Jul 23, 2026 · 4 min listen · Last updated July 23, 2026
From storyflo. This is your daily audio brief. It's Chloe, July 23rd. Ten stories — evidence-led, no fluff, small inputs compound. Let's get into it. First, from Now What. The Pull of Forbidden Foods. As you know if you’ve been a parent for more than five seconds, kids typically love sweets and snacks.
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Daily Parenting Brief · July 23rd
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The Pull of Forbidden Foods
As you know if you’ve been a parent for more than five seconds, kids typically love sweets and snacks. Candy, ice cream, potato chips — I haven’t met a child who doesn’t adore at least one of these foods. (To be fair, I haven’t met an adult who doesn’t, either.) This desire often creates strong tension at home: Worried that unfettered access to certain foods might affect kids’ health, parents often limit them and talk about them as if they are bad or unhealthy.
There’s a whole lot I could say about the relationship between demonized foods and health.
The author shares that their novel *Parisian Heist* sparked a wave of spontaneous Paris trips among friends, and they’re now inviting readers to capture that vibe at home. They’re also running a giveaway of five copies of a fellow writer’s book and offering a year of a free Substack newsletter to anyone who orders *Parisian Heist*.
Because summer crowds and heat can make a real Paris visit stressful, the piece suggests recreating a “sexy Parisian summer” locally. The core ideas are simple: wander without a set plan (the French “flâner”), eat meals outdoors and gossip, turn market trips into social outings, and walk everywhere.
Additional tips include unplugging when you’re not working, dressing in something bold that makes you feel fabulous, visiting an art museum alone and lingering on one favorite piece, shedding any “guilty pleasure” label, dancing publicly whenever you can, and, for sheer fun, slathering Nutella on whatever you like.
All of these suggestions aim to bring the relaxed, indulgent spirit of a Parisian summer to everyday life, without the crowds or travel costs.
It’s a quick needle‑felt star project that works great for kids who need a hands‑on distraction. All you need is a small bundle of wool fleece, a wooden needle holder, a pack of felting needles (keep a spare or two), a foam block, a star‑shaped cookie cutter and scissors. Cut a star shape from the fleece, then poke it repeatedly with the needles on the foam until the fibers interlock and the star holds its shape.
The finished stars can be scattered as table décor, strung into a garland, or turned into magic wands by adding yarn, ribbon and a wooden stick.
Because the steps are simple and the materials inexpensive, it’s a low‑stress way to pull kids away from screens and give them a satisfying, tactile activity.
12 Holocaust Movies and TV Shows Streaming Right Now
In 1993, through “Schindler’s List,” Steven Spielberg revealed to the world — and particularly to Hollywood — that making movies about the Holocaust was a recipe for commercial and critical success.
Since then, we’ve seen a rise in the number of Holocaust films, including many that became, like “Schindler’s List,” strong award season contenders (two of which, “The Pianist” and “The Brutalist,” famously earned Jewish actor Adrien Brody two Best Actor Academy Awards, two decades apart).
While a Meryl Streep-starring miniseries “Holocaust” predates even Schindler’s List, it didn’t lead to quite t
This New Anthropologie Molly Yeh Line Is Perfect for Rosh Hashanah
Molly Yeh, a Jewish food celebrity and TV personality, has collaborated with Anthropologie on a new line of cookware. The collection features apple-themed pieces, including a honey pot and a stoneware braiser, that fit Yeh's signature whimsical yet classic style. As someone who often creates recipes inspired by her Jewish and Chinese upbringing, Yeh's goal is to make Jewish comfort food more accessible to people living in rural areas. The line includes items like an apple-shaped honey pot and a scalloped apple apron, which could be perfect for Rosh Hashanah celebrations.
ONLY MOVIES SCREEN TIME UPDATE — Hey friends! Since being in CA on our trip, we have shared one TV and one (too small) couch. The pro, however, is that we are getting in a ton of family movie time. Many of you may remember in an earlier Power Nap I shared how we made the rule the kids can only watch movies this summer. Well, so far it’s been wildly effective. They seem to be able to find other things to do easier, get bored more, and tend to turn the TV off after a movie is over in a way they just don’t do when Netflix automatically plays the next episode of a show.
I’ve never really left a city before—each move felt like hitting pause, believing I could walk back in and find everything exactly as I left it. The article describes how that illusion crumbled when the author’s eighth move meant the couch, the art, the little room that held hopes for a future child all vanished, leaving just an empty space. With kids now growing, the “return clause” that once let her think she could come back to a place no longer works; a house can be reclaimed, but the people who filled it cannot be paused and revisited. She’s wrestling with grief, hormones, and the weight of unfinished plans, realizing that some chapters simply close and can’t be reopened.
The article reminds us that family estrangement isn’t just one story—there are many pathways, from divorce fallout to mental‑illness, addiction, or long‑standing misunderstandings.
Assuming a single cause shuts down curiosity; the author argues that keeping questions open is more helpful than clinging to certainty.
Therapists should help families test whether boundaries are realistic and healing, recognizing that both parents and adult children can shift when they hear each other’s full narratives.
The upcoming Summit on Estrangement in Chicago (with a virtual option) will explore these complexities, offering space for nuanced dialogue and growth.
I’m sharing what I learned after watching the whole “fall sign‑up frenzy” play out for a decade. The anxiety you feel when those emails pop up isn’t a sign you’re failing; it’s a cultural pressure that makes a packed calendar look like a badge of competence.
My own kids never chased the elite‑coach pipeline, and they thrived by choosing one activity they liked and keeping afternoons open for free play. The takeaway is that you don’t need a laundry‑list of clubs to raise a happy, well‑rounded child—sometimes the best thing is leaving space for spontaneity.
When you’re tempted to sign up for that next sport, pause and ask: does it truly match my child’s interest, does it fit our family rhythm, and what will we lose by crowding the schedule? Those three questions can keep the panic at bay and help you make a choice that feels right for you.
Jessie Loves: The Story Behind Our Nantucket Pop-Up
This week we are hosting a pop-up in Nantucket. Hosting something of this scale is a first for us. It was a ton of work to design and implement but something I got incredible creative fulfillment from.
On this project I was given the space and budget to not worry as much about cost or logistics. My tendency to have a bit of a scarcity mindset, to worry, to try to hand-make everything myself to save money, was gently discouraged this time. My role here was purely to be creative and have fun.