How is it already halfway through summer break?! There are still so many things I thought we wanted to do with the kid before she starts kindergarten in September. Time really does fly, doesn’t it? Okay, let’s hit the speedlink.

Tracy Gillett of Raised Good offers a different perspective on toddler meltdowns and why we need to ditch traditional discipline. It’s not just about spanking either; this includes less severe punishments like time-outs too. She explains that positive parenting is what encourages healthy brain development. Children experience intense emotion (read: tantrum) and they need to learn how to deal with those emotions.

Heather Lynne from Raising Memories raises some important points about “invisible struggles,” particularly in the context of social media comparison. We all do it. We scroll through Instagram or Facebook, and we can’t help but to compare what we see with our own lives. Even if we know on an intellectual level that this is a warped perception of their reality, we still do it. But we don’t see the mundane, the difficult, the pain. We just see the gloss.

Jeff Desjardins of Visual Capitalist shares an incredible infographic with some of the most common cognitive biases we’ve likely all experienced. We just didn’t know we were doing it at the time. I’ve been trying to be more mindful about these sorts of cognitive distortions, like recognizing automatic thoughts or black-and-white thinking. Do you see personal specifics in vague statements? Do you look for ways to justify existing beliefs?

Joshua Becker of Becoming Minimalist provides some guidance into how you can craft a life you don’t need to escape from. You know how everybody is working for the weekend? Or how we all yearn for a vacation, so we can “get away from it all”? What if your everyday life was exactly what you wanted, so much so that you didn’t want to “get away” at all? Prioritize quality relationships, guard your time, and exercise self-care. Do you find happiness in your every day?

Lori Lakin Hutcherson of YES! Magazine tackles a very sensitive subject. The article is actually from a couple of years ago, but I only recently came across it. She talks about her experience with explaining white privilege to her white friend. Honestly. Truthfully. I really appreciate frank discussions like this, especially as a person of color myself. As much as we’d like to think otherwise, we do not live in a post-racial society, so let’s not pretend that we do.

And finally, Tamara Goyette of Discovering Parenthood is celebrating Shark Week in the most delicious way. She’s got shark-shaped pancakes for breakfast. The instructions are in the blog post, but here’s a bit of a spoiler: all you need is a Squeezit bottle with a round piping tip. Naturally, this will take a bit of practice to elevate your mutant guppy, but the smiles on the kids faces will be totally worth it.