Magazine

A very messy baby covered in bright orange sweet potato puree happily chewing on a soft silicone spoon in a highchair

The sweet potato disaster and the ugly truth about baby spoons

I was wearing a cream-colored sweater, which, let’s be honest, is the first and most obvious mistake I made that day. It was around 5:30 PM, the exact hour when my blood stream is approximately four percent coffee and ninety-six...

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Stressed parent looking at phone searching for kids stores near me while holding a baby

Why looking up kids stores near me usually ends in disaster

The wind off Lake Michigan is currently performing a hostile takeover of the sidewalk. My toddler, who fit perfectly into his heavy coat exactly three days ago, is now hulking out of the sleeves like a tiny, irritated bodybuilder. The...

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Wooden balance bike and scattered blocks on a living room rug

Before & After: My Take on Spielzeug ab 2 Jahren for Toddlers

I was standing in the kitchen at 6:45 AM, holding a battery-operated plastic dump truck over the trash can like a priest performing an exorcism. My oldest was two at the time, and this truck had been singing the exact...

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Folded organic cotton baby blankets stacked on a nursery changing table.

The truth about high-end baby presents and what parents want

The water in my bathroom sink was turning a very specific shade of neon yellow. It was three in the morning, my son Rohan was screaming from his bassinet with the raw, desperate lung capacity of a code blue patient,...

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A scattered pile of wooden sorting blocks on a living room rug

My Desperate Search for "Spielzeug fΓΌr 1 JΓ€hrige" (Toys)

Yesterday at 5:14 AM, I staggered into the living room to grab a burp cloth and stepped directly onto a plastic cow that immediately began mooing "Old MacDonald" in a haunting, battery-depleted baritone. My 11-month-old daughter, sitting in her playpen,...

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A wooden toy block and a soft baby blanket on a messy living room floor.

Spielzeug ab 3 Jahren: The Brutally Honest Guide for Parents

There I was, barefoot in my own living room at 6:30 in the morning, stepping squarely on a tiny plastic firefighter hat that came with some massive, overpriced fire truck my oldest got for his third birthday. I’m just gonna...

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A wooden and crochet baby teether resting on a folded organic cotton blanket.

What I Got Wrong About The Humble Baby Teether

It was three in the morning and my daughter's chin looked like a slip-and-slide. She was chewing on my knuckles with the jaw strength of a pitbull, soaking right through her organic baby tee with a volume of saliva that...

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Wooden infant activity arch over an organic mat in a Chicago apartment.

The ugly truth about that neon plastic baby play gym you just bought

I was sitting cross-legged on my living room rug at three in the morning, holding a screwdriver and weeping quietly over a piece of molded plastic that required four D batteries. The box promised it would stimulate my newborn's cognitive...

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Two toddlers wrapped in a colorful leaf pattern bamboo blanket on a grey rug

The Absurd Reality of Dressing Babies in Wood Pulp

When we first decided to investigate the sheer volume of apparel made from bamboo flooding our social media feeds, I received three entirely contradictory pieces of advice within a single Tuesday. My mum, a woman who still quietly believes a...

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