I didn’t know that motherhood would feel tantamount to being a short order cook. By Lauren Apfel
kids
The Special Spoon held sway over my children more raptly than I ever intended. By Suzanne Mattaboni
It’s been a long, slow road to finding a balance between supporting others and supporting myself. By Yvonne Spence
I know we’re both doing it wrong. I’m teaching our children that restraint is a shackle; he’s teaching them that tight control is the only way to avoid obesity. By Lorren Lemmons
In our household, my children are allowed to eat with a good book or their tablet. I don’t expect them to talk. By Tania Lorena Rivera
Have you ever watched a five-year-old pour a package of cooked green beans into a bowl? I have. And let me tell you, it nearly did me in. By Debra Arbit
We envisioned our daughter’s freedom: she could tell us dance class was ending early. But we had not considered her new awareness of danger. By Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser
Catherine Newman’s wonderful new book offers a guide to 65 hugely useful, super-important skills for teens and tweens.
Obviously, a pandemic is an awful reason to decide to have another child. But that doesn’t stop me from thinking about it. By Amanda Gibson
Each project was meant to show a child’s mom that she is appreciated. Respected. Loved. By Wendy Kennar
Lately I tell myself that I’ll start to eat healthier. I won’t finish my children’s meals. I won’t pick off their plates, like a mother vulture. By Kelly Niebergall
Every fertility journey is different. You never really know what somebody else is going through. By Amy Klein
Let your children see you trying. Let them see you cry. By Kaci Curtis
My kids are used to my loud, Jewish-mom complaining—but not this unkindness. Not this anxiety-fueled rage. By Hannah Grieco
When children feel pressured to perform well in the public realm, they have a hard time recognizing what really matters to them. By Dr. Madeline Levine
I told my kids in McDonald’s. Because when you’re about to drop that kind of bomb, really you want them to be eating french fries. By Lauren Apfel
It’s all about the details, the sillier the better. By Lori Orlinsky
When Finn took his first steps and my husband was on another continent, I couldn’t help but wonder, “How could you miss this?” By Kaci Curtis
What if birth certificates reflected reality? I imagined three spaces, one for our daughter’s biological mother and two for us. By Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser
They all took turns as babies, then toddlers, riding in the stroller’s deep reclining seat, casually enjoying Cheerios or clutching a favorite toy as I bounced behind. By Cara McDonough
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
Cell phones do not work here, and on a good day it takes only ten minutes to open email. By Mindy R. Roll
“No offense Mom,” my oldest said to me a few years ago. “But you could have been so much more.” By Laura Pochintesta
We had a ritual that I honored until she outgrew the need for it. It occurs to me now that I needed it just as much as she did. By Tracy Tambosso
My parents grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust. Neither one of them knew how to tell me what had happened, so instead they said nothing. By Elissa Jacobs