Magazine

A frustrated mom sitting on a messy rug trying to get her toddler to clap.

What Nobody Tells You About the Clapping Milestone

I was sitting cross-legged on my living room rug, completely covered in pulverized Cheerios and dog hair, aggressively patting my hands together while chanting "yay!" like a deranged cheerleader. My oldest son, Tucker, who was about ten months old at...

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Exhausted mom holding a teething baby while watching her oldest child struggle to build a block tower.

What's a Nepo Baby? Raising Hard Workers in a Privileged World

It was ninety-eight degrees in July, smelling heavily of cheap sunscreen and chlorine, when I realized I had created a monster. My four-year-old, Beau, was clinging to the edge of the community pool screaming bloody murder while the other kids...

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A tiny spotted baby deer fawn hiding in tall green woodland grass

What is a Baby Deer Called? (A Dad's Woodland Survival Guide)

Richmond Park is a very specific kind of purgatory at six-fourteen in the morning in late spring. The grass is entirely composed of freezing mud, the air is thick with that distinctly British drizzle that doesn't actually look like rain...

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Baby lifting chest on a wooden play gym mat during tummy time

The Truth About Baby Cobra: Tummy Time Pushes and Insurance Panic

I was sitting at the kitchen table, staring at a stack of medical bills and listening to hold music from my insurance provider, while my four-month-old was face-planted on the rug trying to lift his unnervingly heavy head. The biggest...

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Sarah holding a cold cup of coffee while stepping on a glowing plastic baby toy in a dark living room.

The 3 AM Plastic Crisis & The Truth About Baby Einstein Toys

It was 3:17 in the morning, November 2017, and I was wearing my husband Dave's oversized college sweatpants with an unidentified gray stain on the knee. I was doing that frantic, desperate bounce-sway dance with my four-month-old daughter Maya, who...

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Toddler taking wide flat-footed steps while balancing with high arms

The truth about that heavy baby elephant walk

I'm sitting on the living room floor watching a fourteen-month-old slam his whole foot down against the hardwood like he's trying to squash a very large, very resilient bug. His arms are bent and held up by his ears like...

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A mother inspecting a plastic toy baby for safety and cleanliness

What pediatric nurses actually think about feeding baby dolls

I'm standing over my kitchen sink at two in the morning with a pair of surgical tweezers, a flashlight held between my teeth, and a deep sense of regret. My toddler's favorite interactive infantβ€”the one that supposedly eats synthetic powdered...

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A tired dad holding two toddlers covered in unidentified breakfast mush.

Surviving the First Five Years: A Twin Dad's Messy Guide

Yesterday at 6:15 AM, I found myself holding a dollop of peanut butter on a baby spoon, staring at my daughter Florence like I was defusing a bomb, while her sister Matilda was busy trying to lick the skirting board....

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Worried mom holding coffee while toddler plays on the floor

When Do Babies Start Talking? My Meltdown And What I Learned

I was sitting on the sticky laminate floor of the community center at 10:45 AM, wearing black leggings that definitely had dried yogurt crusted on the left knee, while a 14-month-old named Brayden pointed at a plastic truck and clearly...

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