Step Three: Layer 2 healthy parents and 1 naturally skinny sister. By Amye Archer
empowerment
Mom and Dad never sat us down and told us he had MS. Or maybe they did and I don’t remember because I was just a kid thinking about snacks. By Megan Jean Sovern
Where once I was gatherer, now I am hunter. Acquiring food to feed my family has taken on new significance. By Susannah Q. Pratt
I heard the baby crying again, I didn’t get up. I was too hungover. By Victoria Vanstone
Ada Calhoun gives a voice to middle-age struggles—and empowers a generation of women who were raised to “have it all.”
The last time I stood here I tried on eight dresses. I was fighting the side effects from chemo. I had no hair. By Krista Genevieve Farris
The hardest thing about divorce, I’ve found, is not the being alone. It’s the being alone when most of the people you know and love have a first port of call that isn’t you. By Lauren Apfel
Take a minute to shine the spotlight on your child and praise them for reporting the behavior. By Lori Orlinsky
I’d been craving more one-on-one time with my kids for so long and now, thanks to those pesky parasites, I had it. By Kate Lemery
The mental space freed up by not giving a shit? It’s delicious. By Sophfronia Scott
It’s not that my boys don’t need motivation. It’s that for their gender, empowerment is always readily available. By Annie D. Stutley
I want my son to see the value in committing to something because it’s beautiful and worthwhile, not because he’s certain to succeed. By Daisy Alpert Florin
Every day she’d come home and say, “today my friends called me peanut, and it makes me sad.” By Lori Orlinksy
“Baby, it might be a mistake,” my mother said. “Sometimes they accidentally send these things out to the wrong people.” By Rebecca Potter
Dad never had to say he disapproved of my upcoming marriage. It was clear from everything he did. By Elizabeth Margaret Newdom
We are allowed to do what we love, no matter how well we do it. By Abigail Rasminsky
Serena has arguably done as much for working moms in the past year as she’s done for tennis in the past decade. By Mary Pflum Peterson
Some lessons about social justice, no matter how terrible, are better learned by living than by lecture. By Francie Arenson Dickman
Perhaps by allowing my daughter to experiment with her appearance and create her own reality, I can put the power back in her hands. By Erin Ott
I don’t want to mess this up. I live in fear of being seen as a privileged person with an accessory on my arm. By Jenn O’Connor
To throw away the cigarettes, and choose to run instead. To stop running when my hips hurt, and walk instead. By Kathleen Harris
Let’s not assume our sons are innately predatory. They’re not. It’s on us to make sure they stay that way. By Logan Levkoff
Unless we can retell the story in a relevant way, let’s put Cinderella to rest. By Devorah Blanchor
My parents taught me how to keep myself safe. But they never told me if I got hurt, it wouldn’t be my fault. By Jamie Beth Cohen
I’m raising two boys. And I am conscious of raising them to be people who hear and respond to the word “no.” By Brianne DeRosa