When you blow out the candle for her, be prepared: it will feel like blowing away her first year, your first year of motherhood. By Kaitlin Barker Davis
Category Archive: Family
I now hear regularly about girls who are so fearful of disappointing their teachers that they skip sleep to do extra-credit work for points they don’t need. By Lisa Damour
KJ Dell’Antonia, Jill Smokler, Jordan Shapiro, Janelle Hanchett, and Jessica Lahey weigh in on how much is too much when it comes to writing about our children.
It doesn’t seem quite right to just toss these pearly whites in the trash (no matter how much I thanked them, with all due respect to Ms. Kondo). By Anne Brinser Shelton
YouTube, Apple Music, Netflix. Kids seldom watch, listen to, or read anything these days they didn’t select themselves—or that wasn’t suggested by an anxious-to-please algorithm. By Mary Janevic
I was 10. I loved my cat, Gizmo. And I killed him. By Michael Gentry
I wanted to believe that bringing teenagers into our life would make it easier to let them go. I was wrong. By Meredith Gordon Resnick
This has become our routine: reliving each event point by point, trying to trigger a memory. By Amy Roost
Motherwell publishes on all aspects of the parenting experience—from the poignant to the humorous to the thought-provoking. Here are our most-read original pieces from 2018.
Dad never had to say he disapproved of my upcoming marriage. It was clear from everything he did. By Elizabeth Margaret Newdom
When he was two, I spent mornings stuffing tubes of penne with scrambled eggs to trick him into eating something other than pasta. By Marianna Marlowe
College counselor and admissions expert, Sara Harberson, offers valuable insight into the nitty gritty of the application process.
As much as I loved football as a kid, I don’t want my own sons watching—or playing—a sport based on such overt violence. By Kate Allen Fox
One day infants and diaper bags and hemorrhoids and boobs won’t be hanging off of your person like you’re a cross between a human mobile and a Sherpa. By Catherine Newman
One family photo, two different perspectives. By Pat Alexandro and Amy Alexandro Jones
When it was time to walk away—leaving my son there and a part of my life behind—I didn’t have any regrets. By Randi Olin
All of my efforts to push them toward enthusiasm only served to exacerbate their resistance. By Christie Tate
One mother refused to let her daughter stop playing the flute. So what made her change her mind? By Daisy Florin
We are allowed to do what we love, no matter how well we do it. By Abigail Rasminsky
The decision not to find out my unborn child’s sex is perhaps the most intimate and important one I have ever made. By Laine Munir
The toddler parents were looking at me in wonder, as if they couldn’t believe their children would ever be old enough to go into the exam room alone. By Deborah Lindsay Williams
Why is living in mom’s basement such a terrible thing? By Fara Nizamani
Nothing would be exactly the same again. I was inconsolable, even though the university’s family day was only a month away. By Dina Elenbogen
Make sure your children have time together without you. Encourage their collective independence. By KJ Dell’Antonia
Parenting isn’t like baking. The ingredients you mix together aren’t the same with each kid. By Randi Olin