By Alexis Benveniste, Bloomberg News

Hotel spas were once sanctuaries of adults-only serenity, where frazzled executives and exhausted parents could escape, leaving chaos outside. But step into that same tranquil space today, and you might find a different scene: a mother and her 12-year-old daughter in matching robes, preparing for side-by-side massages. Mom opts for deep tissue, while her daughter enjoys a gentle “mini-me” massage. Nearby, a teenager waits for a specialized treatment that targets muscle tension caused by her phone use.

Related Articles

Beach on a budget: Greeks settle for day trips, priced out of iconic destinations

New eGates at US airports promise faster screening under Trump’s ‘vision’

Pennsylvania’s Chautauqua is a summertime haven for lifelong learners

Southwest Airlines’ new policy will affect plus-size travelers. Here’s how

Travel: Plan a getaway in Colorado wine country

What was once an exclusively grown-up domain is now being marketed as a multigenerational wellness experience appropriate for stressed teenagers, curious elementary schoolers and even toddlers and babies.

Gone are the days of dropping your children off at a “kids club” so you could enjoy a few child-free hours—parents now expect to share most experiences with their kids. And there’s a consensus, among the wealthiest parents at least, that spending money on these bonding activities, no matter how luxurious, is worth it. The wellness and travel industries have taken note, identifying the under-16 crowd as their next lucrative frontier, blazing ahead with offerings that go well beyond “Mommy and Me” manicures.

At Le Barthélemy hotel in St. Barths, home to the Caribbean’s only La Mer spa, alongside $390 moisturizer and $450 night cream you’ll find TooFruit products, a French skin-care line specifically formulated for children. And the hotel’s spa menu features a 30-minute “relaxing back massage” for kids for 80€ ($93) and a 25-minute kid’s facial for 70€. The hotel wants to offer its youngest guests “a gentle, joyful introduction to self-care,” says Spa Manager Karine Valdenaire.

At South Bank in Turks and Caicos, which opened last November, the spa’s treatments for kids mirror those on the adult menu, with age-appropriate modifications. The most popular offering, for example, is a back, neck and shoulder massage designed to help youngsters relax after a day of adventure. “Children truly engage with the experience,” says Gamze Gunay, the hotel’s director of rooms and spa, adding that kids “take their spa treatments seriously, especially when it is a shared experience with a family member.” South Bank has leaned into small touches to help kids feel celebrated. There are pillows that help them relax on the massage table, and staff will weave sparkly strands into braids for kids who get facials or massages. To cap it all off, the spa gives kids mango sorbet at the end of the treatment.

Younger guests book treatments about 10 times per week, Gunay says. “We are seeing a significant shift, where wellness is becoming a family activity rather than an individual pursuit.”

The Family That Spas Together

Children notice when they’re treated as more than an afterthought, says Gia Lee, a Chicago-based travel consultant and mother of three who recently visited South Bank. Her daughter wasn’t just “some kid” at the spa there—she was welcomed and pampered. “I could see it in how poised she was when she walked in her robe to the relaxation area for her post-facial mango ice cream,” Lee remembers. “Yes, she’s a kid, but the experience made her feel special.”

At the Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita in Mexico, parents can even sign their youngest children up for treatments. The hotel’s Babies for All Seasons program is designed for families with children from newborn to 18 months old. Parents can take their littlest ones to baby yoga and baby reflexology, which uses light pressure to “support circulation, strengthen the immune system and promote restful sleep.” Says John O’Sullivan, regional vice president and general manager: “We believe wellness is a lifelong journey that can begin as early as infancy.”

At the other end of the age cohort, the Beverly Hills Four Seasons runs a dedicated Teen Spa for guests ages 12 to 17, where LA teens can book treatments alongside hotel guests. Designed to introduce young guests to the world of relaxation and skin care, the offerings include Max Relax, a $295 hourlong treatment that includes a face and body treatment with aromatherapy, and Sweet Little Face, a $180 30-minute facial that includes cleansing and a massage.

Services aimed at teens and tweens are not just capitalizing on a vague instinct toward self-care—they often target a very specific anxiety that parents are wrestling with: the harmful effect of screens. At the Mandarin Oriental in Canouan, in St. Vincent & Grenadines, kids can sign up for a $160 “Texters Treat,” which targets muscle tension triggered by frequent phone use. The Well, a health-focused members club that’s expanding from New York to South Florida, plans to offer monthly teen programming, including yoga and wellness workshops, at its soon-to-open Bay Harbor Islands location. “The pressures on kids today are intense, in large part due to social media,” says Meg Mulholland, the Well’s senior vice president for brand and marketing. “Helping them disconnect from TikTok and reconnect with themselves—learning to slow down, breathe and feel grounded—isn’t just cute, it’s foundational.”

Maybe so, but it’s also a good sales pitch. Teens and tweens, in particular, are notoriously difficult to entice into family activities. “We are providing services for a category that has some very real generational-harmony issues,” says Gunay of the South Bank in Turks and Caicos. “More families want to vacation together but struggle to find activities that genuinely appeal across age groups. Junior wellness is becoming the solution.”

Vandana Gupta, a mom from Pennsylvania, found that out first hand. She took her three daughters, twin 13-years-olds and a 15-year-old, to the spa at Mandarin Oriental Canouan. “When I’m on vacation, I always try to plan a couple of visits to the spa, and now that my daughters are teenagers, I try to include them and take them with me,” she says. All three of her daughters got facials on their recent vacation. “They’re at that age where they’re into makeup and skin care, so they love a good facial,” Gupta said.

The Sephora Tween Effect

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s followed the exploding interest in skin care and makeup among members of Gen Z and Gen Alpha, but experts believe that even the youngest beauty enthusiasts are searching for something more than the latest Tiktok trend. “When you look beyond the hauls and get-ready-with-me routines, what’s really happening is a return to ritual and connection,” says Erina Pindar, the chief operating officer at SmartFlyer, a full-service luxury travel agency. “These beauty practices become a way for young people to bond with siblings, parents or friends, and to explore self-expression, much like fashion once was.”

Sephora tweens may be trending, Pindar points out, but a multi-general interest in wellness is nothing new. “People have gathered in spaces like the hammam for centuries—not just for cleansing, but for community,” she says. “Today’s spa treatments for kids aren’t so different. They’re simply a modern evolution of a timeless social ritual.”

Working with kids calls for extra care, of course. Many properties require a parental presence for guests younger than 16, and children’s treatments are usually shorter than adult versions. The Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, for example, offers an “Alpha Menu” with 45-minute versions of the standard 60- to 90-minute adult treatments.

Luxury properties are also investing in specially trained staff focused on children’s safety and well-being. At the Four Seasons Punta Mita, “any therapist working with our youngest guests is specially trained in age-appropriate engagement, safety and communication,” O’Sullivan says. The spa therapists at the hotel are certified through Conocer, a professional training program in Mexico that prepares professionals to support guests at every life stage, from newborns to older adults. And the KidsWell program at the resort is led by Erika Ibarra Zepeda, who brings more than 15 years of experience in children’s wellness, along with academic training in psychology and childhood development.

Skeptics might point out that a kid-focused spa treatment, while undoubtedly relaxing, can’t replace traditional carefree play and probably won’t magically impart lifelong wellness habits or guarantee future emotional regulation. “No child ‘needs’ a spa treatment,” says Amy Larocca, author of How to Be Well, a new book about the rapacious growth of the multibillion-dollar wellness industry. “I just don’t think spa treatments are an appropriate part of childhood. I would hope that there are better ways to relax as a family than skin care and self-improvement.”

Perhaps the real question isn’t whether children deserve pampering, but whether childhood itself—messy, loud and wonderfully chaotic—is already the perfect antidote to a stressed out world.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By CHEYANNE MUMPHREY

Crossing paths with dogs, cats and other animals is part of campus life for students at Eckerd College, a liberal arts school in Florida that allows pets to live in dormitories.

Sophie Nocera, an Eckerd senior, said she probably knows the names of pets better than her fellow students.

“That’s the case for a lot of the students,” said Nocera, who lives on the campus in St. Petersburg with her Border collie, Zuko. “When I’m walking my dog, I often hear, ‘Oh my god, hi, Zuko!’ It’s like I’m not even there.”

Some colleges and universities around the country welcome pets in campus residences, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to Stephens College in Missouri.

For students, the companionship can help reduce stress, anxiety and homesickness. The colleges also see benefits for student engagement and helping them build connections with one another.

Federal law requires public and private colleges to allow service animals and emotional support animals in student housing. But growing numbers of schools are allowing pets, with various restrictions.

Not all animals are welcome on pet-friendly campuses

MIT allows only cats, in limited numbers and in preapproved spaces. At Eckerd, students can bring their family pets to live with them on campus after their first semester. The college requires pets to have been part of students’ home life at least six months before coming to campus and must not be venomous or aggressive.

Student Molly Cheer’s pet comfort cat, Louie, peers out of his shelter in her dorm room at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo., on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

At the University of Northern Colorado, students in three of the more than dozen residence halls on campus are allowed to have dogs and cats. The animals must be at least 6 months old and no more than 40 pounds. Students are limited to one pet. This fall, the school will have the most registered pets on campus since it began allowing them over a decade ago, said Jediah Cummins, executive director of housing.

“One of the markers of adulthood is, ‘Can I not just take care of myself, but can I take care of another living being?’ That’s an important part of this,” Cummins said.

Molly Cheer, a senior nursing major, said she chose Northern Colorado in part because of its pet-friendly policy. When she is stressed about school, she said, it helps coming home to Louie, the cat she adopted during her first year.

“Whenever I’m feeling stressed or overwhelmed, I pick him up and cuddle him, and he just deals with it for as long as I need it,” she said.

Student Molly Cheer sits with her pet comfort cat, Louie, in her dorm room at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo., on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Eckerd has had pet-friendly dorms since 1973. Jack Layden, assistant dean for residential life and student engagement, said the college has hosted hundreds of animals, including rabbits, ferrets, chinchillas, birds, guinea pigs, bearded dragons, geckos, turtles, snakes, frogs, fish, and even a tarantula.

Pets change the college experience for their owners

Nocera said Zuko has helped her meet other people on campus, as well as emotionally, when she struggled with a decision to change her major.

“I remember coming back to my dorm and just melting to the floor, and Zuko was right there. And I remember thinking, whatever happens tomorrow, I’m going to wake up, and I’m going to take him to the dog park. And, we’re going to go play fetch regardless of what my major is,” said Nocera, who is the staff director of Pet Life, a student-led department on campus tasked with administering the pet policy.

Sophie Nocera, 21, a senior at Eckerd College, poses for a photo with her dog Zuco on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025 in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Tina Russell)

At Washington & Jefferson College in Pennsylvania, Eva Chatterjee-Sutton saw the difference a pet can make when a first-year student was struggling to make connections before her mother suggested a puppy. After the dog’s arrival, the student became more involved in campus life, said Chatterjee-Sutton, vice president of student life.

“I think it’s absolutely changed her college trajectory and her connection with others on campus,” Chatterjee-Sutton said.

Residence halls set boundaries, get creative to support pet owners

Pet-friendly dorms require colleges to consider things like safety concerns, noise complaints, how to avoid agitating animals during fire alarm tests, as well as additional costs for cleaning, Layden said. Some schools charge a pet fee, which varies by school, type of pet and is often included in housing expenses. For example, at Stephens College, the annual fee for a dog or cat is $220, for a cage- or aquarium-dwelling pet is $50 and free for fish. Others require students to have liability insurance and roommate agreements. Pets are required to be restrained when in public, and most colleges require students to ensure their pets are healthy and vaccinated.

Eckerd and other colleges recognize pets’ role in their students’ lives at graduation ceremonies, allowing them to cross the commencement stage together in some cases.

“Having pets obviously isn’t for everyone, and that is totally OK,” Nocera said. “But for the people that it is a good fit for, it is so worth it. This upcoming year, I’ll be graduating, and Zuko will be in his little pet graduation ceremony, walking across the stage with me.”

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

After 38 years, 38 anthologies and two greatest hits collections, “The Best American Poetry” series is concluding with its 2025 edition.

David Lehman, who conceived the series in 1987, launched it in 1988 and has overseen it with a rotating list of guest editors ever since, made it clear that the decision to shutter the book series was his alone.

SEE ALSO: Like books? Get our free Book Pages newsletter about bestsellers, authors and more

“No, it’s my choice,” says the poet, writer and teacher during a phone interview on Thursday. “I think it’s time to undergo new adventures.”

The series publisher Scribner echoed Lehman’s words, sharing a statement about its conclusion, which arrives on Sept. 2. “‘The Best American Poetry 2025’ is the final volume in the acclaimed series, as founding editor David Lehman retires after 38 years of visionary leadership. Guest edited by poet Terence Winch, this landmark edition offers a vibrant selection of contemporary voices and serves as a fitting tribute to a series that has shaped and celebrated American poetry for nearly four decades.”

(For clarity, Mariner/HarperCollins’s “The Best American” anthologies of essays, short stories, mystery, suspense, science fiction, fantasy and more, aren’t going anywhere. “The Scribner series is completely separate from The Best American Series,” a Mariner rep says of its series, which first launched in 1915. “We are published annually with no end in sight.” The next batch hit stores Oct. 25.)

Covers of recent “The Best American Poetry” editions. (Courtesy of Scribner)

Lehman, who has a book of poetry coming out in February entitled “Ithaca,” says he’s proud of the decades he spent producing the project, as well as the writers and editors whose work has appeared on or influenced its pages, including Anne Carson, Billy Collins, Charles Simic, Denise Duhamel, Louise Glück, Natasha Trethewey, Major Jackson, Dana Gioia and many others.

The series demonstrates the richness and value of American poetry, he says.

“You’re representing all the diverse voices, the many kinds of poems, the many regions of our country, the many different schools or cliques or what have you. But we’re also, I think, representing poetry as an endeavor,” he says.

“The word ‘Best’ in our title makes an aggressive claim,” he says. “But it’s worth making that claim for poetry and to be able to give it a full heart and great enthusiasm. So I’ve done that and worked very hard on it, and I’ve had the good fortune of working together with 40 different guest editors who have ranged from John Ashbery, A.R. Ammons, Mark Strand, Louise Glück, Adrienne Rich, Robert Hass, Rita Dove – it’s quite a long list.

“The best part is the knowledge that one is working for an end greater than oneself,” he says. “You’re serving the art.”

Along with previous volumes and the final edition out Sept. 2, Lehman stresses the work can be found online at the Best American Poetry blog, Facebook page and weekly email.

By FARNOUSH AMIRI, JON GAMBRELL and STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEIN, Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — France, Germany and the United Kingdom started a process Thursday to reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, further isolating Tehran after its 12-day war with Israel saw its atomic sites repeatedly bombed.

The mechanism, termed “snapback” by the diplomats who negotiated it into Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, was designed to be veto-proof at the U.N. and is likely to go into effect.

It would again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran and penalize any development of its ballistic missile program, among other measures, further squeezing the country’s reeling economy.

The European move starts a 30-day clock for the sanctions to return, a period that likely will see intensified diplomacy from Iran, whose refusal to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors started the crisis. The U.N. General Assembly in September will also likely see Iran as a top focus.

The British, French and German foreign ministers suggested they viewed “snapback” as a way to spur negotiations with Tehran.

“This measure does not signal the end of diplomacy: we are determined to make the most of the 30-day period that is now opening to engage in dialogue with Iran,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot wrote on the social platform X.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he decried the move as “unjustified, illegal, and lacking any legal basis” in a call with his European counterparts.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will respond appropriately to this unlawful and unwarranted measure,” he said, without elaborating.

Iran has threatened in the past to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, potentially following North Korea, which said it abandoned the treaty in 2003 and built atomic weapons afterward.

Europeans warned Iran ‘snapback’ could come

The three European nations warned Aug. 8 that Iran could trigger snapback when it halted inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency after Israeli strikes at the start of the two countries’ 12-day war in June. Israeli attacks then killed Tehran’s top military leaders and saw Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei go into hiding.

The European nations triggered the sanctions process through a letter to the U.N. Security Council. France and the U.K. also requested that the 15-member council hold closed consultations Friday to discuss Iran’s noncompliance, according to a diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss still-private information.

Related Articles

Japan’s chief trade envoy postpones US trip as Tokyo calls for faster action on its tariffs deal

North Korea’s Kim will meet with Xi and Putin at Chinese military parade

Today in History: August 28, Emmett Till’s brutalized body found

Postal services that suspended US shipments need time to prepare for new tariffs, UN agency says

Russian forces break into another region of Ukraine with peace efforts stuck

There’s a slim chance diplomacy will create an opening to push back the Oct. 18 deadline, after which any sanctions effort will likely face a veto. Iran likely would need to resume direct negotiations with the U.S. and provide the IAEA full access to its nuclear sites to get such a delay.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised the Europeans’ decision and said America “remains available for direct engagement with Iran.”

“Snapback does not contradict our earnest readiness for diplomacy, it only enhances it,” Rubio said in a statement.

Using the “snapback” mechanism also likely will raise tensions further between Iran and the West in a region still burning over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. As the measure was announced, Israel launched a strikes targeting Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

“Iranian leaders perceive a sanctions ‘snapback’ as a Western effort to weaken Iran’s economy indefinitely and perhaps stimulate sufficient popular unrest to unseat Iran’s regime,” the New York-based Soufan Center think tank said Thursday.

Iran appears resigned

Iran initially downplayed the threat of renewed sanctions and engaged in little visible diplomacy for weeks after Europe’s warning, but has engaged in a brief diplomatic push in recent days, highlighting the chaos gripping its theocracy.

In Tehran on Thursday, Iran’s rial currency traded at over 1 million to $1. At the time of the 2015 accord, it traded at 32,000 to $1, showing the currency’s precipitous collapse in the time since.

Outside a currency shop in Tehran, resident Arman Vasheghani Farahani told The Associated Press that “many of us feel a deep sense of uncertainty and desperation” over the currency collapse sparked by the nuclear tensions.

“Should we keep trying, or is it time to give up? And how long will this situation last?” he asked. “No official seems willing to take responsibility for what’s happening.”

At issue is Iran’s nuclear enrichment

Before the war in June, Iran was enriching uranium up to 60% purity — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. It also built a stockpile containing enough highly enriched uranium to build multiple atomic bombs, should it choose to do so.

Iran long has insisted its program is peaceful, though Western nations and the IAEA assess Tehran had an active nuclear weapons program up until 2003.

It remains unclear just how much the Israel and U.S. strikes on nuclear sites during the war disrupted Iran’s program.

Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to allow the IAEA even greater access to its nuclear program than those the agency has in other member nations. That included permanently installing cameras and sensors at nuclear sites.

But IAEA inspectors, who faced increasing restrictions on their activities since the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal in 2018, have yet to access those sites. Meanwhile, Iran has said it moved uranium and other equipment out prior to the strikes — possibly to new, undeclared sites that raise the risk that monitors could lose track of the program’s status.

On Wednesday, IAEA inspectors were on hand to watch a fuel replacement at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor, which is run with Russian technical assistance.

European nations faced deadline

The deal’s snapback mechanism will expire Oct. 18. After that, any sanctions effort would face a veto from U.N. Security Council members China and Russia — nations that have provided some support to Iran in the past but stayed out of the June war. China has remained a major buyer of Iranian crude oil, something that could be affected in “snapback” happens.

Russia in recent days has floated a proposal to extend the life of the U.N. resolution granting the “snapback” power. Russia also is due to take the presidency of the U.N. Security Council in October, likely putting additional pressure on the Europeans to act.

Amiri reported from New York and Liechtenstein from Vienna. Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat and Mehdi Fattahi in Tehran, Iran, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.