Magazine

A baby playing with a wooden play gym on a living room rug while a tired dad holds a cup of coffee.

Lil Baby Harvard: Raising a tiny genius without losing your mind

Within forty-eight hours of bringing the twins home, I received three distinct pieces of unsolicited advice regarding their future intellectual dominance. My mother-in-law arrived with a set of high-contrast Mandarin flashcards (I speak passable French; my wife speaks sarcasm). Our...

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Mom looking through a dusty plastic bin of 90s stuffed animals

The Brutal Truth About If Your Old Beanie Babies Are Worth Money

My mom hauled a dust-caked Rubbermaid tub down from her attic last Thanksgiving, slapped the lid with a triumphant thud, and announced she was handing over my children's college tuition. We were standing in the garage, dodging wasps, while she...

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A wooden baby play gym standing on a rug in a messy living room

The Truth About the Baby Steps Game Uncensored Search Trend

I'm sitting on the floor of our extremely cramped London living room, scraping a substance that might be mashed banana (but is almost certainly worse) off my left knee, when my phone buzzes with a frantic text from my sister....

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A very tired mom drinking cold coffee and scrolling her phone in the dark looking for parenting advice.

Searching Reddit for a Baby Walking Game at 2 AM Was a Mistake

It’s 2:14 AM. I'm wearing my husband’s horrific faded college track sweatpantsβ€”the ones with the inexplicable bleach stain on the left kneeβ€”and I'm hunched over my phone in the dark, furiously refreshing a forum thread. I'm holding a mug of...

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A dad looking panicked at his smart phone while a baby plays on a wooden gym.

Dear Past Marcus: Lil Nas X Industry Baby is Not a Nursery Song

Dear Marcus of exactly six months ago, Picture this exact scenario, because you're going to live it soon enough. You're standing in the kitchen, aggressively whisking a bottle of formula at 2:14 PM, wearing a gray t-shirt that hasn't seen...

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Mom loading an open box baby stroller into her car trunk in Texas

Why I Quit Sketchy Parking Lot Meetups For Rebel Baby Gear

I was standing behind a deserted strip mall somewhere between Waco and Austin, sweating entirely through my favorite maternity shirt, about to hand a complete stranger a wad of cash for a high chair that smelled faintly of sour milk...

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A tired dad staring at his phone in a dark room (max 125 chars)

Why Searching Baby Dolls Dallas Is A Hilarious Parenting Mistake

Texas, for those who haven't had the pleasure of dragging a jet-lagged toddler through it, is less a state and more an ongoing experiment in aggressive air conditioning. We were staying in an Airbnb that smelled faintly of cinnamon and...

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Priya dealing with the baby boomer age range during a nursery visit

My 2 AM Fight About the Baby Boomer Age Range and Safe Sleep

The radiator in our Chicago apartment was hissing that dry, rhythmic sound it only makes in late January. It was two in the morning. I was standing in the doorway of the nursery, rubbing my eyes, watching my mother try...

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A bewildered dad trying to figure out why his baby is making weird hand gestures.

How Baby ASL Fixed Our 11-Month-Old's Communication Bugs

At 3:14 AM on a Tuesday, I was holding a perfectly warmed, 98.6-degree bottle of formula out like a peace offering, while my eleven-month-old son shrieked like a dial-up modem failing to connect. I tried the bottle again. He slapped...

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