0:07
Scary Mommy Readers’ Choice 2026 Best 'Go Everywhere' Chair Brands
I’ve been looking at the Scary Mommy readers’ poll for the best “go‑everywhere” chairs, because honestly, we spend a lot of time perched while the kids are up to something. The winners are the ones that keep you comfortable whether you’re at a ball field, a campsite, or just on the porch.
Nemo Equipment, PARKIT Co., REI Co‑op, and Sunflow all made the cut. They each blend sturdy frames with cushions that stay supportive without feeling like a beanbag, and the designs are low‑key enough to fit most spaces. The brands also score high on durability, so you won’t be replacing them every season.
If you’re hunting for a chair that moves with you and holds up over years, these four are the ones the community trusts most. They’re not flashy, but they’re solid, comfy, and ready for the everyday adventures you and your kids throw at them.
0:45
Scary Mommy Readers' Choice Awards 2026 Best Portable Power Brands
As a parent, you’re constantly on the go. And, especially in summer when your kids are all over the place and not just in a school building, you need to make sure you’re always reachable. Which is why having a trusty backup power source is essential. These bad boys can be heavy and clunky, so you want to make sure you get the best of the best, which is where these brands come in.
1:04
Scary Mommy Readers’ Choice 2026 Best Elevated Picnic Gear Brands
There isn’t much better in life than al fresco dining. It can be quiet and peaceful (with or without kids) and it can be so relaxing to sit under the trees eating a meal. Of course, there’s the flip side of that: dirty hands, ants, sticky drinks, and on and on.
1:19
Scary Mommy Readers’ Choice 2026 Best Sun-Safe Streetwear Brands
It’s summer, it’s hot, and you want to wear that cute little outfit but also want additional sun protection. Smart. From leggings and jackets, to dresses and shorts, these brands will keep you stylish, cool, and protected all summer long.
Photos Courtesy of Athleta/Gap, Boden, Uniqlo, UV Skinz
1:35
Scary Mommy Readers' Choice 2026 Best Personal Cooling Tech Brands
It’s summer, which means it’s (usually) hot as Hades outside. But you want to be outdoors — as do your kids — so you deal with it. These brands just make it a little bit easier — and chicer — to do it. From fans to wearables, here are some favorites of the Scary Mommy team.
Photos Courtesy of Cool Links, Embr Labs, Momcozy, Sony, ThermApparel
1:53
Oh Crap, I Only Have 4 Summers Left With My Kids
Ever since I became a mom, the end goal has been to raise my kids to be thoughtful, kind, independent little firecrackers, ready to take on the world. But now, with my oldest graduating eighth grade and going to high school in the fall, I’m feeling all sorts of things. Honestly, I thought nudging her towards independence would feel more exciting, more like a natural progression, but instead, I‘m going through it.
My spiral really kicked off before her first overnight school trip, which I had volunteered to chaperone.
2:18
Fighting for Reproductive Rights with Planned Parenthood CEO, Alexis McGill Johnson
In this episode, I sit down with Alexis McGill Johnson, the CEO and President of Planned Parenthood, for a conversation that feels more urgent than ever in today’s political climate. Alexis shares how she went from political science professor to leading the nation’s largest sexual and reproductive healthcare provider. We get into why Planned Parenthood is so much more than abortion care, what she remembers from the day Roe v. Wade was overturned, and why she wasn’t surprised like I was.
2:42
AMA: Dysregulated + Aggressive 6 year old
Hey, so Dr. Phil just opened an AMA where you can drop any question about a dysregulated, aggressive six‑year‑old. He’s also offering his ADHD Compass—a brief online check that maps a child’s scores across hyperactivity, inattention, emotional regulation, and executive function, then gives a simple report tailored to their age and current strengths. It’s $19, and the idea is to give you a clearer picture of where the kid sits on those four domains. He invites parents to share what’s helped at home in the comments, and he’ll respond with advice based on his clinical experience. Feel free to hop on the site and ask away.
3:11
I Found My Jewish Home at the Mah Jongg Table
This past Sunday, I attended Kveller’s Jewish Mah Jongg Festival at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. Even though I don’t live in the Big Apple, I had never been to the museum, and I didn’t yet know the vast majority of people at the event, I felt like I was coming home.
And it was all because of a traditional Chinese game that is once again sweeping our country by storm, almost exactly 100 years after it was first introduced to the United States.
My sister taught me how to play mah jongg about a year and a half ago. She learned from her mother-in-law, and I have since taught my daughters, as Jewish women have been doing for generations.
When I first sat down at that card table with three women and 152 tiles, I had no idea how meaningful this game would be to me and how it would bring together many of the most important parts of my life: family, community, Judaism, life-long learning, anxiety management and excessive amounts of trash talking.
I grew up being in awe of my father for always knowing exactly which card I needed for gin Rummy, trying desperately (and rarely succeeding) to shoot the moon in Hearts, yelling at my cousins to get their grubby card off my card in Pounce, and celebrating loudly and quite obnoxiously when I finally beat my grandmother at Russian bank. As soon as we could, my husband and I taught our daughters to play Rummikub, and yes, I absolutely pointed out the game’s Jewish and Israeli origins every time we played.
Despite my devotion to game playing and my deep belief that there are few better ways to build and strengthen relationships, I never learned mah jongg. But once I got my hands on those hot little tiles, I was hooked. It wasn’t just because it was the most fun and challenging game I had ever played; it also became one of the strongest and most meaningful connections to Judaism of my life.
I grew up in a completely secular family with no Jewish education, and it wasn’t until college that I became interested in Judaism. And even though I went on to join a synagogue, marry a Jewish man, raise Jewish daughters, work for a Jewish non-profit, and write an introduction to Judaism for middle grade readers (coming in 2027), I still say I speak Jewish with an accent. I’ve never felt entirely at home in Jewish spaces or practicing Jewish rituals.
Until I found mah jongg.
To be clear, American mah jongg isn’t a Jewish game. It’s a game with deep and meaningful Chinese roots, from the origins of the game to the symbols on each tile. But Jews (and primarily Jewish women) have developed, sustained and played this game in the United States for nearly a century, in the tenement housing of the Lower East Side, the bungalow colonies of the Catskills, the JCCs and synagogues of American suburbs, and now, thanks for Kveller and Modern Mahjong, the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City.
Everything I love came together on that day. As my sister and I walked up to the Robert Morgenthau wing of the museum, I felt pride and gratitude for my family. Robert Morgenthau was my grandfather’s first cousin, and I was reminded that even though I don’t always feel Jewish enough, I come from a long line of Jewish men and women — Naumburgs, Morgenthaus and many others — with a deep commitment to civil service, tikkum olam and tzedakah.
As we listened to the amazing Gregg Swain share the history of this game and how it has helped Jewish women build community and live their values for decades, I felt like I was part of the next chapter of the story she shared. And as I met and played with women who are members of the Mah Jongg Minyan (the Facebook group I started for Jewish and Jew-ish mahj players), I was reminded of the power of this game to bring people together.
No matter what city we live in, what synagogue we attend (or would never step foot in), how Jewish we are (or not), and how we feel about the National Mah Jongg League (the organization founded by Jewish women in 1937 that still publishes the official rule book and yearly cards needed to play the game), we all have a seat at the table. (And it’s especially amazing when the table has a view of the Statue of Liberty in the background, as it did on Sunday.)
As I spent enough money on Menschie Mahjong tiles and the most beautiful wooden racks I’ve yet seen from Vivien Judson of GoldieLox (a sponsor of the event) to trigger a fraud alert on my credit card (true story) and planned a European Mah Jongg and Jewish heritage river cruise with Jill and Susan of Crak Your Bags (another sponsor), I relished in the joy of finding just the right mah jongg set and looking forward to another opportunity to make friends with strangers and search for the perfect hand to play.
Most importantly, I got to play mah jongg — with my sister, my daughter, online friends I was meeting for the first time, and women I had never met before — and playing the game is the best part of all of it.
Can we ask? Keep Jewish joy accessible to all.
6:32
Scarlett Johansson Plays a Fierce Jewish Mother in the Upcoming ‘Paper Tiger’
James Gray’s 2022 “Armageddon Times” was based on the director’s Jewish childhood in 1980s Queens, New York. It’s the story of his early teenage friendship with a Black classmate and his relationship with his Jewish grandfather (played by Anthony Hopkins), who escaped antisemitic persecution in the former USSR.
The film featured Anne Hathaway as Jewish mom Esther Graff, a stand-in for Gray’s own mother. Esther was a complex Jewish mother figure. Hathaway, who isn’t Jewish, took inspiration for the role from her late Jewish mother-in-law, Jacqueline Banks.
For Gray’s newest film, “Paper Tiger,” which takes place just a few years later, he had hoped Hathaway would reprise a similar role: a fictional stand-in for his Jewish mom, but this time in a completely different story. This character has a different name, though the plot is also based on his actual history. But Hathaway was busy filming Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.”
“So I said, OK, shit — that means neither of them are going to be available,” Gray recalled in an interview with Rolling Stone. “So then I thought, well, who do I want to work with? Who is a woman from New York, who is Jewish, who would authentically understand this world? And then I thought to myself, ‘Who’s like the biggest female star in the world right now? It’s a Jewish woman from New York!'”
That woman was Scarlett Johansson.
Gray wrote Johansson a letter (a letter!) and after quickly reading the script, she told him: “I would love to be a part of this.”
In “Paper Tiger,” which is out in theaters nationwide on Nov. 20, Johansson plays Hester Pearl, the mother of teens Scott (Gavin Goudey) and Benjamin (Roman Engel), who is, like James Gray’s own mother once was, dealing with a cancer diagnosis. (Gray’s mother died from brain cancer when he was young.) Hester is hiding the terminal diagnosis from her family while trying to keep them together, as their father Edwin (Miles Teller) and their uncle Gary (Adam Driver), an ex-cop with lots of connections, get embroiled in a scheme with the Russian mafia.
In “Armageddon Times” — which Gray claims is 98% autobiographical, while “Paper Tiger” is about 90% so — Jeremy Strong played the fictional version of Gray’s father. But for “Paper Tigers,” Strong was busy playing Jewish Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and was thus unavailable. Actor Miles Teller plays Edwin instead; apparently Gray originally thought Teller was too young for the role, but his agent convinced him that he was not. Gray impressed with Teller, and both Driver and Johansson were enthused about the actor taking the role.
Plus, Gray recounted: “He’s also Jewish, you know, and from New Jersey, so I thought, well, this is going to work.”
We can’t wait to see all these dynamic actors bring a new James Gray story to life on the big screen later this year.
Can we ask? Keep Jewish joy accessible to all. Reader donations help us do just that. Can you help us meet our year-end goals? (We'll love you forever.)
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