Magazine

A mother sitting on the grass next to a shallow backyard tub

My pediatrician's brutal rules for surviving summer water play

I was standing in my tiny Chicago backyard with a garden hose in one hand and a giant, deflating aesthetic swan in the other. My son was barely four months old, shivering violently in a designer swimsuit that cost more...

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Frustrated mom holding an iced coffee and a baby wearing a comfortable dress

The Absolute Sweat-Soaked Truth About Buying Baby Girl Dresses

It was 2 PM, the sun was literally laughing at us, and I was holding a plastic cup of iced coffee that was basically just brown water at that point. We were at my cousin Rachel’s outdoor wedding in August...

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Sarah holding her toddler on the white sand at Baby Beach in Aruba looking exhausted but happy

The Honest Truth About Taking A Baby To Baby Beach Aruba

I was standing in the middle of the Target diaper aisle wearing these awful linen maternity shorts that I somehow still fit into three years postpartum, holding a lukewarm iced coffee that cost twelve dollars, when my phone buzzed with...

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Confused dad holding a bottle of baby water next to twins

The Great Hydration Panic: Why Infant Water Rules Feel Backwards

It was the great London heatwave of 2022, the kind of oppressive humidity that makes you reconsider all your life choices, when I caught my mother-in-law creeping toward the pram with a miniature plastic cup of tap water. The twins...

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Two messy toddlers covered in pink melon juice sitting on a kitchen floor

How A Sugar Baby Watermelon Defeated Me And My Twin Toddlers

If you ever find yourself wondering whether a standard kitchen sponge is abrasive enough to remove dried fruit pulp from a matte-painted wall, let me save you a frantic Google search. It isn't. You need a dedicated scraper and a...

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A tiny baby hummingbird resting safely on a green leaf outdoors

Dear Jess: What I Wish I Knew Before the Baby Hummingbird Incident

Dear Jess of last May, put down the plastic eye dropper and step away from the kitchen counter before you inadvertently commit a federal wildlife crime. Right now, the baby is strapped to your sweaty chest in the carrier, the...

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A cautious dad inspecting a grassy backyard for baby snakes while his twin toddlers play safely on an elevated wooden deck

Surviving the American baby copperhead panic as a clueless dad

The humidity in North Carolina in late August is a physical assault, the kind of oppressive heat that makes your clothes feel like a wet apology. I was standing on my American in-laws' patio, clutching a rapidly melting gin and...

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Sarah holding a vintage cotton baby bonnet over a messy nursery changing table

Wait, Are Baby Bonnets Safe? My 2 AM Infant Hair Loss Panic

It was exactly 2:14 AM on a Tuesday. I know this because my glowing phone screen was mocking me in the dark. I was sitting in the nursery rocking chair wearing a maternity tank top that smelled strongly of sour...

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Dad trying to apply thick white mineral sunscreen to an actively squirming baby.

Debugging Baby Sun Safety: The Great Sunscreen Firmware Update

There's currently a streak of stark white zinc oxide smeared across the black upholstery of my Subaru, a matching smudge on my favorite dark t-shirt, and a suspicious clump stuck in my eleven-month-old’s left eyebrow. Somehow, despite dispensing what felt...

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