The Best Parenting Stories Of 2017 

The Best Parenting Stories Of 2017 

We tested the plastic butt straw. We figured out how to avoid the diaper-change urine stream. We learned Snapchat. Parenting is hard work, but we tried to make it a little bit easier. Here are our best parenting stories of 2017.

On infertility and pregnancy loss:

How to Answer the Question “When Will You Have a Baby?” When You’re Infertile


Illustration by Angelica Alzona/GMG

While people shouldn’t ask you when you’ll have a baby (or when you’ll get married, or when you’ll have another baby, or anything else that’s none of their goddamn business), they do anyway. It helps to have some stock answers.

What to Say and Do When Your Wife or Partner Has a Miscarriage


Illustration by Angelica Alzona/GMG

The high of learning your wife is pregnant can never reach the depths of the despair that tears you apart when you learn she will miscarry. A writer shares what you can do to help her through everything that comes before and after.

On navigating your new, sleep-deprived world:

How to Survive When You’re a Night-Owl Parent With an Early-Bird Kid

Babies wake up really freaking early. If you’re a natural night owl, the kind of person who can’t even begin to wind down until midnight or so, those 5AM wakeups can wreak havoc on your mood, your health, your whole life.

How to Get Out of the Parenting Roles You’ve Been Stuck In


ABC

Sure, different parenting styles can benefit kids. But when mums and dads get stuck in certain roles (ie. the fun vs. serious parent, the capable vs. the clueless one, etc.), they can devolve into caricatures of themselves and that can lead to resentment.

A Guide to Friendship Between Parents and Non-Parents


Photo: SharonaGott/Flickr

Something happens the moment a baby is born — adult friendships that once seemed so easy become filled with obstacles (“What do you mean you can only eat dinner at 4:45 p.m.?”). Here’s what I learned can help bridge the great divide.

On parenting little kids:

What to Say to Kids Instead of “Stop Crying”


Photo: MIKI Yoshihito /Flickr

Kids have real feelings, and even if they’re crying over something we think is trivial (they are dressed as Batman but do not want to be addressed as Batman), it’s our job to both empathise and teach them to manage those feelings. Plus, if they don’t get the empathy they’re looking for, they will keep trying.

What to Say to Little Kids Instead of “Say Sorry”


Photo: butupa/Flickr

Children love the word “sorry.” It lets them off the hook. And parents love when kids say it. Manners! We’re teaching them. But there’s a problem in tossing around this magic word.

How to Keep Your Kids Out of Your Bed


Photo by LuckyImages/Shutterstock

The definitive guide to declaring the square footage of your mattress the one area in your house untainted by the sounds, smells and fluids of children.

How I Trained My Kid to Use the Potty in Three Messy Days


Photo: Rudolf Dietrich/ullstein bild/Getty Images

You, too, can live a life of diaper-free liberation.

On parenting older kids:

How to Deal With the Fart Smell in Your Teenager’s Room


Photo by darkday/Flickr

Our Ask a Clean Person columnist Jolie Kerr takes on this question from a reader: “My teen’s room always smells. Can this be helped? It’s like a general boy smell, like a musty fart cave.” You know the smell she’s talking about.

How to Help Teens Manage Their Anxiety


Photo: Keirsten Marie

Anxiety in adolescents is on the rise, but knowing how to help is tough: Should you shield the child from all anxiety-inducing circumstances? Release them from school and family obligations? Intervene with teachers and coaches when it all gets to be too much?

On hard conversations:

How to Talk to Young Kids About Race


Photo: Keith Trice/Flickr

If hate is learned, what do the teachings look like? The truth: Oftentimes, it looks like nothing and sounds like silence.

How to Talk to Your Children to Discourage Stereotypes


Photo by Annie Spratt via Unsplash.

A professor of early cognitive and social development reveals how subtle features of language can contribute to a child’s tendency to view the world through the lens of social stereotypes.

On the very important parenting hacks you need right now:

How to Safely Get a Tiny Object Out of Your Child’s Nose

Be the hero.

Turn on the Subtitles When Kids Watch TV


Photo: Flickr/RichardBH

Slip some reading instruction into television-watching the same way you sneak spinach into mashed potatoes.

Use the “I Cut, You Pick” Strategy for Dividing Stuff Between Kids


Photo: CircaSassy/Flickr

A simple way to settle the injustices.

Get Your Kid’s Ears Pierced at a Tattoo Shop Because They Know What They’re Doing

If you’re nervous about bringing Little Ella into a place called Big Daddy’s where there’s skull art on walls and spikes on foreheads, don’t be.


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

Here are the cheapest plans available for Australia’s most popular NBN speed tier.

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