Magazine

A tired dad looking defeated while holding a bowl of sweet potato puree.

Dear Past Tom: The chaotic truth about cooking meals for babies

Dear Tom from six months ago, You're currently standing in the kitchen at two in the afternoon, wearing a jumper that smells faintly of sour milk, staring at a blender full of steamed sweet potato. You have a very specific,...

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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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Chubby baby with bare feet playing on a wooden living room floor

The Truth About Baby Feet: Why Everyone's Advice Is Dead Wrong

I swear, the minute I brought my oldest, Jackson, home from the hospital, it was open season on his toes. My mom took one look at his bare little feet on a perfectly pleasant 75-degree Texas afternoon and shrieked that...

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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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Toddler pushing a heavy wooden pram across a living room floor

The ugly truth about buying your toddler a baby doll stroller

There was a tiny pool of blood on my hardwood floor. Not a catastrophic amount, just enough to make my old hospital triage instincts override my standard maternal panic. Maya was on her back, screaming, holding a split lip. Tangled...

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A baby dog looking confused at a Kianao wooden play gym

The Brutal Reality of Mixing Tiny Puppies and Newborn Twins

I'm standing in our narrow London hallway, holding a slightly stiff hospital blanket that smells intensely of NHS-grade floor cleaner and sheer panic. Page 47 of a highly-rated parenting manual told me I should present this artifact to our terrier...

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Exhausted mother holding a screaming infant in a dark nursery

When your sweet newborn suddenly turns into an actual baby demon

It was exactly 6:43 PM on a Tuesday in November. The radiators in our Chicago apartment were clanking the way they always do when the wind picks up. My sweet three-month-old daughter, who had spent the entire morning peacefully cooing...

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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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Mom standing in rural kitchen looking at safe baby products and first aid kits

Why Everything TV Taught You About Baby CPR is Dead Wrong

I was standing at my kitchen island yesterday, quartering grapes for my three-year-old with the kind of frantic, sweaty precision you only develop after your firstborn nearly checked out over a piece of hidden plastic. I had some medical drama...

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