Magazine

Toddler doing the hands and feet crawl on a wooden floor next to toys

Dear Past Sarah: What I Wish I Knew About The Entire Bear Phase

Dear Sarah from exactly six months ago. You're currently sitting on the cold, slightly sticky linoleum of the downstairs bathroom, hiding from your own family. It’s, like, 9 AM on a Tuesday, and you're wearing those gray sweatpants with the...

Read more

A bewildered dad holding a baby while looking at a fluffy duckling

Backyard Baby Ducks: A Dad's Guide to Feathers, Fluff, and Chaos

If you've ever seen a cartoon or read a children's book, you probably think a baby duck’s default state is bobbing happily in a crystal-clear pond while eating breadcrumbs, which is exactly why I nearly short-circuited when my wife pointed...

Read more

Stressed mom holding a lukewarm coffee cup while pushing a stroller through a park

How To Survive An Actual Baby's Day Out Without The Slapstick

It was precisely 10:14 AM on a Tuesday in late October, and I was standing in the parking lot of a suburban Target wearing gray yoga pants that had a highly suspicious yellow stain near the left knee, crying into...

Read more

A tiny newborn squirrel resting safely on a smooth cotton cloth inside a dark cardboard box

My chaotic guide to finding an orphaned baby squirrel in your yard

The wind in Chicago in April is basically a personal insult. I was already standing in the kitchen watching my toddler have a full-scale meltdown because his morning banana had the audacity to break in half. I was mentally calculating...

Read more

Mother sitting on a park bench watching her toddler climb a wooden structure.

Watching my kid fall off the playground cured my helicopter anxiety

The wind coming off Lake Michigan was aggressive enough to make my eyes water, but I couldn't blink. My two-year-old was fifteen feet up a rope climbing pyramid at Maggie Daley Park. His left foot was wedged between two cables....

Read more

Marcus looking stressed while holding a coffee mug and staring at a laptop screen

Why Adding a Baby Duck to Our Family Was a Terribly Stupid Idea

It was 3:14 AM on a Tuesday. The baby monitor was flashing that menacing yellow warning color, indicating my son was tossing around again. I was sitting on the edge of the bed in the dark, scrolling through a local...

Read more

Dad trying to apply thick white mineral sunscreen to an actively squirming baby.

Debugging Baby Sun Safety: The Great Sunscreen Firmware Update

There's currently a streak of stark white zinc oxide smeared across the black upholstery of my Subaru, a matching smudge on my favorite dark t-shirt, and a suspicious clump stuck in my eleven-month-old’s left eyebrow. Somehow, despite dispensing what felt...

Read more

A plump baby seal resting alone on a grey coastal rock formation

Why Rescuing That Adorable Coastal Baby Seal Is A Terrible Idea

We were twenty minutes into what was supposed to be a restorative family morning on a Cornish shingle beach, locked in a desperate battle with a pop-up windbreak that refused to pop anywhere but directly into my face, when Twin...

Read more

A spotted fawn resting quietly in tall green grass.

The Backyard Fawn: A Guide To Not Kidnapping Wildlife

Listen, the first time you find a tiny, spotted woodland creature curled up next to your hostas, your brain short-circuits. You immediately assume the worst. You look at this fragile thing breathing shallowly in your mulch, and your mind goes...

Read more