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In 1992, the soundtrack to the movie Singles featured music by Seattle-based grunge acts such as Pearl Jam, Mother Love Bone and Soundgarden as it told interwoven stories set amid the burgeoning Seattle music scene. And one of the most memorable moments in the film came during a performance by Alice in Chains.

The iconic scene, set early in the film, featured the grunge icons performing the song “It Ain’t Like That” in a club. As the band members whipped their hair around during the performance of the hard-rocking song, the movie’s characters Steve (Campbell Scott) and Linda (Kyra Sedgwick) were forced to scream at each other over the deafening music.

“It Ain’t Like That” appeared on Alice in Chains’ debut 1990 studio album Facelift and was not released as a single. Written by Jerry Cantrell, Mike Starr, and Sean Kinney, the track featured a dark, heavy guitar riff and Layne Staley delivering gritty lyrics about alienation and unease.

Cantrell told Guitar World that the riff started as a clapback to his bandmates.

“The riff in ‘It Ain’t Like That,’ that’s based around a bend that was actually a joke,” he shared in the interview. “I remember at rehearsal, I got pissed off about something, and I made some noise. I did that reverse strum on the E chord with a bend on the G. I was d—ing around, and all the guys looked at me, like, “That was cool! Do that again!” And I was like, ‘I was f—ing joking, dude!’”

RELATED: 1993 Grunge Classic Became an Era-Defining Song Despite Never Hitting No. 1

The legendary Alice in Chains guitarist told All Music that the accidental riff came during a jam session at the Music Bank warehouse in Seattle.

“We were jamming, and the guys were making a comment about something they didn’t like that I was playing for them,” he recalled. “And I’m like, ‘No, this is cool! What am I, going to play something stupid…like this?’ And I just kind of drew my strings from high string to the low string and did a bend on the G – as a completely sarcastic response to them not liking something I was playing right before. And they’re all like, ‘F—! That’s cool, man! Do that again!’ And I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me?! I was being sarcastic!'”

“They started playing along to it, and we made a song out of it,” he added.

In a video interview, Kinney and Cantrell spoke about recording “It Ain’t Like That” for the Singles movie.

“We really played, and they recorded it,” Kinney said. ”So  we played the song a bunch of times.”

Cantrell recalled, “I think there was some discussion of us lip-syncing to the [original] track, and we’re like, ’No we’re not going to do that, man.’ So for the people [in the movie] to talk, it’s got to be on tape and we’re like, ‘Okay, well we’ll play the songs and you can record us.’”

Cantrell noted that the band performed the song until they thought it was good enough, then lip-synced to their live performance while the audience danced around.

“So that was kind of odd, just you know first kind of experience around filmmaking,” he added.

Kinney also revealed that the band didn’t perform in a real club and instead were housed in “a fake club, a movie type one…in a pier down on the waterfront.”

Singles writer and director Cameron Crowe praised Alice in Chains’  professionalism during the shoot, telling Rolling Stone the band did very well with the stops and starts of film production.

“They were great; they were very cooperative and fun,” Crowe said. “Somewhere around the time we were finishing the movie, ‘Man in a Box’ was a hit. They were the first band to score a hit out of Seattle in that generation. Layne was wonderful. And we put Jerry Cantrell in Jerry Maguire.”

Thirty-six years after its release, “It Ain’t Like That” remains one of Alice in Chains’ most iconic deep cuts—a soundtrack song that showcased the dark, hypnotic sound that would go on to become a hallmark of the legendary band.

Related: 1994 Rock Classic, Once Ranked Among the ‘Saddest Songs of All Time,’ Is Quietly Climbing the Charts 32 Years Later

Heather Graham is soaking up the sun in her blue bikini in Positano.

Graham, 56, who broke onto the scene in films like Drugstore Cowboy and License to Drive, later solidified her role as a Hollywood staple in hits like Boogie Nights and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. With her soft blonde hair and bright blue eyes, the gorgeous star has the acting creds to back up her stunning looks. And with a new gig starring on The White Lotus, it’s incredibly exciting to see what she’ll bring to season 4.

While Graham has enjoyed Europe while filming that upcoming fourth season, the star took some time to enjoy herself. Sporting a blue string bikini as she frolicked through the surf.

“I love Positano and pasta Nerano! 🇮🇹 ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ And @mcivetta 💕 #positano #italy #summer,” she captioned the photo set, which showed her running through the surf and sightseeing with her boyfriend, Michele Civetta, in Italy.

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Who Else is in The White Lotus Season 4?

In addition to Graham, the lineup is looking great. Variety previously reported that Laura Dern, Chloe Bennet, Sandra Bernhard, Vincent Cassel, Rosie Perez, Ari Graynor, and Max Greenfield were among the big names appearing on the new season.

How Does Heather Graham Maintain Her Looks? View this post on Instagram

Graham looks absolutely stunning at 56, leading many to wonder what her trick is. She recently told Retreat Magazine that she doesn’t drink alcohol or use drugs, and she gets plenty of sleep. A healthy diet and workout regimen keep her body and mind going strong. However, she also believes in keeping her head straight.

“I think what matters most is how you feel inside. Decide that you’re hot and enjoy your life. What other people think of you is none of your business. If you feel good about yourself, no one can take that away from you. Pursue the things that fill you with joy, and surround yourself with loving people,” she told the publication. “Also, I do affirmations. I think they are very powerful. I work on strengthening my inner loving parent muscle, so I can be supportive and loving to myself. One of my affirmations is: ‘This is the best time of my life.’”

Related: Heather Graham, 56, Rocked Instagram With a White Bikini Video and Fans Can’t Stop Calling Her Ageless

Randy Burns, a fixture of the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene, died on August 8, 2026, at his home. He was 78. No cause of death has been reported.

Burns grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, and started performing in local coffee houses at 17. By 1966, he’d moved to Greenwich Village, where he busked on the street before Gaslight Cafe owner Clarence Hood took notice and hired him as the venue’s permanent opening act. It was the same MacDougal Street stage Bob Dylan had played and recorded on just a few years earlier.

At only 18, Burns found himself opening for artists he’d grown up listening to, including Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, Dave Van Ronk and John Hammond. ESP-Disk label owner Bernard Stollman eventually invited him to record, and Burns released his debut album, Of Love and War, in 1967.

He kept building from there, fronting Randy Burns and the Sky Dog Band and blending folk with country-rock and psychedelic touches. The press took notice. Rolling Stone wrote, “Nobody, but nobody, sings anything like Randy Burns.” Billboard said his voice “wraps the listener in a pool of contentment,” and the Los Angeles Times called him “the best country flavored rock singer since Gram Parsons.”

The band’s reputation carried them to some of the biggest stages of the era. Burns opened for Cream at Yale’s Woolsey Hall, shared a bill with Buddy Guy at the Berkeley Folk Festival, and played the Hollywood Bowl alongside the Smothers Brothers.

Success didn’t always come with stability. For years, Burns was essentially homeless, traveling light between gigs and stashing bags of clothes at the venues where he played most often. A residency at Kenny’s Castaways eventually led to a touring stint in Dublin, Ireland, where he played two years running.

Burns never fully stepped away from music. He kept performing and recording for decades afterward, staying close to the acid-folk sound he helped define, right up until his death.

Bruce Springsteen is remembering one of the people who believed in him from the very beginning.

Rock critic and author Dave Marsh died Friday, August 14, at his home in Norwalk, Connecticut, at age 76. Springsteen honored his longtime friend with an emotional Instagram tribute the following day.

“Here on E Street, the irreplaceable loss of Dave Marsh has us heartbroken,” Springsteen began his post. “My great friend Dave, with his straight out of Detroit attitude, was a true Rock ‘n’ Roll lifer. He was soulful, intelligent, heartfelt, opinionated, bruising and often fantastically argumentative.”

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Their connection stretched back decades. Marsh became an early supporter of Springsteen while writing for Creem and later wrote Rolling Stone’s first cover story about the musician. In 1979, he published Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story, the first major Springsteen biography.

“Dave always had my back,” Springsteen recalled. “He deeply believed in what I was trying to accomplish and his lifetime of support meant the world to me.”

Marsh helped launch Creem in 1969 before going on to work at Newsday and Rolling Stone. Over his career, he wrote more than two dozen books, including works about Elvis Presley and The Who. He also won a Grammy in 1993 for his liner notes for Aretha Franklin’s Queen of Soul. In 2004, Marsh joined SiriusXM, where he hosted Kick Out the Jams for 19 years and helped launch E Street Radio.

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Springsteen wasn’t the only member of the E Street family to remember Marsh. Steven Van Zandt shared his own tribute on Instagram Sunday, posting a photo of the critic surrounded by several of his books. “RIP Dave ‘The Duke’ Marsh. An early believer on E Street, and a very early supporter of the Jukes when we really needed it,” Van Zandt wrote, referring to his band, Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul. “He was fearless, relentless, arrogant, everything you’d want in a RocknRoll troublemaker. And by the way, a tremendous writer.”

Marsh was also an outspoken advocate for causes including health care access, cancer research and social justice—something Springsteen pointed out in his farewell. “More than anything else, I admired Dave as a man of conscience and commitment,” he wrote. “He lived and stuck by his values come hell or high water.”

Springsteen concluded, “God bless you Dave.”

Migraines and headaches sometimes get used interchangeably. Neither is fun, but they are not the same, and migraineurs are often on medications that may interact with certain supplements.

Dr. Peter Struck, MD, an HonorHealth neurologist and headache specialist, notes that a migraine is a brain disorder. And in fact, not every migraine causes a headache, he emphasizes, explaining, “Some people have only vision changes, numbness, dizziness or other sensory symptoms.”

Dr. Struck shares that migraine attacks often involve throbbing, pounding head pain and sensitivities to light and sound. Many times, they’re so severe that you can’t engage in your normal daily routine, usually for four to 72 hours.

Medications can help people with migraine live a more normal life.

“Migraine medicines fall into two groups,” Dr. Struck explains. “Acute, or rescue, medicines are taken when a migraine starts to stop the attack…examples include ibuprofen and naproxen. Prescription rescue medicines include triptans and gepants. Other medicines may also be prescribed to treat nausea, which can be associated with migraines.”

He says that your healthcare team will help you determine the best treatment plan. But should it include supplements? That’s something you’ll want to discuss with your doctor first.

“Many people assume that ‘natural’ means safe. Unfortunately, that is not always true,” Dr. Struck says. “Some herbal supplements can change how your body absorbs, breaks down, or removes prescription medications. This may cause medication levels to become too high or too low, making them less effective or increasing the risk of side effects.”

Neurologists are raising the alarm about taking one supplement with migraine medications in particular, saying it can negatively interact with them. Here’s the supplement, why it might harm people on migraine medications and alternatives.

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Stop Pairing This Supplement With Migraine Medication, Neurologists Warn

“St. John’s wort may seem like a harmless herbal supplement, but it can interact with several migraine medications,” Dr. Struck tells Parade.

Wait—what is St. John’s wort?

“St. John’s wort, or Hypericum perforatum, is a yellow-flowering plant native to Europe and Western Asia, now found worldwide,” explains Dr. Adam Mednick, MD, Ph.D., a board-certified neurologist and author of Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus: From Diagnosis to Treatment.

The name comes from St. John the Baptist, as St. John’s Day is June 24, when the plant is usually in bloom.

“It has been used as a medicinal herb for over 2,000 years and today is one of the world’s top-selling herbal supplements,” Dr. Mednick says. “St. John’s wort contains two key active compounds: hypericin, which gives the plant its characteristic red pigment, and hyperforin. Both of these compounds affect the levels of brain chemicals such as serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine.”

He notes that people often take St. John’s wort as a “natural” alternative to prescription antidepressants. One meta-analysis suggested that St. John’s wort was similarly effective as SSRIs in treating mild-to-moderate depression, and fewer people stopped using it. He says it’s also been marketed for anxiety, sleep difficulties and seasonal mood changes, though the evidence is much weaker.

Related: The Popular Supplement Doctors Say Isn’t as Harmless as It Sounds

How St. John’s Wort Interacts With Migraine Medications

Dr. Regina Krel, MD, the director of the headache center at the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute at Hackensack University Medical Center, says it’s dangerous to take St. John’s wort with certain migraine medications.

“St. John’s wort induces a liver enzyme CYP3A4, which can reduce the effectiveness of certain migraine medications,” she explains.

It also has side effects, some of which overlap with and may even worsen migraine symptoms, reports Dr. Susan Rubin, MD, a neurologist at Endeavor Health. She shares that side effects of St. John’s wort include:

• Dizziness
• Diarrhea
• Constipation or stomach upset
• Dry mouth
• Fatigue
• Trouble sleeping
• Sensitivity to sunlight 

Related: The Surprising Household Item That Could Be Giving You a Headache, According to Neurologists

But the neurologists Parade spoke to are most concerned with St. John’s wort’s effect on serotonin.

“Migraine and depression share overlapping brain chemistry, particularly involving serotonin, a chemical messenger that plays a role in both mood regulation and migraine,” Dr. Mednick says.

He points out that St. John’s wort and certain migraine medications might interact negatively, and this includes triptans and antidepressants.

“When taken with St. John’s wort, these migraine medications can raise serotonin to dangerously high levels, triggering serotonin syndrome associated with shivering, rapid heartbeat, flushed skin, sweating, high fever, seizures and, in rare cases, death,” Dr. Mednick warns.

Plus, since the FDA doesn’t hold supplements to the same regulatory standards as prescription medications, he says there’s “no guarantee of consistency among the dozens of St. John’s wort brands sold in the United States.” In fact, several studies have found discrepancies and undisclosed additives (such as food dyes) in St. John’s wort supplements.

“You need to check with your doctor before starting to take St. John’s wort,” Dr. Rubin stresses, adding that it can also interact with medications for other conditions, like high cholesterol.

Related: The ‘Healthy’ Supplement That’s Secretly Destroying Your Energy

Other Options for Depression Treatment, Especially if You Have Migraines

If you’re one of the many people living with migraines and depression, you’re not alone, nor are you out of options, since St. John’s wort can interact with medications. Instead, Dr. Mednick says you might benefit from:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
• Meditation
• Regular exercise, including yoga and cardiovascular and strength training

Dr. Krel adds that medications, including SSRIs and SNRIs, can also help treat depression in conjunction with the above strategies.

“It’s important to understand that finding the right medication is often a process, as there is no single antidepressant that works best for everyone,” she says. “While these medications are safe, they can have side effects, though they are usually mild and often fade after a few weeks.”

Dr. Krel says a doctor can help you navigate these issues and switch medications to find one that benefits you most with fewer side effects.

Up Next:

Related: Why Quitting Antidepressants ‘Cold Turkey’ Causes a ‘Shock’ to Your Body, According to Psychiatrists

Sources:

• Dr. Peter Struck, MD, an HonorHealth neurologist and headache specialist
• Dr. Susan Rubin, MD, a neurologist at Endeavor Health
• Dr. Regina Krel, MD, the director of the headache center at the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute at Hackensack University Medical Center
• Dr. Adam Mednick, MD, Ph.D., a board-certified neurologist and author of Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus: From Diagnosis to Treatment
• A Meta-Analysis on the Efficacy and Safety of St John’s Wort Extract in Depression Therapy in Comparison With Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors in Adults. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment.
• Is There an Association Between Migraine and Major Depressive Disorder? A Narrative Review. Cureus.
• Highly Variable Contents of Phenolics in St. John’s Wort Products Affect Their Transport in the Human Intestinal Caco-2 Cell Model: Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Rationale for Product Standardization. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
• Comparative Authentication of Hypericum Perforatum Herbal Products Using DNA Metabarcoding, TLC and HPLC-MS. Scientific Reports.
• St John’s Wort (Hypericum Perforatum) Products – An Assessment of Their Authenticity and Quality. Phytomedicine : International Journal of Phytotherapy and Phytopharmacology.

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Still swimming in summer celebrations? If so, then you probably have a plethora of warm weather-inspired outfits that you can wear for birthdays, weddings, and baby showers. To upgrade your go-to wardrobe pieces, you’ll need some show-stopping accessories. Luckily, JCPenney has some of our favorite jewelry offerings, including the Liz Claiborne Twisted Hoop Earrings, which are 50% off now.

The earrings originally cost $12, but have been reduced to just $6 during a limited-time hot deal. The jewelry is being sold in silver- and gold-toned colors, making them the perfect option for everyday wear, professional occasions, and upscale events. The earrings are only 0.875 inches in diameter, so they’re fairly lightweight and not overly bulky. 

Liz Claiborne Twisted Hoop Earrings, $6 (were $12) at JCPenney 

Courtesy of JCPenney

Shop at JCPenney

The earrings are made of metal and described to be hypoallergenic, so they’re ideal for those with sensitive skin. Due to the material, all you have to do is wipe them clean to maintain their quality. What we love about this design is the twisted hoop look, which essentially looks like there are several hoop earrings in one. 

One of the hoops is textured and “shiny,” which is what makes the style even more chic than just standard hoop earrings. You can easily open and close the piece with the classic post earring back, which keeps it secure once fully pushed into the loop. One shopper agreed that they’re “easy to put on and don’t fall out.” 

Another reviewer wrote that the style is the “perfect size for everyone,” as they purchased them for themself and loved ones. Other reviewers described the earrings as “expensive-looking,” “comfortable,” “cute,” “high-quality,” “beautiful,” and “classy.” Plus, the affordable price allows you to take them on vacations with peace of mind if they get lost, as several shoppers did. 

Shop More Deals 

• Lab-Grown White Sapphire Sterling Silver Pendant Necklace, $48 (was $125) at JCPenney
• Clarks Cloudsteppers Drift Twist Wedge Sandals, $28 (was $60) at JCPenney
• Worthington Woven Flap Crossbody Bag, $45 (was $80) at JCPenney

The stock is already low in certain locations, so make sure to snag these luxurious earrings while they’re still available in your area. We already know they’ll become your new go-to style. Shop the accessory now for just $6 at JCPenney! 

Related: Skechers’ Comfortable Slip-on Walking Shoes Are as Light as Air, and They’re Now 40% Off at JCPenney

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Anika Nilles had plenty of reasons to feel nervous before stepping behind the drum kit for Rush’s first tour without Neil Peart. But a message from Peart’s widow, Carrie Nuttall, helped give the drummer some much-needed reassurance.

Nilles, 43, the German drummer chosen by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson to join Rush for the band’s Fifty Something tour, recently opened up about the pressure of taking on Peart’s role. She underwent a five-day audition before Lee, 73, and Lifeson, 72, selected her for the job.

Learning Rush’s music was only part of the challenge. Nilles also had to contend with the weight of replacing one of rock’s most revered drummers.

During rehearsals, she said she had to coach herself not to become overwhelmed by thinking about the significance of the position she was filling.

“I have a little bit of Neil in me,” Nilles told Rolling Stone, explaining that she learned from Peart’s compositional approach and the way he continually developed his drum parts.

Then, ahead of her first Rush performance, Nilles received a message from Nuttall, 62, Peart’s widow.

Nilles described the message as “really lovely,” saying it was meaningful to know that Nuttall was supportive and looking forward to the journey ahead. The reassurance helped Nilles feel “really energized and relieved” as she prepared to make her debut.

Rush’s Fifty Something tour marks the band’s first live outing since 2015 and its first without Peart, who died in 2020. Nilles is now performing alongside Lee and Lifeson as the group revisits its extensive catalog on the reunion tour.

After making it through her first performances, Nilles summed up the experience with a simple reaction: “I made it through!”

RELATED: Eric Weissberg Played Banjo on a No. 2 Hit From ‘Deliverance’

Taylor Swift is a wedding pro.

Aside from her own wedding in July, the songstress also attended NFL player JuJu Smith-Schuster’s wedding to Laura Kruk in California, as well as supermodel Karen Elson’s wedding, and this past weekend, she was a guest at Oli Jacobs and Laura Sisk’s wedding in the UK, according to People magazine.

Swift traveled to the UK without her husband, Travis Kelce, who is getting ready for the upcoming football season with the Kansas City Chiefs. She’s been spotted out and about a handful of times leading up to Jacobs and Sisk’s nuptials on Saturday, Aug. 15.

And while Swift may have attended the wedding solo, she had plenty of friends to chat with throughout the evening. According to photos published by People, other wedding guests included Sabrina Carpenter and Jack Antonoff—the latter of whom is one of Swift’s nearest and dearest friends.

Swift and Antonoff have been longtime collaborators, and have worked together on some of Swift’s biggest albums and songs over the years. Their friendship has also become a favorite among Swifties, who regularly look for clues about what the two could be working on next. With many Swifties looking for clues about a possible “TS13,” her recent hang with multi-grammy-winning record producer will likely only fuel those rumors.

In other major Taylor Swift news, the newlywed recently debuted a haircut, with her dirty blonde locks falling just past her shoulders while keeping her side-swept bangs intact. The style totally works for the “I Knew It, I Knew You” singer, who looked lovely at this weekend’s wedding festivities. She wore a navy blue dress with gold floral details and topped things off with her signature red lip.

READ NEXT: Kylie Kelce Just Confirmed a Major Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Wedding Detail

Gloria Gaynor had Disney fans dancing at D23 with a performance of one of her most recognizable hits.

The Grammy-winning singer, 82, performed “I Will Survive” during a special Disney Experiences celebration at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, bringing her disco classic to an unexpected Disney setting.

Gaynor’s performance was part of a celebration surrounding Expedition Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The attraction’s legendary Yeti was at the center of the festivities, with Disney celebrating the character “coming back to life” inside the attraction.

Naturally, Gaynor’s 1978 hit provided the perfect soundtrack.

Disney shared a video of the performance, showing Gaynor delivering “I Will Survive” for fans gathered at D23. The performance gave attendees a chance to see the legendary singer take the stage while Disney highlighted some of its latest experiences and attractions.

The D23 appearance comes as Disney Experiences continues to showcase what’s ahead for fans at its theme parks and destinations. The company’s D23 programming has included announcements and presentations covering new attractions, entertainment and experiences coming to Disney destinations.

For Gaynor, the appearance was another chance to perform the song that became a defining moment of her career. “I Will Survive” has remained closely associated with the singer since its release and earned Gaynor the Grammy Award for Best Disco Recording in 1980.

The D23 performance also gave Disney fans a particularly fitting moment: as the Yeti makes his presence felt again at Expedition Everest, Gaynor was on hand to sing a song about surviving.

RELATED:  Eric Weissberg Played Banjo on a No. 2 Hit From ‘Deliverance’

Luke Bryan, 50, was onstage at a recent show when he bent forward at the waist and dropped into a crouch, moving his hips and writhing in an up and down motion.

A fan account posted a clip of it to Instagram this week. The video has pulled more than 11,000 likes and more than 1,500 comments. Many of them are attempts to describe what they had just watched.

View this post on Instagram One Commenter Gave It a Name

“No song calls for the yoinkity sploink. Not a one,” one wrote.

Others compared it to their pets. One said it looked like their cat “at 3am working on a soggy hairball.” Another wrote that it reminded them of “my cat for absolutely no reason at 4 am.”

A few wanted an explanation. “I wonder what he thought he was doing in his mind,” one asked. Another wrote, “I demand a public explanation from him.”

One fan took it harder than most. “I’m gonna die from second hand embarrassment … put it on my headstone.”

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Some Fans Said He Was Laughing

Plenty pushed back. Several pointed to the end of the clip, where they said Bryan cracks up at himself.

“You do realise he’s laughing after he did it?” one wrote. “Leave my man alone,” said another.

One commenter waved the whole thing off. “Yeh he doesn’t know how to dance lol. Nothing new.”

They have a case. Bryan tried a moonwalk onstage in Cincinnati last year and that clip spread the same way.

He Has Answered the Jeans Question Before

Bryan has talked about this kind of reaction on The Joe Rogan Experience, where he pointed to tight jeans as the thing that set country fans off about him.

“Country’s tough, because once you show any unauthenticity, buddy, you’re done,” he said.

He has answered critics directly before, and he has talked about difficult crowds too. This time the comments came with a new word for it.

Wearing the perfect lipstick shade always gives me a major confidence boost—that is, until I look in the mirror halfway through an event and realize my red lipstick has started to bleed onto the skin around my lips. The horror!

But I’m not alone—when applying lipstick without any special tricks, it’s pretty common for the color to start bleeding onto the fine lines around the mouth. So, I figured there must be an easy solution to this.

To find out, I turned to an expert: Ramy Gafni, a celebrity makeup artist, brow artist and the founder of cosmetics company Ramy Beauty Therapy. He has worked with celebrities including Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Gabrielle Union, Joan Rivers and Amy Poehler.

Fortunately, Gafni has a trick he swears by for stopping lipstick from bleeding into fine lines. He calls it the “tissue trick,” and it only takes two to three minutes to do.

However, don’t be fooled by the name—the tissue trick is so much more than simply blotting your lips with a tissue. Keep reading for everything you need to know about the makeup artist’s go-to hack and why it works.

Related: The Clever Lipstick Trick We Wish We’d Known About Sooner

Why Does Lipstick Bleed?

Lipstick bleeding is when your lipstick trickles off of your lips and onto the skin around your lips. Also called “feathering,” lipstick bleeding is more likely to happen when you have fine lines, wrinkles or dry skin around the mouth, as the color often “settles” into these crevices.

Related: These 2 Lipstick Shades Look Good on ‘Literally Everyone,’ According to a Pro Makeup Artist

Try the ‘Tissue Trick’ To Stop Lipstick From Bleeding Into Fine Lines

Gafni swears by a method he calls “the tissue trick” for flawless lipstick application. For this hack, he says “the best lipsticks to use (regardless of brand) are matte or shimmer formulas,” because they’re “less likely to ‘travel’ compared to sheer or cream formulas.”

For the tissue trick, you’ll need:

• A matte or shimmer lipstick
• A lip pencil
• A tissue
• Pressed powder
• A makeup puff

Related: 9 Best Peptide Lip Treatments for a More Hydrated, Plumper Pout

Getty

How To Apply Lipstick Using the ‘Tissue Trick’: 5 Steps 1. Use a lip pencil as a base

The first step is to grab a lip pencil, “in either a lip tone or a shade that matches the lipstick.”

Use your lip pencil to outline your lips. Then, use the lip pencil to completely fill in your lips. This essentially lets the lip pencil serve as a foundation for your lips, which will help the lipstick from spreading.

2. Apply your lipstick

Carefully apply one layer of lipstick over the lip pencil you’ve already used.

3. Press a thin tissue on your lips

After your lipstick is on, “separate a two-ply tissue,” leaving you with just one very thin layer of tissue. Then, “press the one ply over the lips.”

However, you’re not just using this tissue to blot your lips—you’ll want to leave the tissue in place for a moment.

4. Apply pressed powder through the tissue

With the thin tissue still sitting on your lips, “apply pressed powder with a puff onto your lips through the tissue,” says Gafni. This adds a very thin layer of powder to your lips.

5. Add a final coat of lipstick

After removing the tissue, Gafni says to carefully “apply another coat of lipstick.” Then, you’re done.

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Why It Works So Well

“This works well because the lip pencil is a wax base that creates a barrier to stop the lipstick from bleeding,” Gafni explains.

“The added powder gives the lipstick staying power and also slows down any potential bleeding into fine lines,” he adds.

Related: This Simple 2-Minute Hack Makes Any Lipstick Last All Day

3 More Tips for Preventing Lipstick From Bleeding 1. Use primer

If you try the tissue trick and are still experiencing lipstick bleeding, Gafni recommends applying a thin layer of primer as a first step.

This type of product can “really help if someone has a real problem with their lipstick bleeding,” he says. “You apply it onto fine lines around your lips and it fills the fine lines like spackle, thereby also solving the problem.”

2. Keep lips moisturized

Your lips shouldn’t be dry when you apply lipstick—but they also shouldn’t be too hydrated, or else your lipstick won’t adhere to your lips.

To strike the right balance, you should regularly moisturize your lips. Additionally, as a first step in your lipstick routine, you can rub on some lip balm and then blot any extra with a tissue.

Related: A Dermatologist Swears by This ‘Creamy, Soft and Budget-Friendly’ Lip Balm for Dry Lips

3. Top off your lipstick with lip gloss

To prevent dryness, top off your lipstick with a bit of lip gloss, which will help hydrate the lips as well as add some shine. Just make sure not to go overboard—Laura Geller recommends only applying a touch of gloss in the center of your lips.

Up Next:

Related: Makeup Artist Reveals How To Give Mature Eyes a ‘Natural Lift’ With 1 Key Product

Sources:

• Ramy Gafni, makeup artist, brow artist and founder of Ramy Beauty Therapy.
• How to Stop Lipstick Feathering and Bleeding Into Fine Lines. Laura Geller.

When Carly Simon wrote “Coming Around Again” for the Heartburn soundtrack, she had already spent more than a decade establishing herself as one of the most prolific and popular singer-songwriters of her generation. But in 1986, the song arrived at a pivotal time for the singer and marked an era of resurgence in her career.

The song was released as a single with Simon’s cover of the children’s nursery rhyme “Itsy Bitsy Spider” as its B-side. Simon found inspiration in the spider’s resilience, which reflected her own personal journey at the time as well as Meryl Streep’s character in Heartburn.

@80sdeennice

… And then the dream dies, and the dream breaks into a million tiny little pieces which leaves you with a choice. You can either stick with it which is unbearable, or you can just go off and dream another dream.” #80s #genx #favoritemovies #ilovethe80s #heartburn #foryoupage

♬ Coming Around Again – Carly Simon

When film director Mike Nichols asked Carly Simon to write a song for the Heartburn soundtrack, Simon was able to draw from her own life experiences to create an anthem that so successfully fit the film.

Heartburn stars Meryl Streep in the movie adaptation of Nora Ephron’s book, which was loosely based on the demise of her marriage to former Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein, one of the two journalists who broke the Watergate story that ultimately led to Richard Nixon’s resignation.

Like Ephron, Streep’s character in the film discovers that her journalist husband has been unfaithful while she is seven months pregnant and must start a new life just as her child is about to be born.

“Coming Around Again” was first released as a single before being included on the Heartburn soundtrack and on Simon’s 1987 album, also titled Coming Around Again.

Related: John Fogerty Has the Sweetest Reaction to Hearing ‘Proud Mary’ Playing at a Gas Station

The “Itsy Bitsy Spider” Connection @red861

Coming Around Again / Itsy Bitsy Spider #carlysimon #oldschoolmusic #fyp #fypシ゚

♬ Coming Around Again/Itsy Bitsy Spider (Live) – Carly Simon

The song tackles themes of resilience, determination and survival, themes that also resonate in “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” It was for that reason that Simon chose to include her version of “Itsy Bitsy Spider” as the B-side to “Coming Around Again.”

Likewise, Simon used the same backing track for both songs, creating an unusual musical connection between a children’s nursery rhyme and a sophisticated pop song about starting over.

The connection between the two songs was more than a novelty. Simon used the familiar nursery rhyme as a metaphor for perseverance, a deeply personal theme for her at the time.

The spider gets knocked down by the rain but keeps climbing, making its way back up the waterspout. That simple story of persistence mirrored the larger message Simon was exploring in “Coming Around Again.”

“Coming Around Again” Revived Carly Simon’s Career

Having just changed record labels in hopes of reviving her career, which had slowed in the mid-1980s, Carly Simon found one of her biggest successes in “Coming Around Again.”

Her first major hit in years, the song reached No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 5 on the Adult Contemporary chart. It also reached the Top 10 in the U.K. and several other countries.

The song brought a career turnaround for Carly Simon. She had spent the previous decade as one of the most relevant and enduring singer-songwriters, with songs like “You’re So Vain,” “Anticipation,” “Mockingbird” and “Nobody Does It Better.”

But a changing music industry landscape in the mid-1980s saw fans increasingly drawn to the sounds of the decade.

Rather than try to hold on to an old style or recreate the music that made her successful in the 1970s, Carly Simon embraced a new era while still keeping the authenticity and personal storytelling that fans had come to expect.

“Coming Around Again” became a perfect example of that evolution. The song sounded at home in the 1980s while remaining unmistakably Carly Simon, with its intimate lyrics and emotional themes of resilience, change and starting over.

Related: 1969 Rock Classic, Written in Just 20 Minutes, Named the Greatest Protest Song of All Time

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Upgrading from cheap plastic containers to quality glass food storage is one of those simple kitchen changes that makes you wonder why you didn’t do it sooner. Glass won’t stain or hold onto food odors, and it can go from the fridge or freezer to the microwave for easy reheating. While a quality glass set costs more upfront, it can also hold up far longer than inexpensive plastic containers that need to be replaced every few years.

One great option from a trusted brand is the Pyrex 6-Piece Glass Storage Set. Right now, it’s on sale at Walmart for just $28, making it an affordable upgrade for something you’ll likely use almost every day.

Pyrex 6-Piece Glass Storage Set, $28 (was $34) at Walmart 

Courtesy of Walmart

Shop at Walmart

The set includes three round glass dishes in a variety of useful sizes: two 2-cup, two 4-cup, and two 7-cup containers. Each comes with a fitted red plastic lid, giving you options for everything from leftovers and meal prep to storing larger portions in the fridge.

Made from durable tempered glass, the containers resist stains and won’t absorb food odors or flavors. The BPA-free plastic lids fit securely to help keep food fresh, whether you’re storing meals in the pantry, fridge, or freezer or taking them with you on the go.

Related: Martha Stewart’s ‘Beautiful’ Watercolor Floral Dish Towel Set Brings an ‘Elegant Touch’ to Any Kitchen

They’re also designed for everyday convenience. The glass containers are dishwasher-, freezer-, microwave-, and oven-safe, while the lids are also freezer- and microwave-safe and made to go in the top rack of the dishwasher. The dishes can nest and stack with other Pyrex storage containers to help keep your cabinets organized.

One shopper shared, “These are a nice set of glass bowls so no transfer of smell, taste, or discoloration..” Another reviewer wrote, “These are the best I’ve ever used! The lids seal well and are microwave safe. It’s a great price for an item that lasts so long.”

Shop More Deals

• Yhipl Glass Food Storage Containers 8-Pack Set, $24 (was $40) at Walmart
• Retrocular Food Storage Containers 10-Pack Set, $18 (was $30) at Walmart
• Kosbon Airtight Food Storage Containers 7-Pack Set, $22 (was $37) at Walmart

For an easy kitchen upgrade you’ll get plenty of use out of, the Pyrex 6-Piece Glass Storage Set is a great pick. And with Walmart’s current $6 discount, you can grab the set for just $28 right now.

Don’t miss future deals! Sign up for Parade Picks to receive our commerce team’s curated selection of discounts and sales, twice a week.

Jay Leno is being called out over an experience that one actress says left her confused during the height of her career.

Tracee Ellis Ross recently opened up about her time on the hit sitcom Girlfriends and recalled an interaction involving Leno’s late-night show that left her confused. Despite the success of the series, she said she struggled to understand why she wasn’t being given the same opportunities as stars of other shows.

Her story came up during a recent conversation on Trevor Noah’s What Now? podcast, where she reflected on her career and the opportunities she did—and didn’t—receive during her years on television.

“No Tonight Show, no David Letterman, no Emmys. Had never been to the Emmys,” Ross told Noah. “As a matter of fact, I have a story. It was Jay Leno. And I had Girlfriends, and the comment was, ‘We love Tracee. Call us when she gets something.’ I was like, I remember thinking, ‘Get what? What else do you have to get?’ I don’t know. And it just was… ‘We love her,’ but it was not considered.”

Ross went on to explain that she remembered seeing stars from other television shows appear on Leno’s program, even when those shows weren’t performing as well as Girlfriends. One example that stuck with her was Monk, the Tony Shalhoub-led series that Ross said had only a fraction of the viewership.

“I remember, specifically, the show Monk. Do you remember that show with Tony Shalhoub? That show had a quarter of our viewership. A quarter of our viewership,” she recalled. “And I remember seeing him on the show and I was so confused. And I was like, ‘I don’t understand. Is it viewership?'”

Ross said the experience ultimately left her wondering whether racism played a role in the opportunities she was being denied, though she acknowledged that she couldn’t say for certain what was behind the decisions.

READ NEXT: Beloved ‘Outlander’ Lead Confirmed for a Major Disney Project

It’s one of the only Eagles songs to earn the group a Grammy Award, but “Lyin’ Eyes” surprisingly was never a No. 1 hit.

The 1975 track, written by band members Don Henley and Glenn Frey, was released as the second single off the Eagles’ fourth studio album, One of These Nights. It climbed its way up the Billboard Hot 100, just barely missing the top spot.

Blocked from hitting No. 1 by Elton John‘s “Island Girl” in November 1975, “Lyin’ Eyes” instead spent two weeks at No. 2, and has since gone down in history as one of the best songs to ever peak at the second-place position, according to Billboard.

According to a recent roundup of the “100 Best Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 Hits,” ranked by Billboard staff members, the Eagles’ soft-rock crossover is placed at No. 94 on the list.

Other notable songs featured in the ranking include Queen‘s “Bohemian Rhapsody, crowned by Billboard as the top No. 2 song ever, followed by Lady Gaga‘s “Bad Romance” in second place.

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“Lyin’ Eyes” may have never reached the summit of the Hot 100, but the song’s enduring legacy is beyond measure. Billboard considers it to be among the best Eagles songs ever recorded, placing it at No. 7 on a 2023 ranking of the Top 15 Eagles Songs. It is also included on the band’s best-selling compilation album, Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975), which came out in 1976.

“Lyin’ Eyes” also earned the Eagles their first-ever Grammy Award when it took home the award for Pop Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocals in 1976, becoming one of just six songs from the Eagles catalog to win a Grammy (followed by “New Kid in Town,” “Hotel California,” “Heartache Tonight,” “How Long,” “I Dreamed There Was No War.”)

Related: 1984 Rock Staple, Never a No. 1 Hit, Became Bruce Springsteen’s Biggest Song

Nightmares that defined a generation of television are crawling back into frame, all at once. FX has released the first teaser for the 13th and final season of American Horror Story. It reunites the anthology series’ most unsettling faces in a single, dread-soaked minute.

The teaser, released Thursday, Aug. 13, opens the way only this series could, with Twisty the Clown (John Carroll Lynch) staring down the camera before a hallway of familiar horrors unfolds behind him. From there the returns pile up fast. Jessica Lange reappears as Constance Langdon, Evan Peters slips back into both Kai Anderson and the wordless menace of Rubber Man, and Sarah Paulson resurfaces as Coven’s Cordelia Goode.

That’s not all. Angela Bassett returns as voodoo priestess Marie Laveau and Emma Roberts as the sharp-tongued witch Madison Montgomery, with Jamie Brewer, Gabourey Sidibe and Mena Suvari‘s Black Dahlia rounding out a lineup that promises to offer a scare for just about everyone. A new face also surfaces, played by Paul Anthony Kelly, submerged in a bathtub with a snake, his role still under wraps.

For longtime viewers, the teaser confirms that Season 13 is a collision of the previous twelve. Creator Ryan Murphy has described the season as a full-franchise crossover, telling Entertainment Tonight it is “all the seasons” rather than a single one, with Paulson alone taking on a reported six or seven roles. Murphy has likened the ensemble to an all-star send-off, an Avengers-style gathering for the franchise that helped define modern TV horror.

Related: Sam Raimi and Stephen King Are Finally Making a Movie Together

That promise definitely comes to life in the trailer. The action drifts through a hotel in a clear nod to the series’ fifth season, travels down a corridor that almost looks like it borrows from The Shining, and closes on Cordelia studying her reflection until the mirror splinters. Each snippet seems like a puzzle piece for fans who have tried to piece together the anthology’s hidden connections.

American Horror Story: 13 premieres Thursday, Sept. 24, at 9 p.m. ET on FX, streaming the next day on Hulu, and will run across 13 half-hour episodes. After more than a decade of witches, ghosts and clowns, the anthology appears ready to gather every monster it ever made and send them off together.

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There’s a word in the opening line of “The Joker” that nobody can define, and Steve Miller has been getting letters about it for decades.

The line just landed on Yardbarker’s list of the 25 greatest opening song lines ever written. It ends like this: “Some people call me Maurice, ’cause I speak of the pompatus of love.”

Pompatus is not a word. Miller made it up, and he made it up by accident.

He Got It Off a 1954 Record, Wrong

Miller heard it on the radio as a teenager. The song was “The Letter,” released in 1954 by a Los Angeles group called The Medallions. Their singer wasn’t singing pompatus. He was singing “puppetutes,” a word he’d invented himself.

“I misunderstood it, so I made up the word pompatus,” Miller said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2019.

He’s never given it a straight definition since. Telling Parade the story in 2023, he said it “sorta sounded like pompous,” and mentioned that lawyers still write in asking him to define it.

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The space cowboy in that opening line is Miller’s own 1969 track “Space Cowboy.” Maurice arrived on 1972’s “Enter Maurice,” where Miller first sang “pompatus,” a year before “The Joker” carried it to No. 1 in January 1974.

The gangster of love isn’t his. That one belongs to Johnny “Guitar” Watson, who cut it in 1957. Miller covered it on 1968’s Sailor and kept the nickname.

The Man Who Invented the Real Word Never Heard the Hit

Vernon Green wrote “The Letter” as a teenager. He had polio as a child and walked with a cane. Puppetutes was his private word for an imagined woman who wouldn’t mind the cane.

He spent decades not knowing what had become of it. Actor Jon Cryer co-wrote and starred in a 1996 film named after the line, The Pompatus of Love, and while promoting it on CBS This Morning he mentioned the old Medallions record. Green was watching. He called Cryer’s publicist.

Green had never heard “The Joker.” Cryer played it to him through the phone.

Green died on Christmas Eve in 2000, at 63. The word he made up as a teenager outlived him on classic rock radio, in a form he never wrote.

Glenn Close gave Disney fans a moment they will not forget.

The 79-year-old actress reprised her role as Cruella De Vil on Saturday, August 15, during the Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. As per the official video shared by Disney, Glenn walked onto the stage with her back to the crowd, and when she turned around in full character, the audience erupted in cheers and applause.

Staying completely in character, Glenn pointed out that if Maleficent gets her own ride, she deserves one too. “Let’s go and leave these two to work on the opening of my ride,” she said before exiting the stage.

Glenn Close arrives at Radio City Music Hall for the premiere of the movie “101 Dalmatians” dressed as Cruella DeVil.

(Photo by Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

Glenn first brought the 101 Dalmatians villain to life in the 1996 live-action film, then reprised the role in 102 Dalmatians in 2000. Emma Stone later took on the character in the 2021 prequel exploring how Cruella became so evil.

View this post on Instagram

Fans flooded social media with their reactions to Glenn’s appearance.

“This is a brilliant reprise! Glenn Close smashed Cruella. She petrified me as a kid! Still does now tbf,” one fan wrote. “Idk if people realize how serious this is she’s ICONIC,” another wrote. “Now THIS is My Cruella ❤️🖤🤍,” another wrote. 

“Glenn Close’s Cruella DeVil is my favorite. She made Cruella my favorite Disney villain of all time and since I was a kid, even now as an adult, I aspire to be Cruella one day in the Disney parks,” another reaction read.

“People aren’t cheering loud enough for how iconic this is,” someone else wrote. “🤍🖤 I am literally screaming. Glenn Close, I absolutely love this woman and owe it all to her for solidifying Cruella De Vil as my fav Disney villain. 🖤🤍,” another fan wrote. Glenn’s appearance capped off the reveal of Villains Land, a new expansion coming to Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.

The land will include a roller coaster themed around Maleficent and a dark ride built around the Evil Queen’s Magic Mirror from Snow White.

In the mid-1970s, Charlotte Stewart was best known as schoolteacher Miss Beadle on Little House on the Prairie. But just a few years before that, she was living a very different life far away from the show’s small town of Walnut Grove.

Before she joined the beloved NBC historical drama series, Stewart owned a Laurel Canyon-area boutique called Liquid Butterfly, and its sweet location—directly across from Elektra Records in Los Angeles —brought her face to face with rock icon Jim Morrison. She also befriended folk rock legend Joni Mitchell,  and she helped the two musicians get around when they didn’t have cars.

In an August 2026 interview on The Patrick Labyorsheaux podcast, Stewart, now 85, recalled meeting Morrison in her store at the height of his fame as lead singer of The Doors.

“I got to work one day, and Jim Morrison was standing in my store looking out the window and he looked at me, and he says, ‘Do you mind if I’m here?’ [And I said] ‘I don’t mind that you’re here.’ ‘Thank you,’ he said, ‘I just wanted to look at Electra Records.”

“We became drinking buddies,” Stewart explained to host Patrick Labyorteaux. “And not just the two of us, but five or six of us at noon would walk down the street on La Cienega  Boulevard and go out to lunch and have some drinks. … And then he basically became my drinking buddy because he didn’t want to drink alone. So he would come into the store at, you know, five six o’clock and say, ‘You want to go?’ and I said, ‘Okay.’ So we would go, then he would get so drunk that I would have to drive him home because he trusted me, you know.”

Estate of Edmund Teske / Getty Images

In the interview, Stewart noted that she met Joni Mitchell after the singer moved from Canada to Laurel Canyon.

“Her manager was one of my friends,” Stewart shared. “She moved into Laurel Canyon, and she didn’t drive. She didn’t have a car, and she started playing at the Troubadour, which is a relatively small club … just up the street.”

After Stewart confirmed that she would drive Mitchell to her gigs, Labyorteaux cracked, “You’re like the Uber to the stars between [Mitchell] and Morrison.”

“There would be no music from the ‘60s if Charlotte wasn’t taking them to the clubs,” the actor added.

ABC Photo Archives / Getty Images

RELATED: The One Rock Star Moment You May Have Missed on ‘Gilmore Girls’

Stewart has talked about her famous friendships in the past. In an interview with The Napa Valley Register, she revealed that Mitchell was her friend and neighbor in the late 1960s.

“Joni wasn’t famous yet, and she didn’t drive, so I took her everywhere. We’d go to little coffee houses,” Stewart said. “Joni cut my bangs. I wanted to look like her. I still wear bangs. I’ve worn them ever since as a tribute to her. Joni was the inspiration for my clothing store, Liquid Butterfly. I copied her peasant style and made hundreds of peasant blouses and dresses.”

Mitchell has also detailed a road trip she took with Morrison shortly before his death in 1971—but that time he did the driving.

“I think it was the escape he was looking for at the time,” she told Pop Culture Classics at the time. “He said, ‘Do you want to get out of town?’ And I said, ‘Sure.’ So we rented a car. He picked me up and off we went. And we didn’t really do anything but stop at bars, play pool, stay in motels, get up and go on to the next town.”

Stewart noted that Morrison enjoyed “complete anonymity” on their trip.

“He didn’t look like the Lizard King,” she shared. “He didn’t look like Jim Morrison. He was a little overweight. He had a full beard. And nobody knew who he was. And it was perfect. And that’s what he wanted. He just wanted some peace.”

The Little House alum added that after the trip, Morrison dropped her off at her store and she never saw him again. The Doors legend died in July 1971 at age 27.

Related: 1967 Classic Rock Hit, Tied to Banned TV Appearance, Climbed the Charts Again 20 Years Later

You may spend hours looking up “gentle parenting chore ideas.” The parenting style is trending, after all. Today’s debates over how to get kids to do chores without nagging sometimes get into the “chores vs allowance” debate. But more often, it centers on chore (and sticker) charts.

It all makes sense. It’s not easy to get kids to do assigned tasks.

“Chores require a ton of consistency from parents, especially in the beginning,” shares Caitlin Slavens, BAACS, MC, R Psych, a registered psychologist and the clinic owner and co-founder of Cradles to Couples. “Children are not usually going to remember their responsibilities, stop doing something they are having fun doing or happily unload the dishwasher without some support.”

We can’t say we blame kids for any of the above. But we don’t blame you for feeling you’re “constantly reminding, negotiating or nagging.” Plus, let’s face it, your personal to-do list is rather long.

“It can be especially difficult to get kids to do chores when doing the job yourself feels faster and easier,” Slavens tells Parade. “The challenge is tolerating that period when teaching children to contribute actually creates more work before it starts creating less.”

But “old-school” tactics like sticker and chore charts can fall short, and there’s a key reason. The good news? Some alternatives to chore charts are actually much more effective in the long term. She shares the surprisingly simple approach below. She also dives into age-appropriate tasks for kids. Scroll on for all of her secrets.

Related: We Asked 4 Child Psychologists What Parenting Style Is Best—They All Said the Same Thing

The Secret Pivot: Swapping ‘Chores’ for ‘Family Contributions’

Slavens suggests using a family contribution model. She says it’s one of the best alternatives to chore charts because it shifts the focus. Instead of assigning tasks, it turns taking care of the home into a team effort. It’s a way to build intrinsic motivation in kids via chores.

Related: We Asked 4 Child Psychologists What Actually Motivates Kids—They All Said the Same Thing

The Psychology: Why Sticker Charts Actually Kill Motivation

Slavens shares that sticker charts aren’t necessarily harmful. However, there’s a reason why sticker charts don’t work long-term.

“They can be helpful in teaching younger children a new routine; however, they become an issue when rewards become the main reason a child participates,” she explains. “If children regularly receive a sticker, prize or payment for helping, they may start to ask, ‘What do I get?’ before any task they are expected to complete.”

In other words, you’re not building intrinsic motivation in kids through chores, even if it’s getting the job done.

“External rewards can sometimes prompt quick cooperation, but they do not necessarily help a child develop a feeling of responsibility or understand how their actions affect others,” she reports. “If a family uses a chart, I would treat it as a temporary teaching tool and gradually phase it out once the routine becomes familiar.”

Related: The One Emotional Skill Psychologists Say Parents and Grandparents Should Teach Before Age 7

The Transactional Home vs. The Team-Based Home

The family contribution chore model is excellent for building intrinsic motivation, unlike sticker charts. Slavens notes that using the words “family contributions” instead of “chores” is more than semantics.

“A sticker makes the task part of an exchange, ‘I clean up, and you give me something,'” she says. “A family expectation communicates something different: ‘I clean up because I am part of this household, and this is one of the ways we take care of our common space.'”

Slavens adds that it also makes the family unit a team, rather than billing adults as “chore assigners” and kids as “the ones who have to do them.”

So, how might this look in real life? She suggests swapping out common commands like “You need to finish your chores.” Instead, she recommends saying, “Before dinner, we all help get the house ready. I’m making dinner, your sister is setting the table and your job is putting the shoes by the door.”

That said, you might still get some protests and eyerolls.

“Changing the wording of how we discuss not the most exciting tasks or jobs will not suddenly make every child eager to clean up all the time,” Slavens explains.

The delayed gratification is worth it.

“Over time, that can support a child’s sense of connectedness, competence and responsibility,” she says. “They begin to see themselves as someone whose contribution is meaningful and valued.”

Related: We Asked 3 Child Psychologists What Outdoor Activity Is Best for Kids—They All Said the Same Thing

The ‘When-Then’ Routine: How To Enforce It Without Nagging

The “When-Then” parenting routine is pretty buzzy these days. It links a positive behavior with a reward, but not necessarily stickers, candy or anything tangible. For instance, “We’ll play once you get dressed.” Is it possible to use this approach without nagging? Slavens says yes and shares some tips.

1. Tell them the expectation clearly. Rather than repeating or explaining yourself—or engaging in negotiations with a toddler or tween—she suggests being upfront from the get-go. For instance, you can say, “When the toys are put away, then we can start the movie.” The psychologist shares, “Keeping it short makes the expectation easier to understand and follow through.”
2. Use reminders without taking over the responsibility. Slavens notes that some kids may genuinely need a reminder. “A quick reminder is different from following them around and repeating the request every two minutes,” she says. “You might say, ‘The movie is ready when the toys are away,’ and then allow the boundary to do the work.”
3. Maintain the boundary without becoming emotionally pulled into it. Slavens says it’s OK if a kid doesn’t like a boundary or if they protest. “It is the parents’ job to maintain the boundary without turning it into an argument or giving in,” she explains. “You can simply say, ‘I know you want to watch it now. The toys still need to be put away first.'”

Related: Occupational Therapists Say Parents and Grandparents Often Help Too Much With This Daily Task

Age-Appropriate Contributions To Start This Week

One reason you’re struggling to get kids to do chores without nagging is that the task may be developmentally too challenging for them. To help, Slavens shares general age-appropriate chores for kids (though all kids develop at different paces, so you’ll want to tune into your own).

1. Toddlers and Pre-K (2 to 5)

Slavens suggests keeping things simple and straightforward for the littlest helpers. They can clean up their toys, carry tups to the counter and help put clothes in the hamper. Remember, be patient.

“It is important to caveat that it won’t be done perfectly and may create a bit more work for parents at first,” she stresses. “However, the point is to let kids experience being included in understanding what it’s like to feel helpful and included in family contributions.”

2. School-aged children (6 to 11)

Good news: You may have worked yourself out of some jobs.

“Kids this age can usually take on jobs that actually lighten the load a little, such as feeding a pet, setting the table for mealtime, emptying parts of the dishwasher, packing their backpack or doing parts of the laundry,” Slavens says.

She suggests that parents choose something that the child regularly does, like feeding pets or unloading the dishwasher, rather than giving them a new job constantly. That way, it becomes part of their regular routine.

“They will still forget and need reminders, but they can start taking real ownership of one or two jobs,” she explains.

3. Tweens and teens (12+)

At this age, Slavens suggests shifting focus to skills kids will genuinely need later—think doing laundry, preparing basic meals and cleaning the bathroom. You know, things you probably don’t want a call about when they fly the nest.

“Teens should have some choice in which jobs they take on and when they complete them,” she adds. “They may not be thrilled about it, but contributing at home should not depend on whether they feel like doing it that day.”

Up Next:

Related: Parents Often Rush This Part of Bedtime—but Child Psychologists Say It’s the Most Important

Source:

• Caitlin Slavens, BAACS, MC, R Psych, is a registered psychologist in Canada and the clinic owner and co-founder of Cradles to Couples.