He’s passing as a boy now—as long as he binds his breasts.
By Katrin Grace
Category Archive: Family
I wait for sleep, for the fever to break, the tooth to fall out, the rash to go away.
By Zsofia McMullin
Sorry, can’t make it to the sorority reunion. My thermometer says I’m ovulating!
By Amy Klein
All the years of doing and hoping, praying and sculpting—you wait to see if it worked.
By Lisa Romeo
The swings she used to ride are still moving, but she’s long gone, and I realize it’s only the wind.
By Robin L. Flanigan
Nobody told me while my house was falling apart that eventually I would start to see clearly again.
By Lauren Apfel
My daughter loves her little brother dearly, it’s just that she’s outgrown him.
By Elizabeth Maria Naranjo
Motherwell publishes provocative, evocative essays on all aspects of the parenting experience. Here are our most-read pieces from 2016.
Photographs suggested a future, a future in which we would look back at this moment, but a future where our baby might be gone.
By Yvonne Spence
I am shocked still by the parenting moments that break my heart.
By Catherine Newman
I had to step back and let her stand on her own two feet—even when she was shivering feverishly under the covers.
By Candy Schulman
How do we decide when a family is “complete”?
By Lauren Apfel
The #IHadAMiscarriage campaign was launched to de-stigmatize pregnancy loss.
By Jessica Zucker
By the time we left China, it felt like he was ours, wholly and completely. And he is. But he is not.
By Kelly Westhoff
It’s important for parents to let their children take big bites of independence once in a while, even if it feels scary.
By Lauren Apfel
Beyond the pillow fights and giggles, how can we make sure our kids will be safe when they sleep at a friend’s house? By Randi Olin
If I throw out the lunch box, will I be throwing these memories away with it?
By Daisy Alpert Florin
Any guilt or reservation about a “failed” birth plan was replaced by an unwavering commitment to my son.
By Stephanie Noll
We wanted our children to have the same sense of wonder and excitement we did, to face the world like it was pile of Christmas presents waiting to be opened.
By Adrienne So
It is an awesome responsibility to be entrusted with the care of someone’s child, but for the first time I’m less anxious about it.
By Teri Carter
Is it possible to love being a mom without knowing why?
By Christine Organ
The chance to remember myself at that age, in a way that I often don’t when I wrangle with my own teens, was illuminating.
By Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser
What can be seen as the messy complications of a blended family are, when viewed differently, just more branches on a beautifully tangled family tree.
By Elizabeth Maria Naranjo
A summer internship might help my daughter narrow down her career options, but I think she needs a break from the stress of her freshman year. By Randi Olin
Cousins are more complicated than I’d realized. They give more than I thought possible, but they also demand more than I’d ever known.
By Antonia Malchik