When I was 23, I worked at a newspaper. Just about every day, my boss would remark that she needed to head out at a certain hour to pick up her daughter. At the time, I didn’t give much thought to this announcement—her world of raising children seemed far off in the distance. But today, 14 years later, I’m certain…
A while ago, my mother-in-law bought some math and reading workbooks for my six-year-old daughter. When I asked my daughter if she wanted to check them out, she just looked at the big, intimidating stack and said, “No thanks.” That was fine—she’s in kindergarten and I wasn’t about to push it. Later, though, I was…
It may seem convenient to let your sleeping baby continue snoozing in their car seat after you’ve reached your destination, but this could be putting them at risk, says a new study published in the American Academy of Pediatrics journal.
The first time my 6-year-old daughter tried to make a blanket fort, she had the joyful ambition of a child. Unfortunately, she did not have the structural expertise of an engineer because the whole thing collapsed within three minutes and she cried.
The first time my daughter vomited, I yelled in terror and then she cried. She was two and had caught a stomach bug from her daycare. I felt like a terrible mom and said, “Oh, I’m sorry, baby—it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.” But it was not okay. She threw up again. I yelped again. She cried again. I was…
Android/iOS: My six-year-old has started reading YouTube videos, and I’m cool with it. She’s using a free children’s reading app called Rivet, which was just released. Rivet has a digital library of more than 2,000 books, ranging from a mythical tale about Pegasus to a guide to clouds.
Shima and Jenny live in Tokyo with their two young daughters, Velvet Jean and Birdie Moon. Shima was born and raised in Japan, while Jenny grew up near Chicago and moved to Japan 10 years ago. I spent a day with the family to learn about all that is wonderful and challenging about raising kids in the city. We talked…
Do you have a child who gets confused about which shoe goes on which foot? Do you have a sticker? Then try this classic parent hack.
If you’re looking for simple science experiments and creative projects to do with your kid, you can’t go wrong with anything from Sergei Urban, aka TheDadLab. The experimenting father started posting clips of the activities he’d do with his two young sons, and parents kept wanting more. Now his videos—which include…
Little kids are notoriously difficult creatures to feed. They gaze at their meals with a skeptical eye—“Um, why is this meatball lumpy? Is my pasta touching my peas? What? An orange carrot? That’s it, I’m done.”
There’s a new app called YOLO that’s hugely popular among teens. Just a week after its release, it has become the most downloaded iPhone app in the U.S. It’s a free add-on feature for Snapchat—when users connect YOLO to their accounts, they can add a sticker to their Snapchat Story that invites their followers to give…
As a veteran on-air meteorologist, Paul Goodloe has reported from the scenes of blizzards, floods, fires and hurricanes—here’s footage of him trying to stay upright while covering Hurricane Florence in North Carolina. Today, he co-hosts Weekend Recharge on The Weather Channel. Here’s how he parents.
So much of parenting a young child involves maneuvering your aging body up and down. Your kid wants to go feed the goldfish, so you get up. Then he wants to play with floor puzzles, so you get down. Then he wants a snack, so you’re up again. And then you’re down. And then you’re up. And then down. And then up. And…
When you become a parent, you get a lot of parenting advice. Some of it’s outdated (“Mom, I know you let me sleep in a dresser drawer, but we will be using a crib”) or even hilarious (“Enjoy every moment? You mean like the one right now when my kid is screaming in the produce aisle because she wants to adopt a sweet…
It’s almost time for your child’s big thing—baseball portrait day, the annual school flute concert, his debut as a ring bearer at your cousin’s wedding—and his outfit is looking pristine. Oh yes, he’s ready for this. And then you remember: Shit, the kid’s gotta eat.
Gastor Almonte is an East New York comedian. In Immigrant Made, his debut standup album, he tells stories about what it was like growing up in Brooklyn as the son of Dominican immigrants, how gentrification is affecting his neighborhood, and how parenthood has changed him. (On having to see Avengers on a Sunday at…
One Saturday morning, my 6-year-old daughter was making a birthday card for a friend. She was sitting at a small table, and on the floor next to her were about ten crumpled sheets of paper. She kept writing the letter “H” for “Happy Birthday,” then deciding she didn’t like how it looked. She was getting frustrated,…
If you take a lot of family road trips, there will be times when you and your brood must consume food in the car. And all of those times, you can expect a disaster. Takeout meals are the worst. The paper bags are usually dripping with grease, the cups have faulty lids and nothing is arranged in proper eating order.…
My 6-year-old and I have been enjoying a children’s book series called “You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You.” These books are formatted for two people to take turns reading different parts, like a script. We sit side-by-side, playing different characters and doing all the silly voices (I’m expecting a nod from the…
