Putting a mirror up to a baby’s breath is one way to ensure your doing it right. But common sense planning and subverting the inner alarmists is a good habit.
The first time someone thought my baby boy was a girl I took offense. Clearly he’s a boy, I remember thinking. How else do you explain his masculine crawl? Later I would encounter a similar situation, only this time I was in the opposite position, meeting an old friend on a sidewalk outside Union Market …
There’s nothing wrong with showing off a child’s beauty, but a child contest becomes abuse when parents live vicariously and sacrifice character and fun. Child beauty pageants aren’t the only times a child contest becomes abuse, but that’s usually the first thing people think about. Any hobby contests, intellectual competitions, sporting events, or school fairs …
How often should you bathe your baby? My husband and I never talked about baths. Apparently, how often our baby needs a bath is now a matter of contention. I said she only needed a three baths a week – after all, she doesn’t really get dirty. Her Dad said she needed a bath every …
A childproofing and child safety expert will give you much to consider when building a nest for your newborn, but they often exaggerate how commonplace it is for household items to hurt or kill babies. After having our first baby, my spouse signed me up for one of those infant CPR and infant safety classes …
“I have triumphed over the Kingdom of M at the battle of Onesie,” my Facebook status reads. “It was a long and arduous battle. There were many casualties on each side, but we have prevailed! M has now retreated to the castle keep at Crib and is undoubtedly planning the strategy for the next battle.” …
Our 10-month old son has joined the debate over whether news on tablets is better than printed news. I prefer he eat the printed news, but he seems to appreciate the benefits of both. To explain what I’m dealing with I first need to cover our daily routine. My mornings begin with a cup of …
Five minutes ago, this post read as follows: “dasdaba $%+1 p00p.” I’m still not entirely sure what that means, but I assume M does, since she decided to type it while I was away from my computer grabbing her a new diaper. At 12 months old she is fascinated with technology. I’ve tried giving her …
My one year old daughter, M, toddles toward a litter of kittens, who are fresh from a party in the litter-box and shakes her little butt as if to pounce. “No!” my mother exclaims and reaches down to grab M. “Let her play with them,” I say and grab her hand. “What if she gets …
Yes! You’ve already been giving your children alcohol in the fruits they eat – you just didn’t know it. A trace amount of alcohol can help sooth sore gums for teething infants, so don’t be fooled into buying an over-the-counter product that merely replaces Jim Beam with their own hooch. Anbesol has 70% alcohol, which …
New parents are inundated with the idea they need lots of hardware to ensure the safety of their child. This is especially true in the bathroom, and bathing seems a favorite topic at baby showers, perhaps because adoring family and friends remember the bath time ritual as one of the better parts of parenthood. But …
We’re not talking about circus sex theater in front of the kids, but the fact remains there is no proof that intimacy in front of children will scar them for life. Our modern puritanism continues to feed off a Victorian sensibility that the display of nudity and sex around children will confuse them and turn …
The suggestion that sleep training will lead to a Prozac dependency later in life is as valid as suggesting that vaccinations lead to autism – dangerous, science-less hogwash. Dr. Darcia Narvaez (aka Doctor Nirvana) purveys the Dangers of Crying It Out in academic settings throughout the United States; she has proven to be a silver-spoon-in-mouth …
Peter, Paul and Mary sang a song called The Marvelous Toy about toys that do something or another, but who’s primary purpose is to distract and entertain. Will they lead to attention deficit disorder (ADD) and require endless hours of therapy for kids raised on arbitrary distraction? Probably not. What it will do is allow …
