Conversations

How to Introduce Your Toddler to Percussion Instruments

Of all age groups, young children are probably our most enthusiastic music-makers. I remember my four-year-old son coming home from the beach one day where he'd collected a variety of shells and sm...

I Can't Do This

As we slowly inched closer and closer to the drive-through speaker box, a drip of nervous perspiration rolled down my forehead. “Do you know what you want?” I asked my wife. “I can’t see the menu,”...

5 Amazing TED Talks Every Busy Parent Should Hear

Here are five TED Talks to inspire you on uncovering happiness in parenting, seizing the reins of your work-life balance, living passionately, and more.

Everything We Know About Parenting Will Eventually Be Wrong

What are "mesofacts" and how will they contribute to our kids' arguments when leaving us four pages of instructions for watching our grandkids?

What We’re Listening To: "By the Book" Podcast

Each week we suggest a new podcast to add to your playlist. Up this week: the half reality show, half self-help podcast "By the Book."

What My Facebook Feed Taught Me About Myself

I’m worn out from being told how to be better, do more, and be less me. The truth is this isn’t about the Facebook feed at all.

The Sting of Being the Uninvited 

Doesn’t everyone know what that feels like, some personal version of Annie and the birthday non-invitation heard round the world?

If Everything is Impermanent, Let's Rest Assured the Effort Remains

All I had wanted was to do something that would last. But that’s how it is with motherhood, isn’t it?

5 Unique Alternatives to Baby Books (That Won’t Make You Feel Like a Failure)

In the age of the smartphone, many parents are finding the traditional baby book just doesn’t make sense.

Making Friends at 40 (Because We Need Them More Than Ever)

I couldn’t explain how afraid I was of new people and this new place. The fact was, I didn’t know how to make friends and I was terrified.

7 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Put a Mobile Spy on Your Kid’s Cell Phone

Before you fall for a company’s “You MUST monitor your child’s cell phone” scare tactic, consider these things.

What to Expect When Your Ovaries Decide You’re Done Expecting

Here are the most common symptoms of perimenopause and menopause you can expect:

Your Parenting Style Needs a Makeover

The problem of parenting styles isn't that any style is right or wrong, it's that in our adherence to them we forget style is massively subjective.

To Every Exhausted Mom out There, This Is All You Have to Do

Instead of doing all of these things in an attempt to satiate ourselves, we just have one thing to do, that’s to show up.

How to Help Kids Cope With Post-Christmas Letdown

When the morning of December 25th arrives, it’s seemingly gone in an instant, often leaving children with a post-holiday letdown.

Why Every Home Needs a Family Sock Basket

They're never matched up anymore, and the goal is no longer to find a perfect matching pair, but simply two socks that match just enough.

A Cause of Reading and Writing Struggles You May be Overlooking

According to new research, one of the earliest warning signs of hearing impairment might be when a child struggles to read or write.

Everything Looks Better by Candlelight

Now that I'm a mother in my late 30s, it seems my own mortality and the ridiculously-accelerated passage of time is shoved in my face every five seconds.

Noticing, Understanding, and Getting to the Root of Our Triggers

Once we began to understand the triggers that arise from our own childhood and how our kids push our “buttons,” we can respond appropriately.

When All I See Are Snakes

Where is the balance between protection and paranoia, between caution and completely shutting down?

Be a Leader Not a Boss

Are you a parent? How do you see yourself? How would you define your role? This is important. It will impact everything you do with your child and how you do it. With the growing influence of gurus...

“Boy” Underwear Is the Best Underwear

There's no physical need for the variance in young kids' underwear sizes. Might there be a benefit to styling all kids' underwear the same way?

They're Their Milestones, Not Ours

Time and again we’re presented with a measuring stick, and sometimes our child simply doesn’t measure up.