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.
Comments
One response to “The Best Parenting Stories Of 2017 ”
My friend who has a small boy said she wanted a “pair of tingles” I said what?
She repeated she wanted a parenting course.