Magazine

Mom looking stressed while holding an iPad showing a cartoon baby dragon.

The Real Truth About That Free Baby Dragon Emote Code Situation

My mom told me to take the iPad, wrap it in a beach towel, and bury it in the backyard next to the old pecan tree where the dogs couldn't dig it up. Tyler, the sixteen-year-old neighbor who comes over...

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Mother wearing wireless headphones while baby plays on a wooden gym.

Who Is In The Oho Enthan Baby Cast? And Other Screen Time Realities

My mother-in-law swears that blasting Bollywood musicals while a baby sleeps builds character and deepens their REM cycle. The senior charge nurse from my pediatric rotation used to tell mothers that a single exposure to a glowing screen before age...

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Toddler playing with a wooden rainbow baby gym on a soft playmat in a sunny living room.

Is Boss Baby 3 Real? The Truth About Corporate Cartoons

My mother-in-law, bless her heart, told me I was ruining my oldest kid's brain by letting him watch a cartoon about a corporate infant in a suit. Just a few days later, my doctor vaguely mumbled something over her clipboard...

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Toddler playing with a wooden baby gym instead of looking at a digital tablet

The search history nightmare and the offline baseline

Maya texted me at two in the morning on a Tuesday. It was just a screenshot of her nine-year-old’s iPad search history followed by a single skull emoji. She thought she had all the filters on. She thought she had...

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Marcus holding a coffee mug while looking at search results for baby saja boys on his laptop

Why I Spent Three Hours Googling Baby Saja Boys At 2 AM

Dear Marcus from six months ago. You're currently sitting in the dark on the nursery floor, the temperature logged at exactly 68.4 degrees, watching the baby monitor app like it's compiling a critical system update. You haven't slept more than...

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Toddler holding a game controller while wearing a red organic cotton bodysuit

My toddler found baby mario and my screen time rules evaporated

The console was just sitting there on the coffee table, a glowing rectangle of temptation my husband forgot to dock the night before. It was 6:15 in the morning. I was in the kitchen trying to make coffee with one...

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A tired mom holding a coffee mug while her baby plays on a wooden play gym

Dear Past Me: The Completely Messy Truth About Baby TV & Screens

Dear Sarah from exactly six months ago, You're currently hiding in the tiny downstairs half-bathroom. It's 6:14 AM on a Tuesday, and you're wearing Dave’s giant gray flannel shirtβ€”the one with the missing buttonβ€”and mismatched socks, clutching a lukewarm Yeti...

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A tired dad looking at his phone in the dark while holding a baby

A Letter to Myself About That Viral Celebrity Baby Drama

3:14 AM. The baby is doing that rhythmic, glitchy half-cry that usually precedes a full system meltdown, and instead of checking the thermostatβ€”which I've strictly calibrated to 68.5 degreesβ€”or logging his last feeding into the overly complex Notion database I...

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A mom holding a coffee mug while looking at a tablet with her son

How The Rapper Baby Kaely Totally Changed My Digital Parenting

It was Tuesday at exactly 4:38 PM, which, if you've children, you know is the absolute worst time of day. The witching hour. My four-year-old, Maya, was actively crying because her string cheese was "too stringy," and I was standing...

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