My 3 year old just stopped playing and sat entranced when I played this. At the end he turned to me and said, “Mommy, I like this song!”

So, the thing is, children cannot consent. If you’re posting on kinja right now, you likely didn’t grow up with your entire life chronicled online without your consent. You can’t undo what’s posted online or what data is collected. So, it IS a big deal when it comes to children. I don’t post things about my child…

Yeah, I don’t get this at all. Why do the kids need to use facebook messenger. Did text messaging just stop working all of the sudden? Why would lifehacker promote this? Shouldn’t you be giving us tips on how to keep our kids out of the hellhole that is facebook...it’s pretty bad for kids, have you seen the latest…

This has been a burning question for me too! I can’t quite get things going in my room. The in between stuff just ends up on the floor and dirty and goes back down the laundry chute (our laundry is in the basement, our bedrooms on the second story, so I built a laundry chute, totally worth the time and effort). We…

Most abusers are really good at coming off as the good ones. No one ever wants to believe that the person they love and know could be capable of something horrendous because it makes you question yourself and everything you know. Even when people know things have happened, they often make excuses for abusers or simply…

People are giving you a hard time, but you’re not completely wrong. When we give our kids devices, we essentially let them into the entire world. We wouldn’t just let our 12 year olds fly off to a foreign country by themselves, but we do give them open access to the world through their phones often completely…

That’s funny, because prior to Franken’s political career, I did get a creepy vibe, but it went away the more I saw his work in the senate and heard him speak on issues. Bernie Sanders has always given me the creeps...

I am so angry that he did this. I am so angry and he needs to resign this instant. I am angry that any person with a brain can think it’s ok to treat women this way, let alone someone who clearly has critical thinking skills. I am angry that our world is so messed up that part of me is terrified to lose his voice in…

These are my secret weapon. I always have carabiner clips attached to whatever kid bag is going out with us. This allows me to hook whatever I need right onto the bag. Water bottles are a big one. My favorite trick was getting a cat collar for my son’s favorite stuffed animal. When we took a big plane trip last year,…

Thank you for your perspective! I agree, that too many parents do not consider the important value of growing up in ethnically and economically diverse areas. We are in the suburbs, but we purposefully picked a suburb that had more diversity. We chose to live “in town” to get more of that diversity.

Obviously schools is huge. One thing you don’t mention is environmental pollution. The smog, the noise, the lights...they are all bad for your health and I’ve seen data suggesting that it cuts your lifespan as well. I love so many aspects of city life, but I need clean air, quiet, and stars! For us, we found a suburb…

These are some really great points. I think for most parents, it boils down to schools. For us, it was more akin to your choices. I love woodsy areas and the country, but growing up there I knew how much I also desired to have walkability. My husband wanted to live in the city for many of your reasons. We found a…

This is the idea we plan on sharing too. Our kiddo has a few christmases under his belt now. We have never pushed the Santa idea, but we haven’t strictly avoided it either. We read holiday books and watch holiday movies with santa and we stop by the santas in the malls. He gets a present from santa. But we don’t make…

Thanks for posting this! We need to support businesses that are owned by minorities and women (especially minority women)as they often face many more hurdles to success than those owned by white men. It’s a sad state of affairs, but it is fact. Those who choose to disagree are simply ignoring history, current affairs,…

My kid is 3 1/2. My background is in child development and education. We are also big fans of tech in our household. I think what parents forget is that the internet, including youtube, is opening the entire world to your child. You wouldn’t let your toddler or even school age child out into the wide world without a…

I completely agree. When I had my miscarriage, I didn’t know anyone who had experienced one. Then I started telling people about it and suddenly I was getting stories all over the place of similar experiences and those stories really helped me get through it. The first few months where it was all hush hush were the…

Well, one of these “hacks” was actually suggested to me by a barista. I would come in and get a grande iced coffee with extra room. But their coffee is so strong I’d always have to dump coffee out to get enough milk to make it palatable. Eventually one barista noticed and told me to just order a grande in a venti cup…

Yes, we would bring Settlers of Cattan to Thanksgiving and play with all of the kids. We’d pair the youngest kids (4-7) with adults and let the others try on their own. By about half-way through the game the younger ones would be making all of the decisions themselves and completely got it. Kids are so much smarter…

I’ve been digging the offspring posts, but this one really misses the mark for me. The old school, classic games just don’t hold up, plus everyone already knows about the ones that do. It would be far more helpful to research what are some of the best, newer games out there. I’d love to learn about some new options.…

Thanks for writing this. I’ve been reading the Root a lot lately and am so grateful for it. I feel so naive for not realizing how much feminism (especially white feminism) does leave out black women. I guess, because in my mind I always saw that your struggles are far more challenging than mine, it didn’t occur to me…