Magazine

A mother holding a coffee cup while looking at a tiny hatchling turtle on a trail

Dear Past Me: Do Not Let Your Kid Touch That Tiny Wild Reptile

Dear Sarah of last May. You're currently standing on the muddy shoulder of the Wissahickon creek trail, balancing a tepid Yeti mug of dark roast on your yoga pants-clad knee, utterly paralyzed. Leo is pointing a grubby four-year-old finger at...

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A mother watching her teething baby play with wooden animal toys.

Why Your Teething Toddler Acts Like a Wild Baby Crocodile

"Bite him back," my mom told me over the phone last Tuesday while I sat on the kitchen floor and iced the fresh, purple teeth marks on my forearm. "That'll teach him right quick." Meanwhile, the crunchy preschool director had...

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A cardboard brooder box full of baby chicks next to a highly stressed father

I Googled "Baby Chicks For Sale" And Now My Living Room Smells Like...

I'm currently staring at a 100-litre plastic storage tub in my hallway that's emitting a continuous, high-pitched sound, much like a smoke alarm that has somehow developed a needy personality. Inside this tub are four baby chicks. I blame Instagram,...

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A toddler looking at a baby capybara in a zoo enclosure

Why a baby capybara is a terrible pet for your toddler

My sister-in-law texted me a video of a giant rodent eating a popsicle in a plastic wading pool with a message saying we needed to buy one immediately. Two hours later, a mom at the neighborhood park asked me in...

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Toddler pointing at a baby swan near a pond from a safe distance

The Great Bread Deception: Meeting A Baby Swan (And Surviving)

It's a crisp Tuesday morning at St James's Park, and an elderly gentleman in a tweed flat cap is hurling massive, doughy chunks of supermarket sliced white bread into the water. A fluffy grey cygnet—which I've just spent ten minutes...

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Red panda eating bamboo on branch next to a sleepy human infant

What an Endangered Red Panda Taught Me About Parenting My Wild Child

The glow of my dual monitors was the only light in the living room while my eleven-month-old son performed what I can only describe as a sustained velociraptor screech from his playpen. It was 3:14 AM. I was supposed to...

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A frustrated mom drinking coffee surrounded by baby toys and pet gear

The Truth About Raising Kids and a Baby Ferret

I was standing in my kitchen at 6:15 AM wearing Dave's oversized college hoodie that smells vaguely of sour milk, staring at my phone while my coffee dripped agonizingly slowly into the pot. I had stumbled down a TikTok rabbit...

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An exhausted mom holding a melting iced coffee while her toddler points at a small farm animal.

My Complete Meltdown Over Petting Zoos and a Tiny Baby Donkey

It's exactly 10:14 AM on a Tuesday and I'm currently wedged between a rusty chain-link fence and a toddler who's vibrating with the kind of feral energy that usually precedes a trip to urgent care. My four-year-old, Leo, is violently...

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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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