What do girls wear? — This morning, as I was helping my four-year-old daughter get dressed, I pulled out this Nike set from her dresser. I thought it was an adorable, comfortable outfit appropriate for an active day of summer camp, but my daughter immediately pouted and dramatically crumpled to the floor. …

Never apologize for taking up space(s). — As a mom, I have long appreciated shopping at our local Giant supermarket. My kids love the car-shaped grocery carts, complete with twin steering wheels, and hunting for Marty the robot. I always grab them a banana from the “free fruit for kids” bin to snack on while we shop…

We did this to ourselves. — The push notification materialized in deafening silence. News website Politico had leaked an initial draft of Supreme Court majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. The day that pro-choice America had been dreading (or had uneasily tried to convince themselves would never actually come) had dawned. The opinion, written by conservative…

Giving your kids dessert with (not after) dinner is all the rage among feeding experts. Does it work? — The nightly dinnertime battles had become untenable. The cajoling. The whining. The outright refusals. The “just try it.” The “just have one more bite.” You’d never know it from the words that escaped our desperate parental lips during dinner, but my kids are actually pretty good eaters, and that made…

Little girls are known for their fierceness. Grown women are not. — Every girl mom has seen the memes. My favorite reads, “Check on the moms with strong-willed daughters. We are not okay!” Another poses the question, “What’s it like having a daughter who acts just like you?” alongside a still of Melissa McCarthy from Bridesmaids captioned “Female fight club.” …

Sooner or later, we all discover the real reasons we wanted kids. — Not long after I started my two daughters in swim lessons, I was sitting in the pool’s observation area with my four-year-old on my lap watching my two-year-old practicing kicks with her instructor when the dad next to me struck up a conversation. “Were you guys early today?” he asked…

Childfree adults have their reasons, and they’re tough to argue with — Pope Francis recently declared that adults who choose having pets over having children are acting selfishly. Refusing to help reverse the declining global birth rate, his thinking seems to go, betrays a lack of care for the larger world. As much as his words angered many dedicated pet parents, the…

A lesson in creating your own destiny, from the NFL video game guy — For the entirety of my adulthood, I only knew John Madden as the guy who lent his name to both a video game and a curse. His coaching career ended years before I was even born, and I have no memory of his beer commercials. …

Don’t like restrictions? Get vaccinated. — Unless your social media feeds are a Covid-conscious monolith, you’ve likely seen posts referring to the restrictions on individuals unvaccinated for the virus as “segregation.” …