Magazine

Messy toddler eating dinner at a table covered in barbecue sauce

My Foolproof Baby Back Ribs Recipe for Very Exhausted Parents

It's 5:14 PM on a Thursday and I'm standing in my kitchen wearing a stained gray sweatshirt I haven't washed since Tuesday, staring at a massive slab of raw pork while Leo, who's four and currently believes he's a velociraptor,...

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A blurry black and white baby monitor screen showing an infant rolling over in a dark nursery

Late Night Monitor Glitches and the Truth About Ghost Babies

My mother-in-law told me to burn sage and recite a specific prayer in the corners of the room because the house was clearly occupied. My old charge nurse from the pediatric ward texted back at three in the morning to...

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Baby chewing on an electric toothbrush handle in the bathroom

The Elektrische ZahnbΓΌrste Kinder Guide: What Actually Works

At 7:14 PM last Tuesday, I was pinning my 11-month-old to the bath mat in a gentle, modified jiu-jitsu hold while a neon-green vibrating brush whirred aggressively against my left nostril. He was laughing. I was sweating. The toothpaste had...

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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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Folded black stroller jammed in the trunk of a car next to baby gear

The truth about baby strollers: What I bought vs. what I actually use

Listen. My foot was wedged against the back door of the Red Line train at Fullerton, aggressively kicking the plastic wheel of a luxury travel system that simply refused to fold. The doors were closing. People were staring. My daughter...

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Tired mom holding a toddler and a coffee next to a car seat in a messy minivan

The Great Baby Seat Illusion (And What Actually Worked For Us)

It was 87 degrees, I was exactly four days postpartum, and I was sobbing into a half-eaten blueberry muffin in the back of our Honda CR-V. Maya was screaming in her brand new car seat like we were torturing her,...

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Exhausted dad staring at a partially installed metal safety gate on the stairs

The 2 AM Regalo Baby Gate Crisis That Finally Broke My Spirit

It's exactly 2:14 AM on a Tuesday, and I'm sitting on the top landing of our painfully narrow London terrace in just my boxer shorts, holding a spirit level in one hand and a metal tension rod in the other....

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A toddler sitting on a playmat while an older girl reads a graphic novel on a green sofa

Why The Modern Baby-Sitters Club Reboot Is Actually Good

Sitting on my sofa last weekend, I made a critical error in judgment. I queued up the baby-sitters club 1995 movie for my ten-year-old niece, Maya, expecting a beautiful bonding moment over vintage denim and childhood innocence. Don't do this....

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Two toddlers watching an animated movie in a living room scattered with toys

Why I let my toddlers watch the boss baby 2 and lived to tell

It was 3:14 PM on a rainy Tuesday in London, the exact time of day when my carefully constructed parenting ideals usually crumble into dust. The twins had been awake since before the sun bothered to rise, and our living...

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