Magazine

An exhausted dad looking at his phone while holding a crying baby.

Debugging the Meltdown: A Dad's Guide to Unsoothable Tears

My mother-in-law told me over FaceTime to just let him cry it out or I was going to spoil his lungs, whatever that means. The guy making my pour-over at the coffee shop confidently stated that my son was simply...

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A bewildered dad looking at a silicone baby animal teether in a nursery

The Science of Baby Animals (And Why I Can't Bring A Hamster Home)

I was standing in Petco at 4:15 PM on a Tuesday, staring blankly into a terrarium of baby bearded dragons, genuinely calculating if acquiring a tiny reptile would solve my 11-month-old’s mid-afternoon fussiness. In my sleep-deprived logic, she liked the...

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A bewildered parent holding a pink bottle of infant massage oil while scrolling the internet

Dear Past Priya: The Truth About the Diddy Baby Oil Situation

You're standing in aisle fourteen of the Belmont Target right now. Your toddler is actively trying to consume a cardboard price tag she peeled off the shelf. You're holding a familiar pink bottle of mineral oil because you thought it...

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Overwhelmed dad holding newborn away from reaching hands in living room

Surviving the "Don't You Want Me Baby" Guilt Trip From Relatives

We were sitting in our Portland living room on exactly Day 12 of parenthood when the first breach of our perimeter occurred. My wife Sarah was exhausted, practically vibrating with postpartum adrenaline, and our daughter was finally asleep on her...

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Tired mom folding organic baby clothes on a messy living room couch.

The 3 AM Google Searches That Prove Postpartum is Wild

The other night, I was sitting in the dark nursing my youngest, running on maybe forty-five cumulative minutes of sleep, trying to type 'eco baby gear' into my phone with one thumb while balancing a burp cloth on my knee....

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A father staring bleary-eyed at a glowing baby monitor screen in a dark room.

The truth about the best baby monitors (and what actually works)

At 2:14 am on a Tuesday, I was staring at a glowing five-inch screen, utterly convinced my daughter had been replaced by a Victorian ghost. The night vision on our heavily marketed, terrifyingly expensive smart camera had turned my two-year-old...

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Marcus looking stressed while packing a massive diaper bag by the front door

Why a Real Babys Day Out Requires a Massive Deployment Pipeline

I was standing by the open door of my Honda Civic, sweating through a flannel shirt in 60-degree Portland weather, holding a diaper bag that weighed roughly the same as a car battery. My 11-month-old son was strapped into his...

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Confused dad holding a bottle of baby water next to twins

The Great Hydration Panic: Why Infant Water Rules Feel Backwards

It was the great London heatwave of 2022, the kind of oppressive humidity that makes you reconsider all your life choices, when I caught my mother-in-law creeping toward the pram with a miniature plastic cup of tap water. The twins...

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Toddler pointing at a small green reptile hiding in the tall summer grass.

Why We Said No To Pet Turtles (And What To Teach Kids Instead)

We were at the Canton First Monday Trade Days, sweating through our shirts in the brutal Texas heat, when my oldest, Jackson, locked eyes with a plastic tub the size of a cereal bowl. Inside it was a tiny green...

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