Straight Talk About Toddler Development: What I Forgot to Read in the Baby Books
When I pictured having a child before my son was born, I imagined him as either an infant — rocking him to sleep, swaddled in blankets — or as a young child, probably a preschooler or kindergarten...
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Mothers with one child are “real” too: my response to Elizabeth Banks
Are you a real mom if you only have one child? Here is what Elizabeth Banks told People magazine last week: “Two is very different from one. When you have one kid, you feel like you can jet set around...
View ArticleDoes Late Potty Training Say Anything About American Parenting?
I don’t want to talk about “poop” yet with my son. Am I being a “slacker” mom because I don’t want to think about potty training my 21 month old? Unlike most other aspects of parenting, I have read...
View ArticleIs a Claim of “Brain-Based” Enough? How Parents Can Tell “Good” Science From...
How many times have you seen a toy for your kid or come across an ad for a learning program that claims to be “research-based” or “brain-based”? New parents hear that Baby Einstein products may...
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How I made peace with “older” motherhood
The astounding increase in the number of “older” parents — those in their late thirties, forties, and beyond — has been called one of the greatest “natural experiments” of our time. There’s been a lot...
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How New Parenthood Is Like the Zombie Apocalypse of the Walking Dead
My son had a horrible virus last week. I have no idea what it was. Maybe the flu. But as I was sitting in the rocking chair with him in his room for hours every day and night, I had a lot of time to...
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How I Made Peace With Being an Introvert — And How It Helped Me as a New Parent
Do you think that being called an introvert is a good thing or a characteristic about which to be ashamed? I have a piece on a website that I love called Role/Reboot: Make Sense of Men and Women....
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What I Learned By Failing as An Attachment Parent
Before my son was born, I had a lot of plans for how I was going to parent. I read lots of books and made assessments based on what I observed from my friends’ parenting challenges. I thought that I...
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The Five Stages of Toddler Nap Grief
There is very little that a parent of a toddler looks forward to with more eagerness than the afternoon nap. Bedtime is a close second, but bedtime can often be accompanied by more crankiness,...
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When Pregnancy and Dissertations Go On Too Long
What if your pregnancy lasted five years instead of nine months? In less than two weeks, I will defend my dissertation. In many ways, my dissertation is like my second baby: I formed the idea for the...
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Is There One “Parent in Charge” At Your House?
Since I wrote a piece for the Role/Reboot website (that is posted today) called, Why Are There No “Working Dads”?, I’ve been thinking a lot about the changing roles of fathers and mothers. While it’s...
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Is There a Cure for the “Baby Bug”? Do I Want One?
This week I was in Boston for less than a day to defend my dissertation. My hearing was successful, and I’m done! Several years of coursework, research, dissertation writing…. I should be...
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Why I Want To Know About C-Sections (Even Though I Don’t Want Another)
Like me, did you skip the sections in the pregnancy books about cesarean sections? I was horrified — simply horrified — by the idea of a c-section when I was pregnant. Everything about it seemed...
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Are We Exploiting Our Toddlers To Make Us Laugh?
My son left for preschool less than an hour ago, before 8 a.m. And he had already made clear to me several times how unjust, cruel, and soul-crushing his world is. The most unfair request that I made...
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Rethinking Attachment Parenting: More Confused Than Ever
I had a brief flirtation with the idea of “attachment parenting” before my son was born. But now I’m not sure what I am. During pregnancy I was intrigued by several components of what I understood to...
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Why I Need to Stop Praising My Toddler
Here are several statements that I’ve made to my almost two year old son during the last few days, and I feel terrible about all of them. ”You’re so smart! You did it!” after he chose the correct...
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In Defense of Oversharing Parents Who Won’t Shut Up
If my “pre-baby” self were reading my current Facebook feed a few years ago, I would have “defriended” myself. Here are five categories of new parenthood experience that I’ve shared with all my...
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The Biggest Lie We Tell New Parents
Stop Telling New Parents That “It Gets Better.” My son turned two this weekend. It was a tough weekend with not too much of a birthday celebration. He had a fever and was sick again, hardly slept,...
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Introducing the HerStories Project! A Website and Survey about New Motherhood
If you’re arriving from the More Than Mommies mixer, Welcome! My blogging collaborator (Stephanie of Mommy, For Real) had a big week. We started a whole new project about motherhood, friendship, and...
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Am I a Similac Strong Mom? Deconstructing the Breastfeeding Wars
How much of our perceptions about highly emotional and controversial topics are shaped through our own personal experiences? When and why do they change, if ever? Can we ever be truly “rational” about...
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