Magazine

Little girl pointing at a fledgling bird of prey in the backyard grass

How To Handle It When Your Kids Find A Wild Raptor In The Yard

Tuesday morning. 7:14 AM. I'm standing in my kitchen wearing a grey fleece robe that smells vaguely of sour milk and defeat, holding my third cup of lukewarm coffee. It's the kind of morning where everything is just slightly damp...

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Fluffy white baby harp seal resting on cold Arctic sea ice

Why a baby harp seal cured my ridiculous mom guilt

The rhythmic, mechanical wheezing of my breast pump at 3:17 AM is the soundtrack to my biggest parenting epiphanies. There I was with my oldest kid, Liam, about four years ago. I was exhausted, leaking milk onto a pile of...

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Messy baby eating a roast dinner without salty baby gravy

The Truth About Baby Gravy: Why Sunday Roasts Need a Rewrite

It's 2019. Sunday roast at my mother-in-law's house. Maya is eight months old and currently mashing a piece of dry chicken into her highchair tray with the kind of intense focus usually reserved for defusing bombs. My mother-in-law, bless her,...

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A toddler playing with wooden toys in a Chicago apartment living room.

What the Baby Goku Parenting Debate Actually Means for Us

The blue light from the television was illuminating a fresh patch of spit-up on the couch cushions. It was two in the morning. My husband was sitting cross-legged on the rug, and our toddler was wedged between his knees, furiously...

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Toddler holding a smartphone in a dark room while sitting on a rug

The Truth About The Rakai Glitch Trend And Toddler Screen Time

I was wrist-deep in pureed carrots when my group chat of first-time moms started vibrating off the kitchen counter. Someone had seen a TikTok video about a glitching kid and was actively spiraling into a panic. They thought it was...

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A tired mother looking at a list of modern naming options for her daughter

The brutal reality of picking rare names for your daughter

I spent three years working the night shift on the maternity floor at Rush. You want to know the actual hardest part of the job. It wasn't the meconium blowouts or the frantic monitor alarms at two in the morning....

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Dad looking confused in a party supply store aisle holding a pink tutu

How We Debugged Baby Girl Shower Themes Without Pink Glitter

I was holding a plastic tiara that smelled strongly of volatile organic compounds, staring down an aisle that looked like a flamingo had spontaneously combusted. My wife was twenty-nine weeks pregnant with our first baby, currently asleep in the passenger...

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A tired mother sitting on a nursery floor holding a cup of coffee

What Nicole Kidman actually gets right about maternal burnout

Dear Priya from six months ago. You're currently sitting on the bathroom tiles at three in the morning. The radiator is making that hissing sound you hate. Your daughter just threw up milk on your only clean sweatpants, and you're...

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Exhausted dad holding twin baby girls while looking at a name list

The Great 3AM Hunt for Baby Girl Names Starting With V

The glow of the laptop screen at three in the morning is a uniquely hostile type of light, especially when it’s illuminating a spreadsheet containing seventy-four potential names for a human being you haven't even met yet. Outside our London...

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