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
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.

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
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 09, 2022
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
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
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
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 09, 2021
How Affirmations Ground Me in Baking and Parenting

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

Feb 09, 2021
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 03, 2021
Resistance Can Be Playful, Too

In the face of overlapping and unprecedented crises, an immigrant mom protects her family through play.

Dec 17, 2020
How Do You Survive a Child Meant to Survive You?

My mind is years ahead, trying to imagine an America whose cherished ideals hold true even for a little Black boy like mine.

Dec 10, 2020
A Pregnancy, a Pandemic, and a Pear Tart

When I first discovered I was pregnant, we were deep into a very strange spring.

Dec 01, 2020
Motherhood, Metamorphosis

I do not wish to have not been a parent. But I think it is normal to imagine new existences when the world is crumbling.

He’s Starting School at Home, But I’m Just Happy He’s Here

Nothing in my son’s life has gone according to plan. Why would school be any different?

Sep 16, 2020
In Utero, In a Pandemic

When I say I love you, you know exactly what I mean, that this, our love, our family, is a small, fierce revolution.

Jun 01, 2020
In Search Of: Grandmas

Our son will grow up without grandmas, but we want him to remember these wonderful women he'll never get the chance to meet.

My Journey from “Spare Parent” to Stepparent

If there was one thing I was clearly not cut out for, it was being a stepmom.

Jan 21, 2020
Songs and Stories to Keep the Ghosts at Bay

We all have them, those unmet needs or wishes from our own childhood, the painful bits that creep in and affect how we parent.

Oct 29, 2019
How I’ve Changed as a Parent in the Wake of My Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis

On the heels of my diagnosis, I feel there is no way to construct a narrative around what’s happening to me—a deep betrayal for a writer.

Sep 23, 2019