Dawn Dais knows her sh!t. Really. The author of three “The Sh!t No One Tells You” books on parenting, Dais offers advice with a dose of unfiltered humor and scary realism. She’s a lesbian mom herself, but her books are for and about moms of all sexual orientations.
I’ve long said that LGBT parents and non-LGBT parents are more alike than different. There’s no “lesbian” way to change a diaper, for example (unless perhaps you make them yourself out of old flannel shirts). It should come as no surprise then, that a new book about the first year of parenthood, aimed at a mainstream audience, happens to have been written by a lesbian mom.
The new, 9th Edition of the venerable Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care by Dr. Benjamin Spock, first published in 1946, includes a section on gay and lesbian parents, the Washington Post informs us. I’ve taken a look, and while there is much to praise, there are also a few obvious gaps, particularly around gender
Since we’ve had some great comment threads here about parenting issues lately, here’s another topic for discussion: What’s the question from your child(ren) that you’ve found most difficult to answer (LGBT-related or not)? OR What’s the potential question that you are most anxious about trying to answer? Leave a comment—or your advice for others about
Helen and I celebrate our 17th anniversary this week and wonder how we made it. We also discuss a new way of thinking about kids and rules and try (perhaps in vain) to plan for when our child becomes a teen. Plus: a look at how parenthood changed Ricky Martin. Mombian: She Got Me Pregnant
I write a lot about LGBT-specific parenting here, but really, the commonalities of parenting transcend our differences. I found 7 Secrets to Raising a Happy Child, a recent guest post at Zen Habits by Sean Platt of Writer Dad, particularly thoughtful. Go have a read. Have any child-raising secrets of your own you’d like to
Thanks to Nina at Queercents for pointing out an article from Best Life magazine about kids and consumerism, subtitled: “How to thwart the $17 billion marketing effort to steal your kids’ dreams, hijack their imaginations, make them obese, and drive a wedge into their relationship with you.” Yikes. It’s enough to make one move to
Children need to play. Oh, that’s obvious, you say—but according to NPR’s Alix Spiegel, children today need more “freewheeling imaginative play,” as opposed to structured enrichment classes or play centered around single-purpose toys. I’ve long felt this; one of the many reasons my son has my 25-year-old Legos rather than today’s versions. (OK, there’s some
This Sunday’s Boston Globe Magazine had an exposé on the Better Baby Institute, which claims to have created a method for accelerating babies’ development. Physical therapist Glenn Doman founded the Institute to help brain-damaged children recover function, and he (along with daughter Janet) is now applying his findings to well infants and toddlers. “We are
I admit it. I’m a skeptic when it comes to parenting books. I think I was put off after reading the touted What to Expect When You’re Expecting and finding it saccharine and patronizing. Or maybe it is just the sheer volume of parenting tomes on display at any given bookstore, each touting its own
