Tell your true friends. Let yourself grieve. That’s the best advice I have for those of us who have lost a pregnancy. Miscarriage is in the news, now that Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, mentioned their experience in a Facebook post announcing their pregnancy. It’s an opportunity to talk about how we should talk more about […]
Have a parenting question? Ask me via e-mail or Quora. Q. Am I being selfish wanting my husband home every day after work and on the weekends after giving birth 4 weeks ago? A. Absolutely not. Try to explain. “I really, really need you here. When you’re supposed to be home at 5, I am […]
When your anchors are missing, you feel it. Your ship floats this way and that. There’s a heightened level of turbulence — whining, clinging, hitting — all the signs that kids feel overwhelmed. You get this feeling that your days need more structure. If you’re getting that feeling, too, this post is for you. There are a couple ways to think of […]
The Airbnb apartment I’d rented was not only spotless, there was zero clutter anywhere. Two tiny toddlers and two tiny dogs lived there, I knew, not to mention their parents. So why wasn’t this condo as cluttered as mine? I was so perplexed. I suppose that’s why, when I ducked out of the rain into a bookstore and spotted the tiny book “The […]
Sleep researchers who attended last week’s SLEEP 2015 conference in Seattle were fascinated to learn about new genetic targets for narcolepsy in mice, non-drug treatments for insomnia, and why recovering from a week of bad sleep isn’t as simple as sleeping in on the weekend. I was fascinated, too. But as a parent, the most useful […]
Go camping in the mountains for a week, with no artificial light, and your sleep schedule will shift to align with sunset and sunrise—whether you’re a lark or an owl. That’s because bright light is our body’s strongest cue for when to wake and when to sleep. Natural light is four times brighter than electrical […]
“Should I hold my son back from kindergarten?” a mom asked me. Her child was at a play-based preschool, and she was worried that he wasn’t ready for kindergarten because he didn’t know his letters and numbers. Play-based preschools, I assured her, are the big trend for an important reason: Play is how children learn. […]
Occasionally I speak in summits like this one, and the conversation is lively. Dr. Laura Markham talked about giving ourselves permission to be less productive. Lori Petro talked about healing ourselves if we didn’t grow up with good role models for communication. I talked about letting our kids do things for themselves — and asking […]
Have more parenting questions than I can answer once per week? Of course you do! So do I. Luckily for us, a new 21-day parenting summit is starting up this week: Be The Best Parent You Can Be Live – 2015 Online Event It’ll feature 21 leading experts in child development, education, nutrition, sleep, child […]
“Good job, mama,” my 3-year-old said today. “I’m so proud of you!” I’m going to pretend she was thanking me for being a good mom instead of for making her some frozen yogurt. (Or maybe the two go hand in hand for her.) We don’t often hear “thank you” for the job we do as […]