“You have permission to make a ‘lazy’ dinner. You have permission to use screen time so you can get things done. You have permission to drink a cup of coffee at the kitchen table because you just can’t handle one more second of playing ‘pretend.'”
Dear Mama: You Are Not Messing Things Up, Parenting Is Just Hard
‘As I advanced in my career, I felt like I was losing my daughter.’: Single mom shares lessons learned along emotional parenting journey
“I was hurt, confused, and emotionally unstable but determined to train my child the best way I knew how. Since then, I have learned so many lessons.”
‘Today, I counted down the minutes until bedtime. You tested me at every turn, whined and screamed. And me? I lost my cool.’: Mom learns to cherish difficult toddler years
“But no matter how many things go wrong in a day, how imperfect I am, how bad your behavior was, when I watch you peacefully sleeping, I want to breathe the entire day in, even the bad. I want to take in your littleness and keep it forever. Because you’ll always be that newborn who snuggled right into me, and stole my entire heart.”
‘What was I to do? The heart wants what it wants. But try telling that to my family!’: Mixed race couple shares how they overcame marriage disapproval
“In most South Asian cultures, to even suggest marrying someone of another race is unthinkable. It took over two years trying to explain how I felt, and a lot of debates, prayers, and tears.”
‘Hey Instagram, please show me more of this – more mess, more clutter, more laundry and dishes. I want to see reality.’: Mom urges ‘life is a little more beautiful when it’s imperfect’
“Show me the kids running amuck seconds before the camera snapped the perfect Kodak moment. Show me the dishes piled high in the sink because you spent the entire morning being present with your children rather than cleaning up.”
‘We’ve spent over $100k and still don’t have a living baby.’: Cystic fibrosis warrior shares candid reality of infertility battle, IVF
“It’s been two years of pumping my body full of every hormone you can imagine. One to make me ovulate, one to stop ovulating. Birth control pills to control your cycle, then hormones to throw you into menopause. Estrogen pills, patches, vaginal suppositories, and injections.”
‘A couple were looking for help to grow their family. My husband said, ‘I’d never stop you blessing the lives of others.’: Mom of 5 becomes gestational carrier
“The process of getting pregnant with someone else’s baby is equally terrifying and exhilarating.”
‘I hide in the bathroom from my kids. I eat a block of cheese in one sitting. I fight with my spouse and order Trenta-sized coffees.’: Woman urges ‘don’t forget her highlight reel is entirely different from her REAL’
“I refuse to let myself believe that everyone else has ‘got it going on,’ and they are getting life so right while I haphazardly go through my days like a nervous and confused squirrel in traffic.”
‘She held his tiny body and said, ‘I can’t believe how little he is.’: Youngest granddaughter cherishes rare relationship between last-born child and grandma
“Skip is 1. My grandma is 93. The youngest of her grandchildren, I never thought I’d see her going on a walk with my youngest child. That he would walk up and ask her. That he would be born in a home she lived in. But here we are. These boys of mine getting to meet the incredible human who shaped me.”
‘In one week, I’ve matured at least 10 years.’: Ukrainian man details day-to-day life in Lviv since Russian invasion
“Today we woke up for the first time without the air strike alarm.”