Parenting

Family | Arts & Culture | Parenting
Untangling the Horrors of Being Parented Resentfully

In the ‘Beloved,’ ‘The Baby,’ and ‘Barbarian,’ Black women grapple with vengeful mothers and children. In my life, I’ve broken that cycle.

Jan 12, 2023
Family | Parenting
Taking on the Feminine Labor of Creating Holiday Magic

I can’t give up the invisible labor of making “holiday magic” because that’s how I feel closest to my late mother.

Nov 21, 2022
Family | Arts & Culture | Parenting
The Mom in ‘Home Alone’ Is a Messy and Magnificent Model of Motherhood

Is Kate McCallister a “good mom”? That’s beside the point. Her example shows the shallowness of such standards: She loves her kid. She proves it.

Nov 16, 2022
Family | Parenting
Instagram Makes Parents Feel More Clueless Than We Really Are

All these self-styled experts online drown out the intuitive voice of the parent and sow doubt in every decision that they make.

Nov 9, 2022
Family | Parenting
The Funk of Poverty

My poverty is the most dangerous kind of poverty. It is religious. This is what I know, what my family and community know.

May 25, 2022
Family | Parenting
Even in a Queer Marriage, There’s the Familiar Trap of Gender Roles

The wall that divided us in those early weeks of my first child’s infancy became a continued separation.

Jan 27, 2022
Family | Parenting
How to Teach Your Child About a Disappearing World

My daughter understands object permanence—the idea that what vanishes continues to exist. As the planet warms, I worry I may have oversold the concept.

Jan 13, 2022
Family | Health | Parenting
I Turned to TikTok When Motherhood Felt Out of Reach

In the emergency room waiting for a potential diagnosis, I soothe myself with loops of pudgy toddlers tripping into the antics of babyhood over and over again.

Dec 9, 2021
Family | Parenting
How Affirmations Ground Me in Baking and Parenting

My affirmations teach me the things I still need to learn.

Feb 9, 2021
Family | Parenting
I Needed Control of My Life, So I Started With My Hair

I grieved the chance to have an uncomplicated pregnancy. I grieved the fact that having more babies could be potentially fatal. And I grieved a younger, more carefree me.

Feb 3, 2021