Do your kids know how to do laundry? Do your teens know how to leave a tip? It’s amazing how many life skills tend to fall through the cracks when it comes to raising our kids. That’s why we’re so excited to chat with Catherine Newman, whose new book How to Be a Person: 65 Hugely Useful, Super-Important Skills to Learn before You’re Grown Up will help your kids, teens, even young adults tackle important skills that they’ll need before they become a grown-up. And by the way, it’s perfect timing with so many of us still sheltering-in-place.

You can listen right now, and then be sure you’ve subscribed to Spawned on Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode. Have you left us a 5-star review yet? Please do!

We tackle a bunch of helpful questions on this episode, like why this quarantine (for some of us) has been an opportunity to give our kids more independence, and how to start teaching older kids skills they should probably already know — though, this is a no-guilt zone, mamas.

Catherine talks about how she picked the specific kills that are in her book (and why they’re in that order), and how we can use the book to help our younger kids. This was such a valuable discussion for us (not to mention the book is fantastic). We really hope you find it as useful as we did.

CMP is a reward style affiliate

This week’s sponsor 

We’re excited to welcome Breyers Ice Cream as our newest sponsor.  You probably know Breyers as America’s number one ice cream brand, and now you should DEFINITELY know about Breyers CarbSmart. It’s a fantastic line of sweet frozen treats with just 3 to 5 grams net carbs per serving, all under 150 calories.

It’s available in the tubs we love for DIY sundaes, as well as bars with yummy flavors like caramel swirl, chocolate covered almond, vanilla, and peanut butter.  Plus, Breyers has partnered with American farmers, so all of the CarbSmart treats are made with 100% grade A milk and cream. Yes, please!

Find Breyers CarbSmart at all major retailers, from Target to Kroger, even Amazon Pantry.

Cool Picks of the Week

Catherine: The WhirleyPop Popcorn maker. Here’s a swanky version we found at our affiliate William Sonoma.

Liz: If you’re not following Gabby Blair aka @DesignMom and her French house renovation on Instagram, it’s just the escape we’ve needed.

Kristen: I’m currently binging Never Have I Ever on Netflix. Nice work, Mindy Kaling. Not like you needed me to tell you, though.