How to Get Girls to Raise Their Hands

Now that Halloween’s behind us, it’s officially winter hibernation time. So this week, we rounded up a whole new list of reasons for you to stay home, where you can peruse the best baby gear of the year or donate to a great cause. Check out a new app designed to put your family’s safety first and a whole new reason (besides cookies) to love Girl Scouts—we’ve got it all in Well Rounded’s Weekly Links.

1. Raise your hand if you think girls need to raise their hands more! Ten-year-old Alice Paul Tapper helped her Girl Scout Troop troop to launch the Raise Your Hand patch, which rewards and encourages girls to speak out and get involved, even when they’re not feeling 100% sure. Even cooler? You only get the patch when you speak out and get three other young women to speak up, too. Sheryl Sandberg would be so proud.

2. If you love a preemie baby (and we bet you know a few, even if you didn’t realize it), you can show your support with Tubby Todd’s organic, gluten and cruelty free All Over Ointment, dressed dressed in purple to raise support for Prematurity Awareness Month. The proceeds from the first 1,000 ointments sold online in November will go to March of Dimes.

3. Nobody knows the hottest registry items better than Babylist, and they’re sharing them in this roundup of the 25 Things Parents Registered for Most This Year. Taken from information on thousands of registries and new parent’s must-haves lists, the roundup includes feeding, sleeping, pumping, swaddling, and on-the-go essentials.

4. If you were as freaked out as we were by some of the recent baby recalls, the Ely app will help. It pulls information from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and notifies you when there’s a recall for a product you own. Just scan the product into ely’s Trunk, and the app searches for only the information you need. Oh, and it’s totally free. Download it here.

5. So on one hand, you totally want to go out and hang with your friends, right? And on the other hand, well…we’ve been there, mama. Not that you needed them, but here’s a hilarious list of the Top 10 Real Reasons Moms Stay Home, which gives you permission to confidently cancel your plans at any time (even if it’s just because you didn’t feel like putting on a bra).

Photo via The New York Times.