As a first-time parent with a obsession with product ratings that I realize should be questioned, I spent an absurd amount of my pregnancy researching baby gear. I needed the most reliably secure swaddles, the perfect newborn bathtub and a musical mobile that was guaranteed to change my life.
In her new book The Design of Childhood: How the Material World Shapes Independent Kids, architecture critic Alexandra Lange explains that since the dawn of the mass-produced toy industry, there have been Good Toys and Bad Toys in the eyes of adults. “The Bad Toy is one that just sits there, to be mashed and pulled in…
You can read all the books about what to expect when you’re growing a human inside you, but the fact sheets and stats don’t always tell you the real story. In the video above, Angela Garbes, author of Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy, shares a few things you should know…
When I was a kid, my dad taught me how certain chess pieces move by having me analyze the shapes of the pieces themselves. The rook, a castle made of horizontal and vertical lines, moves horizontally and vertically. The bishop, which has slanted lines, moves diagonally. I was never much good at the game, but I…
Ken Jennings became famous the easy way—through an unprecedented 74-game victory streak worth $2.52 million on Jeopardy. Since that 2004 era, the affable quizmaster has gone on to co-host a podcast, become a beloved Twitter hero, write several books (including the newly released Planet Funny: How Comedy Took Over Our…
For parents, the decision is coming up earlier and earlier: Should you give your kid a smartphone? On one hand, you may fear it’ll turn your child into a hunched-over zombie, or that she’ll be constantly distracted, or that it’ll mess with her brain in ways we don’t yet know about, or some other bullet point on the…
You probably use machine-learning systems every day without even knowing it. The technology gives us spam filters, our Facebook News Feeds, digital assistants, search engines, Netflix picks, Amazon recommendations, fraud detection systems, chatbots and more. And it’s only going to become more pervasive. Machine…
If there’s a person who knows a thing or two about falling, it’s Jessie Graff. But for the American Ninja Warrior phenom, the important part is getting back up. Through a new video series called Stunt Sitter, Graff teaches self-described “helicopter” parents how to let let kids take risks and even—gasp—fail. We asked…
If you’ve been feeling helpless about the Trump administration’s separation of families at the border, you can make your voice heard at one of the dozens of rallies happening across the country today, June 14. Grassroots coalition Families Belong Together is leading a nationwide event to oppose “the cruel, inhumane…
Between news reports of kids being poisoned by garden hose water to getting heat stroke in bounce houses to almost certainly being the targets of human trafficking at Ikea, it is crucial for parents to be on guard at all times, protecting their delicate children from the many dangers that may be lurking at any given…
With this year marking the 50th anniversary of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, along with the the release of the new documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor?this past weekend, we’re hearing facts about children’s television icon Fred Rogers that reveal just how much care he put into everything he did. Like how he would…
How to fill up a water balloon in 1987: Stand at the bathroom sink, carefully pull the lip of the balloon around the faucet (there’s a 30% chance the balloon will tear at this point), turn on the water and watch the balloon expand, attempt to turn off the water at the balloon’s absolute maximum size (if you can let it…
Marlo Mack produces How to Be a Girl, a podcast about life with her transgender daughter “M.” Through stories on everything from what it was like when other moms at school found out a girl in class had a penis to how she told her child she may not ever be a biological mother, Marlo (not her real name) gives listeners…
Anthony Bourdain, who died today the age 61, gave us bold wisdom on how to make a better burger, how to find good food in airports and why it’s okay order fish on Mondays.
You missed your kid’s soccer game again because you’ve been working on that big client report, the one you’re still behind on. Oh, and didn’t you promise to bring muffins to the school bake sale tomorrow? And there’s that meeting at 10, and the pediatrician appointment at 11:30, and ugh, you should probably buy toilet…
When riding in a car with little kids for an extended amount of time, you quickly learn three things:
An anonymous mother wrote a piece for Today titled “How to Imagine the Unimaginable.” It’s the type of story that as a parent, you can’t bear to read, which means that you must (though do be warned that it deals with sexual abuse). She details how she discovered that a babysitter had played a game called “privates”…
For a car seat to work properly in the instance of an accident, your child must be, well, in the thing. The shoulder straps must be in the correct position and snug on their body.
Kids and parents know the routine. Heck, it’s even ingrained in Daniel Tiger’s “Morning Song” a catchy tune that my husband and I used to sing to help my five-year-old get ready for her day: “Clothes on. Eat breakfast. Brush teeth. Put on shoes. And off to school!” But if I take a hard look at reality, those steps are…
Here is how many of us make our daily to-do lists: In the AM, fueled by coffee and morning delusion, we jot down all the tasks we hope to accomplish in the next eight (or, let’s be real, 11 or 12) hours. But these lists, while well-intentioned, are often written haphazardly. After crossing off a third of the…
