Motherly Stories
Motherhood changes us. Celebrate the ups and downs with these honest, insightful essays about becoming—and being—a mom.
What parenting with a severe mental illness looks like
I have had mental health problems all my life, but I did not grasp the severity of them until after I had started a family.
To the mama experiencing pregnancy loss—give yourself space to grieve
Don’t treat recovery as a weigh station on the way to happiness, but instead as a critical component to dealing with what you’ve just been through.
My daughter died of loneliness. I’m on a mission to prevent other families from experiencing this grief
Chronic loneliness is a silent killer; it’s time that the conversation around it got louder.
I’m a Black mom, and I had to advocate differently for my NICU baby
Due to the history of the increased mortality rate of Black mothers during childbirth, we had to take every precaution.
To all the babysitters who dedicate their time (and love) to our children
From early mornings to long days to late nights, you all have been there in times of need.
Blake Lively expecting baby number 4 is a big deal in normalizing big families
People shouldn't concern themselves with other's reproductive choices, and that includes the choice to have several kids.
Dear parents of children with a mental illness
First and foremost, you did not cause your child’s mental illness.
How bipolar disorder shaped my experience of motherhood
What my therapist told me blew me away: bipolar disorder, he told me, is something we can manage.
Gentle parenting sets impossible standards—these gentle-ish philosophies work for me
Parents, especially mothers, put so much pressure on themselves to be perfect for their children—but that’s an impossible standard.
Moms aren’t ‘better’ at parenthood—we just know no one else will do what we do
When the mental load of motherhood is getting heavy, it's okay to ask for help.
What I didn’t get about being a mom in your early twenties until I became one
It has made me anew and cracked me open in ways unimaginable.
I binged the first four ‘Yellowstone,’ but I won’t watch Season 5
I wish I had never started watching.
I’m a self-proclaimed workaholic: Here’s how I began to reprioritize my family
How a mindset shift allowed me to reimagine motherhood.
How burnout impacts me as a parent with depression
Burnout impacts nearly three-fourths of all working adults, and it definitely intersects with other aspects of our identities too.
Baby gut health is a powerful tool when it comes to allergies and eczema
By providing transparency into what is in their baby’s gut, parents can take action sooner and get to the root cause of the baby's gassiness, allergies and other chronic conditions.
I’m afraid of having a second child and giving my firstborn less of me
Because I know that in due time, these moments that are usually made up of just us won’t be the same anymore.
I stopped praising my husband for doing what he’s supposed to be doing—and you should too
Because dads aren’t extra help. They aren’t live-in babysitters. They’re parents—just like us moms.
Working on my mental health as a parent
So let me be frank: I’m not “doing it all.” I’m not operating at full capacity in every area of my life. I’m no longer trying to be a perfect mom.
The silver lining to raising children without grandparents
There are certainly times we feel an acute sense of absence, but what I have begun to realize are actually the unique benefits of our position.