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animal learningbaby teethingmotherhoodnature learningparenting humourtoddler
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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animal learningbaby carenature learningparenting humoursafe play
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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animal learningbabynature learningoutdoorparenting humourtoddler
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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animal learningeco-friendlyfatherhoodnature learningorganicsustainable
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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baby behaviornature learningoutdoorsafe playtoys
A small infant rabbit resting near a patch of grass in a backyard

Note to Self About That Backyard Bunny Incident We Barely Survived

Dear Priya from last April. You're currently standing frozen in the damp Chicago grass, holding a weed whacker in one hand and a half-eaten string cheese in the other. Your toddler is strapped to your back in the ergonomic carrier,...

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nature learningoutdoorParenting Guidesafety tipsspring
Toddler in an organic cotton bodysuit pointing at a gosling near a park lagoon

Dear Past Priya: What You Got Wrong About Pond Wildlife

Dear April Priya. You're standing at the edge of the Humboldt Park lagoon with a fistful of stale sourdough, a hyperactive toddler balanced on your hip, and a burning desire to create a core memory. The sun is out, the...

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A fluffy baby crow sitting in the grass looking up at the camera

So Your Toddler Brought a Live Baby Crow Into the Kitchen

Beau was standing in the middle of my kitchen holding what looked like a dusty, highly aggressive potato. Dirt was falling onto my freshly swept linoleum, our golden retriever was losing his absolute mind by the back door, and an...

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Mother holding her sleeping infant in a dimly lit nursery room

What A Baby Chimpanzee Actually Taught Me About Human Parenting

It was three in the morning in the postpartum ward. I was bleeding through a mesh pad, staring at my newborn son in his plastic bassinet, waiting for the maternal instinct software to finish downloading. I thought it would just...

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