth experience and postnatal depression are no joke but comedian Lily Phillips is both entertaining and enlightening people about what motherhood can really be like. Phillips, who shouldn't be confused with her namesake on the OnlyFans website, has appeared on many TV shows, including The Stand Up Sketch Show, and is now bringing her razor-sharp wit to the Edinburgh Fringe. Her new show, Crying, gives a more honest account of life as a new mum than can often be found on social media and is particularly topical with understaffed maternity wards, botched birth care and lack of post-natal support all hitting the headlines recently. READ MORE: I'm camping during the Edinburgh Fringe so I can afford to perform my one-woman show But although Phillips has turned her experience into an often hilarious show, it has taken her two years to be able to see the funny side. 'It's annoying when you're a stand-up comedian going through the darkest moments of your life because someone always tells you to think of the material you're going to get out it – yeah, well, when I've stopped crying,' she said. However once Phillips did start talking about it, she developed a 'kind of birth Tourette's' with the result that the new show is an unfiltered journey through IVF treatments to the trials of early motherhood – including a traumatic four-day labour ending in the use of a ventouse and forceps and a doctor triumphantly winning a 'tug-of-war' with her vagina. In the show, she questions the glossy picture of motherhood sold by Instagram's maternity algorithms and calls out society's often unrealistic expectations of new motherhood. 'It feels like if you say anything negative about having a baby, you're labelled mentally ill,' Phillips told the Sunday National. 'But maybe you're just having a normal reaction to a horrific event. 'Whatever birth you've had, you're probably at your weakest physically and then you have to look after a baby who can't do anything.' READ MORE: Is age verification being used right in Online Safety Act? Expert weighs in She added: 'You're given this rose-tinted version of it being a magical time when it's sort of like being at war. But I felt I couldn't say that because I was suffocated by the joy of everyone else.' The frequently unrealistic expectations of how a birth and new motherhood should be made Phillips feel like a failure. 'I really wish someone had told me what could happen, so at least I would have been more prepared and wouldn't have felt like I'd failed,' she said. 'The idea of creating a perfect birth is toxic and misleading because if you don't have this perfect birth, you feel like a piece of shit and you feel you can't tell anyone that you didn't. There's this silencing around it, which obviously makes it so much worse.' This extends into early motherhood with the idea that if a mother is really chilled, the baby will be too and life will be a breeze. That's not true either as some babies go by the book and some just don't, according to Phillips. 'You get the baby that you get but as women, we're all programmed to feel guilty and as if everything is our fault,' she said. Phillips points out that most of the process, including going through IVF, is up to the woman. 'Our IVF went the best way it could have gone, but it's still a bit of a shit thing a woman has to do because of the hormones you have to take,' she said. 'We ended up almost messing up the whole process because my partner forgot what his name was. 'I know that sounds totally unbelievable but he actually did because he goes by his middle name and not his first name. 'I wish it wasn't true because I now have a child with this person who doesn't know his own name.' After going through IVF, Phillips thought the hard part was over but the worst was yet to come, not only with a horrendous birth experience, but also with the lack of aftercare. 'I felt like it was the opposite of aftercare,' she said. 'Everyone else is talking about mental health and well-being and how important that is, except for the postnatal ward in a hospital. 'It feels like they've got a tick list of how to give a woman postnatal depression.' One of the rules on her ward was that the only visitors allowed were siblings of the baby. 'I was like 'wait a second. I just had one. I can't pop out another sibling, just so I can have a visitor. This is crazy'.' Phillips added: 'Then I would ask them a question about how to look after my baby because I'd never had a baby before, and they would just chuckle or roll their eyes as if I should know better. 'You're sold this idea that it's so natural and it's the same with the whole breastfeeding thing, but if you've never done something before, why would you suddenly be good at it?' By contrast, she believes that if men gave birth, it would be made pain-free and quick so they could watch the football while it happened. 'No one would judge them, but we have to do it the hard way, even though I'm sure it costs the NHS so much more if you have a terrible birth,' said Phillips. 'It's not good for society if women are starting their lives as a mother broken. It's not even safe.' The show is graphic but Phillips is unapologetic. 'Usually the audience starts to go with me and a lot of the women spend the whole time nodding. 'I can get everybody laughing about it, and that's just so gratifying. 'We're talking about this mad, often distressing thing ,but we can laugh at it, which eases the tension and means that then you can go off and have a conversation about your birth or someone else's birth rather than be stuck in this kind of toxic positivity.' Phillips has not written the show for any political reason, but would be pleased if it did help to make changes for the better in maternity wards. So far, the reaction to the new show has been 'pretty positive'. She said: 'I think people now know a bit more about what they're coming to, whereas I've had a few men becoming confused and angry because they thought they were coming to a normal comedy night and then I'm like, 'OK, I'm going to talk about giving birth for an hour'. 'I did have a guy walk out of the show. His wife stayed. She had a nice time.' Lily Phillips: Crying is at Monkey Barrel, MB2, from now until August 12 at 1.30pm
Yahoo
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Parents In Other Countries Do This 1 Thing — And American Kids Might Be Missing Out.
My son, age 14, loves watching the Japanese show 'Old Enough' on Netflix. The premise is that young children — ages 4, 3 and even 2 — are sent to run errands by themselves. Cleverly disguised camera crews trail them on their journeys while their parents wait for them at home or some other predetermined meeting point. The kids walk though neighborhoods, cross the street, navigate public transit and manage interactions with shopkeepers. One little girl carries her mother's work pants to be mended. Another child purchases dumplings from a vendor. The children's focus and determination is captivating, and it's impossible not to become invested in their success at the task. The kids are also adorable. Their reactions and facial expressions regularly crack my son up. But that isn't the show's only allure. The sheer implausibility of the whole endeavor draws him in. 'You would've never let me do something like this,' he observed. 'You would've been freaking out.' He's not wrong. When he was 3, I likely would've sent him hang gliding before allowing him to cross the street alone. But my parenting instincts aren't just a product of my own neuroses. They're part of a culture, and here in the U.S. we've developed a culture of overprotectiveness and fear when it comes to kids acting independently. By keeping them safely within arms' reach, what are our kids missing out on? And what are some ways we could give them the opportunity to practice these vital life skills? What kids' independence looks like in other countries. Japan isn't the only nation where you can find kids navigating a town's streets and public transportation without adult supervision. Mei-Ling Hopgood lived in Argentina as a new mother, writing about the experience in her book 'How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm,' in which she explores parenting practices around the globe. She noted that it was common in Argentina and in other countries to see children commuting to and from school without adults. In some places, the reasons behind this particular independence are structural. Not all families have cars, so the only options may be walking, biking or taking public transit. Another factor is parents' level of trust in their community. When they send their kids out of the house, do they assume they will be safe and that the adults they interact with will be helpful and trustworthy? In Argentina, Hopgood saw signs of trust in the community of surrounding adults. 'If a child is crossing the street, not with a parent, or if an older person is crossing the street and needs help, they will take your hands. For example, when I would take the girls back to Argentina when they were little, the drivers that would pick us up, a man they did not know, would take their hands and walk them to the car,' she said, much to the surprise of her daughters, who by then were living in the U.S. 'The thinking [is] that adults are there to help you,' Hopgood told HuffPost. This includes men and even men you don't know, and was a real shift from the 'stranger danger' panic that permeated her American childhood. It was 'notable to me because of the bias against men being nurturing people, or they are the strangers you should be afraid of.' Journalist Michaeleen Doucleff observed a similar kind of autonomy among the Maya, Inuit and Hadzabe children that she observed when researching her book 'Hunt, Gather, Parent.' Children in these cultures, she told HuffPost, 'have enormous freedom to decide where they go, what they do and who they're with. Parents and older kids are around them, observing and ensuring they are safe. But generally their movements and actions are their own.' Again, there is a shared assumption that children are safe moving throughout the community. This autonomy extends to kids setting their own schedules — deciding when do go to bed, for example (an often fraught topic for American parents that has generated the profession of sleep consultant). In general, kids were entrusted with a multitude of what an American would likely consider 'adult' responsibilities: 'They use knives and the stove. They help take care of younger siblings (playing with them, changing diapers, feeding them). They take care of animals or a family garden. They learn to hunt, slaughter/butcher animals, make clothes. They work at local stores. They climb trees, gather firewood or forage for food,' Doucleff said. This trust in children's ability to handle things includes managing their emotions and speaking for themselves. 'They are allowed to get upset, have tantrums, without being scolded or forced to control their emotions very early,' Doucleff said. In addition, she said, 'parents allow children to talk for themselves' rather than answering questions directed at them on their behalf or prompting them with what to say. Other cultures also have a higher tolerance for risk when it comes to kids' behavior. Helen Russell, author of the forthcoming 'The Danish Secret to Happy Kids' (released already in Britain as 'How to Raise a Viking'), observed in Denmark that children often take risks in their extensive outdoor play and are expected to resolve conflicts among themselves when they arise. Likewise, children speak for themselves and are expected to dress themselves (including the all-important snowsuit!) and feed themselves, rather than being told by adults what to say, what to wear and when and what to eat. Danish children, Russell told HuffPost, are allowed to pretty much 'roam free,' and the same is true in other Nordic countries. 'Icelandic children are all allowed to roam free until a state-sanctioned 'curfew' in the summer holidays, when Iceland enjoys 24-hour sun. So, come July, 13- to 16-year-olds are allowed to run wild until midnight, while children up to the age of 12 get to hang out until 10 p.m.,' she said. Why it's important to foster kids' independence. Letting children travel about, do chores and play without interference from adults can allow the adults more time to get their own work done and might seem to require less effort. Doucleff, however, noted that it's not that parents are letting their children go unattended. 'Adults keep a close eye to ensure kids are safe. So it's not about simply doing less.' The key difference, she explained, is that 'parents don't interfere with children's actions and movements, especially during play.' Kids, not adults, are the ones who truly reap the rewards of this dynamic. 'Lack of autonomy is strongly associated with anxiety and depression,' Doucleff said, while 'high levels of autonomy are linked to confidence, drive and all-around better mental health. In the communities I visited in 'Hunt, Gather, Parent,' children had these in spades.' Autonomy, she explained, 'enables children to learn adult skills ... . So they can be active contributors to their families and not simply attended to by their parents.' We know that being able to contribute meaningfully can help kids feel a sense of mattering, which is protective of their mental health. Knowing that adults trust them to get from one place to another or use the kitchen knives helps them believe in their own abilities and gives them opportunities to 'learn on their own, make mistakes on their own,' Hopgood said. Experience teaches them that they can figure things out for themselves and overcome challenges. Russell explained that all the outdoor play kids engage in in Denmark, in spite of frigid weather, also has a positive effect on their well-being. 'Studies show that spending time outdoors improves well-being and cooperation, reduces stress, helps with concentration and evens out differences between low-achieving and high-achieving children,' she said. Hopgood, a journalism professor at Northwestern University, noted that here in the U.S. we are beginning to see the effect of a lack of independence once these children head off to college. 'Students coming to university, [their] maturity and responsibility level is years below what they were some years ago. Because of many reasons, but parents have done so much for them.' Without practice, kids lack problem-solving skills and confidence in their ability to tackle challenges without their parents' help. Ways parents can help kids gain independence. There's no need to move all the way to Latin America or Scandinavia to help your kids learn independence. Some communities, by their design, are more conducive to kids' autonomy than others, and some places are also simply safer. But even within the confines of your own home, there are steps you can take to encourage this growth. 'It's about having confidence in children's ability to learn and grow at a young age without the need for constant interference from adults,' Doucleff said. Doucleff measured her own interference in her children's lives by counting how many times per hour she gave them commands. ('Eat two more bites, please.' 'Give me the ball.') She initially found that this number was 120 — which is in line with what most kids experience in Western cultures. 'In cultures with autonomous children, parents give only two to three commands per hour. So a hundred times fewer! It's radically different than the approach that's common in the U.S.,' she said. She encourages parents to use their cellphones to record their own interactions with their children and count the number of commands they are giving now and make a goal of getting that number down to three per hour. You can start slow, by having a low-command hour just once a day, perhaps at the playground. She also recommends that parents take some time to observe their children. 'See what their interests are but also their skill level. Then you know when to back off and be confident that they've got the situation handled or when to jump in to help if they need it.' Focus on building up their independence in a specific domain by 'teaching them skills they need to handle any dangers or problems that may arise in these environments,' such as using knives and electrical plugs, crossing streets or watching for cars. 'Then schedule time in their week to simply be autonomous in these environments (without devices),' she said. You don't have to start by letting them roam free all afternoon. Instead, you might begin by letting them walk home from school with a sibling or group of friends. If they're interested in cooking, you could plan to let them make breakfast for themselves on Saturday mornings. 'A little goes a long way,' Doucleff said. 'Just adding a few hours of autonomy each week will help your child immensely. You'll see a huge difference in their anxiety, behavior and overall confidence and self-sufficiency.' Related... What Is Child Endangerment? When Leaving Your Child Alone Becomes A Crime. 9 Parenting Practices From Around The World That May Totally Surprise You 11 Seemingly Innocent Phrases You Shouldn't Say To Kids
Yahoo
4 hours ago
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Amal Clooney Shares Unfiltered Thoughts on Parenting with George Clooney
Amal Clooney Shares Unfiltered Thoughts on Parenting with George Clooney originally appeared on Parade. Amal Clooney is opening up about parenting twins Alexander and Ella, both 8, with husband George Clooney. The human rights lawyer, 47, shared during an interview with Glamour published Thursday July 3 how she and the actor, 64, work together to keep their children out of the public eye. "We do the best we can to minimize any impact on our children," Amal said. "We don't put our children out there, we've never put their photo out there or anything like that." "I would say becoming a parent means you're more troubled by some of the intrusions." she added. 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 Amal, who's been married to the actor for a decade, also shared how her husband supports her as she balances her work obligations with being a mom. In addition to being a lawyer, Amal is an adjunct law professor at Columbia Law School and a Visiting Professor of Practice at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. In 2016, she and George co-founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice. "I remember when I became a mom, which was obviously a new frontier," she reflected, "He was the first one to say, 'I know you've got this speech at the [United Nations] Security Council. You have to go, I've got the kids, don't worry about it.'" "I feel so incredibly lucky to share every day with him," Amal continued. "And now we're four. And I don't take any of it for granted. I treasure the laughter and the joy that I get from just being with them." Also during her interview with Glamour, the lawyer opened up about why she and her husband take away cell phones when they entertain guests at their home. Amal Clooney Shares Unfiltered Thoughts on Parenting with George Clooney first appeared on Parade on Jul 3, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 3, 2025, where it first appeared. Solve the daily Crossword
