When you don’t need to worry about the big things, you can start obsessing over the small ones.
parenting
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Diabolical Genius of the Baby Advice Industry
On the modern explosion of a confusing, quackery-filled, yet irresistibly addictive book genre.
Posted inArts & Culture, Profiles & Interviews, Quotes
Things People Don’t Want Their Kids to Do
Some parents don’t want their kids to know how much money they have. They also don’t want their kids to become opera singers.
Posted inArts & Culture, Nonfiction, Quotes, Science & Nature
Mothering Is Not the Enemy of Creative Work
Journalist Erika Hayasaki uses science to show how motherhood can improve creativity.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Other National Pastime: Unusual Baby Names
“Brayden” and “Nevaeh” have got nothing on their 17th-century predecessors, “Waitstill” and “Supply.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Notes from a Baby-Names Obsessive
Names channel our identity — or at least our parents’ idea of our future identity — in ways both big (class, ethnicity) and small (subcultural affiliations, self-awareness). When the mother’s American and the father’s French, things get complicated, fast.
Posted inArts & Culture, Nonfiction, Quotes
Coming of Age in the Army
After a series of dead ends, a young man finds direction and identity in the Army. Despite his parents’ pride, the lingering question becomes: at what personal cost?Â
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
My Bad Parenting Advice Addiction
When her son was born, Emily Gould read 25 books about babies and sleep, but wound up only more confused.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Quotes
In the Shadow of a Fairy Tale: Overcoming the Evil Stepmother Stereotype
Leslie Jamison explores the fraught role of stand-in parent as she considers her new life as a stepmother to a six-year-old.
Posted inBooks, Quotes
‘Elephant and Piggie’ Author Mo Willems on the Importance of Teaching Kids to Fail
The beloved author confronts some critical questions.