Parenting

Parenting

My son is 7, and he loves soccer. Since he was 3, he's played on local rec teams that have weekly practice and Saturday games at a nearby park. These are not really competitive leagues, more for kids to have fun. This league is really good about not pushing the kids too hard. Last year, three different coaches approached us after games to encourage us to have our son try out for a travel soccer team.

Baby care brand Frida is facing online backlash after screenshots of sexual innuendos in its marketing materials began circulating on social media. Frida, which describes itself as "the brand that gets parents," sells a range of baby care, fertility, and postpartum products through major retailers, including Target. Last week, an X user shared images of several products' packaging, writing: "sexual jokes to market baby products is actually sick and twisted @fridababy this is absolutely appalling and disgusting."

For all the talk from employers who claim to understand the needs of working parents, childcare benefits remain elusive in many workplaces. Surveys have repeatedly shown that employees strongly value these benefits, which can run the gamut from childcare subsidies to backup care options. As working parents have demanded more from their employers, these perks have grown in popularity in certain workplaces, alongside more generous parental leave policies. But the companies that offer childcare benefits are still in the minority.

I love reading romance novels whole-heartedly. Knowing the general beats of what is going to happen, and that there will definitely be a happily ever after, is comforting to me. I love reading about yearning and love and sex, too. The books I read are not "closed-door romances"-they're pretty smutty with racy sex scenes. The particular book she was reading does start out very "casual" and before it turns more serious, though all with consenting adults.

My mother dropped a bombshell on me and I don't know how to move on from it, but I feel like I need to, fast-I am expecting my first child in a few months and don't want this hanging over us. She informed me that she and my father have never felt like they are a priority in anyone else's life, including mine, and so they have decided to be their own priority.

Wondering if day camp is right for your family? Here are eight great reasons to sign your child up for day camp today! Day camp is one of the greatest gifts you can give your child. It's often a child's first step toward independence and provides an environment intentionally designed for children to explore, discover, and learn about themselves and others. Below are eight reasons why day camp is so beneficial for both your child and your family.

Baby naming is big business. In the pre-internet days, there were books filled with names and their origins and meanings. Then perhaps driven by '80s babies who remember what it's like to be in a homeroom with two other Jennifers, lists of names became popular online. These days, parents turn to social media, apps and even baby name consultants to help them choose the perfect name for their little one.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Dorenne Simonson, 66, who is her granddaughter's kinship care provider in New Jersey. Simonson has parented her since she was two months old. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. I've always been in a situation where I had to spend whatever I made. There's no retirement account when you're single and raise five kids by yourself.

I really wish I could give you THE answer. Regrettably, thousands of years of human knowledge on this point has served up only this: It's a dang crapshoot. You have created two unique humans and sent them spinning off like tops into a very complex world. They may fight like cats and dogs as kids and become thick as thieves as adults, or they may be little buddies as kids and maintain (at best) a cool civility when forced to interact at weddings and funerals.

These are awesome! I spent hours with a drill and screwdriver installing push-down locks on cupboards five years ago. I now have another crawling baby and those ones are all broken. I was dreading installing new ones and saw these. They literally go on in seconds, the bracket means it lines up perfectly, and the adhesive is strong! My older kids think the magnet key is super fun.

This post is part one of a series. In our efforts to escape poverty, to make mortgage payments, to meet the demands of our jobs, we've become simply too busy to raise healthy boys. The old African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child," applies to each one of us. Collectively, we all raise all of our children and right now they are letting us know that we aren't doing such a great job when it comes to our boys in particular.

Without effective tools and preparation, many parents understandably default to instinct and use common ineffective tactics, such as warning, advising, informing, or trying to control their teens. The adolescent brain has been compared to a car with a powerful gas pedal and weak brakes when in the presence of other teens or when expecting to be seen by them (Bulow, 2022; Steinberg, 2008). Further, they are drawn to peers, and then instinctively rev each other up into risky experimentation and sensation-seeking.

Your son is in the exact same position as so many young adults today. As a professor who loves talking to her students-a large majority of whom are 20 to 25-I know just how much COVID has taken away from their ability to connect with people. So, there have to be other young adults in your area who are also looking to widen their social circles.

On a recent trip, my daughter and I were tossing her stuffed animal around the hotel room. The toy spun around near the ceiling and came to rest on the corner of the TV, high above our heads. My daughter pointed and tried to explain where the animal landed, on the, the, the ... she didn't have the word for "TV." Yep, we had to tell our 4-year-old what that big, black rectangle was called.

I'm not going to tell you that you can't squish or flush a bug if you can't handle trapping and releasing it (although, full disclosure, I am a trap/release outdoors gal for all except mosquitos and cockroaches), but I'm not sure that persuading your 4-year-old to be cool with killing any living creature (even when it's because it "scares the shit out of" their mother) is your best path forward as a parent.

"Morning! We're not. I don't think we were invited to this one ..." I wrote back, unoffended by the lack of invitation. But then, another, more unsettling thought crossed my mind: "Or I missed the invite, which is also very possible," I added. Sure enough, when I typed "Henry" into my inbox search a few moments later, two things came up: an invitation to the party and a reminder to RSVP. I'd missed both.

I resisted. How could I keep my promise and still consider a group home? The professionals all said the same thing in different words: You can't do this alone. What happens when you get older? He needs a trained staff. His physician, who'd known Chris since he was 3, was even more direct: A group home could offer the structure, safety and supervision I couldn't provide alone.

I have a 14-year-old son, "Tim." About a month ago, I caught Tim on making lewd and disgusting posts in an online forum. Both as punishment and for his own online safety, I cut all internet connection from the house except for my own personal computer. If he needs to go online, he goes through me, under my supervision. He complained, of course.

Video games are a major part of many children's lives, offering opportunities to build problem-solving skills, foster creativity, strengthen hand-eye coordination and connect socially with peers. In many cases, gaming can promote teamwork, critical thinking and even emotional resilience. When played responsibly, it can serve as a healthy and enriching activity. However, like any social environment, whether in-person or online, gaming platforms can also expose children to difficult situations, including conflicts, exclusion and occasionally bullying behavior.

I'd suggest counseling first before looking into possible avenues of having another child at this point in life. Learning and experiencing that your children are growing up as you planned and knowing that active parenting doesn't end at age 18, but continues for many years as your children seek your knowledge and wisdom, helps take the edge off feeling abandoned or no longer needed by your kids. -Robin

Kids may say the darndest things, but parents post about them in the funniest ways.

On this episode: Lucy Lopez, Elizabeth Newcamp, and Zak Rosen are celebrating a global triumph. Bad Bunny's Superbowl halftime show was transcendent. Zak's mom even messaged Lucy during the halftime show. Lucy breaks down all of the meanings you may have missed, explains why it was so special to have Ricky Martin perform, and so much more! Then, the 'Rents answer a listener question about a babysitting co-op.

The first time I used the Snoo, it freaked me out. My wife and I placed our baby into the high-tech bassinet on her fifth day on this earth, praying the machine would help her sleep, and thus aid us in fighting back the hallucinations brought on by new-parent sleep deprivation. We wrapped her in the approved organic cotton swaddle, clipped her into the sleek oval bed and pressed the glowing button on the side.

A Melissa & Doug ice cream counter for fueling their sessions of make-believe with tons of sweet, stackable flavors, a menu, and - yes - even fake money, because even pretend ice cream comes at a price they simply loovveee charging you. The wooden ice cream counter comes with eight ice cream scoops, six toppings, two cones, a cup, a scooper, tongs, a wooden spoon, a reusable menu card, and six pretend dollar bills.

It sounds like you're trying to avoid potentially awkward or difficult conversations with friends and family. And sometimes that path works out just fine! But as you're learning with your sister, avoidance doesn't work every time. Granted, your niece could simply grow out of her bullying behavior. But it could also become a pattern when your kids are together. Which is a bummer for them, makes the time you all spend with your sister's family a lot more fraught,

Talita Pruett, a California mom of three children ages 14, 13, and 5, is doing everything she can to be a present, involved parent. But one issue weighs on her more than anything else: guilt over media use. She has tried it all: screen-time limits, content filters, charging phones in her bedroom at night, and regular conversations about healthy media habits. Still, she says, guilt lingers, both about her children's media use and her own.

My grandchildren live 3000 miles away, so I don't get to see them nearly as often as I'd like. Recently, I took a three-week break from my regularly scheduled life to help take care of them while their nanny was away. My son and daughter-in-law both work full-time, and I was eager to pitch in and help with school runs, meal prep, baths, and bedtime.

Body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs), like hair pulling, skin picking, and nail biting, can take up a lot of space in a family's life. Not just in bathrooms and bedrooms, but in conversations, emotions, and worries about the future. Parents want to help, kids want relief, and everyone is exhausted by the cycle of noticing, reminding, trying harder, and feeling discouraged.

What makes me even crazier is that I know they can listen. I know this because they do all the time, mostly when they aren't supposed to. I can't tell you how many times I've been having an adult conversation with my husband and/or friends and my two children-who haven't listened to a word I've said all day-suddenly have very thoughtful and detailed questions

My sister-in-law "Jane" is the divorced mom of a 7-year-old son, "Derek," and a 5-year-old daughter, "Talia." Child care is insanely expensive in our area, and reliable sitters are rare. Because I work from home, I offered to watch Jane's kids after they get out of school while she's at work. It seemed like the perfect solution at first. Dear Used, Within the past few months, however, my SIL has been increasingly late in picking up Derek and Talia.

Don't let them push you around, my youngest son said halfway through the Camino de Santiago. You don't have to get up early if you don't want to. I didn't know that was an option, replied his brother from his bunk. This subversive banter is what our family sounds like now. The old hierarchy has loosened. We are four adults negotiating the day.

There are dramatic proposals on airplanes happening just in the nick of time, and love that blossoms in the face of terminal illness, and seemingly impossible relationships thriving against all odds. But while I enjoy a good love story as much as the next mom, my work as a pediatric emergency medicine physician informs my perspective on the myriad ways romantic relationships have the potential to cause young people harm.

Kids may say the darndest things, but parents post about them in the funniest ways. Every week, we round up the most hilarious quips from parents across social media platforms like X, Threads and Bluesky to spread the joy. Scroll down to read the latest batch. Realness delivered to your inbox. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners.

Honestly, there's no one I love shopping for than my two toddlers. Plus a theme like Valentine's Day? Consider me a dog with a bone. If you *too* have a tiny Valentine in your life, you might just fall in love with one of these little gift ideas. From a nostalgic Polly Pocket ring and a K-Pop Demon Hunters sensory jar to crayon-shiped Lip Smackers and dazzling Minnie Mouse stud earrings, your darling Valentine is going to look like the heart-eye emoji when they're done opening their gift.

Classic and once-popular baby names are falling out of favor, with some at risk of disappearing entirely. A new report from BabyCenter, which tracks the names parents consider and choose for their newborns, analyzed the top 1,000 names to identify which have seen the steepest declines since 2024. Among girls, Charleigh, Mckinley, Prisha, Ezra, Sasha, Mía, Kenna, Kori, Dior and Shaikha are all slipping down the rankings, with Charleigh and Shaikha taking the hardest hits.