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A frustrated toddler chewing on a safe silicone teether instead of a dangerous ice cube.

Ice cube ice ice baby: Why the freezer trend is a terrible idea

When my son cut his first tooth, I got three contradictory texts in the span of an hour. My mother called to tell me to wrap an ice cube in a clean muslin cloth and let him gnaw on it,...

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Jess holding a sun hat outdoors laughing about the baby hornet silksong internet panic

When Internet Video Game Bugs Cause Panic and Real Wasps Attack

I was standing in the middle of the hallway yesterday, hip-deep in a laundry basket full of unmatched tiny socks, staring down at my four-year-old’s sticky, peanut-butter-smudged iPad screen. He had left his browser open, and the search history said...

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A toddler playing with wooden building blocks on a rug instead of an iPad

The Ugly Truth About Those Viral Baby Hazel Games

It was 4:13 PM on a Tuesday and I was wearing my husband Dave’s oversized college hoodie that smelled faintly of old garlic, holding a lukewarm mug of French roast that I had already microwaved three separate times. I was...

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Hardware-mounted wooden walk-through baby gate at the top of a modern staircase

The Real Truth About Finding A Hardware Mounted Baby Gate With Door

My mother-in-law told me I didn't need one because, in her day, they just watched their kids. The neighborhood Facebook group insisted I needed a custom, four-hundred-dollar lucite barricade imported from Sweden. Then my old charge nurse from the pediatric...

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A messy toddler eating shredded BBQ pork on a leafy bamboo picnic blanket in the grass.

Smoked Baby Back Ribs: Safely Feeding Your Messy Little Ones

My neighbor Jim handed my nine-month-old a giant, sticky rib bone last summer at a Fourth of July block party. "Look at him!" Jim yelled over the sound of a lawnmower, completely ignoring the sheer, unadulterated panic on my face....

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Twin dad wearing a hip seat carrier while holding a toddler in London

The Brutal Truth About Hip Carriers From a Broken Twin Dad

Tuesday, 4:15 PM. The rain is pelting the roof of my battered estate car in the Waitrose car park. One twin is arching her back like an angry prawn, absolutely refusing to be extracted from her baby car seat. The...

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A simple wooden play gym on a messy rug surrounded by organic toddler clothes.

How To Raise A Baby Dolphin Without Losing Your British Mind

At exactly 6:14 AM on a bleak Tuesday, I was standing in our London kitchen trying to enforce what a very expensive hardcover parenting book called a "structured learning boundary" while Maya systematically crushed a rice cake into the tile...

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Toddler twin girls roaring in the living room wearing dinosaur outfits

Surviving the baby dinosaur phase without losing your mind

Don't, under any circumstances, attempt to correct a two-year-old on the precise anatomical posture of a Stegosaurus. I learned this at 6:14 AM on a Tuesday, standing in my kitchen holding a lukewarm mug of tea while Twin One shrieked...

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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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