essays

How to beat the winter blues as a mom: 4 therapist-approved tips

"It's time to turn your home into a cozy haven and create spaces in your home that you look forward to re-charging in."

I’ll be an ‘overprotective’ mama this RSV season—and I’m not sorry for it

So please respect my boundaries.

7 months pregnant on the campaign trail: How motherhood has changed the way I view politics

Yasmeen Abutaleb is a White House reporter for The Washington Post who…

I had a postpartum hemorrhage: Why maternal health needs a champion

We need leaders who will fight for access to maternal health services, as well as help build socioeconomic systems that will support mothers regardless of race, income or location.

Turning 3 with an IEP

We've faced so many unknowns and navigated this unexpected parenting journey with strength and love. As your parents, we continue to advocate for you in a hearing world.

I had my baby abroad, and this is what the U.S. is getting wrong

What if the U.S understood that the well-being of new parents is intrinsically tied to the well-being of our future generations?

I’m the friend who had kids first. Here’s what I wish my other friends had known

Understand that your mama friend still needs you.

Is it really true that we’re ‘only as happy as our least happy child?’

Does our joy have a threshold that is set by our children’s situation?

Birdwatching unexpectedly helped me find peace in motherhood

It’s a welcome change for our eyes to focus on nature. The only screen we see at that moment is the one between the window glass and the world.

It’s OK if you don’t go to every sports game

We are parents, not superheroes. We cannot be in multiple places at the same time. We cannot do all things or be all things. 

How shared custody prepared me for college drop-off

I stood there alone amidst the towering redwood trees waiting for the grief to hit. It didn’t.

Helping my young teen cope with middle school

The world is not a safe place for an adolescent girl, and she needs me to be her soft landing and her lifeline.

The pulse of a mother’s postpartum anxiety

I cannot make it stop, for all the things I’ve tried, it will not stop.

Halloween can be terrifying for kids with sensory processing disorder

My son has a deeply rooted phobia of skeletons that started when he was two-years-old. From late August through October, when all the Halloween decorations are out, I dread entering any store with him.

What people get wrong about being a mom in your 40s

Life in your 40s can best be described by these three words: in your feelings.

A mother’s journey after loss

Through ISF, I’ve been able to honor Isabella’s legacy by supporting other families, raising awareness and advancing treatment options and research for rare pediatric cancers.

You’re not a hot mess mom—you’re a normal one

Being a mom is messy sometimes. And that's normal.

Don’t feel guilty for reminding your kids’ grandparents they need to update their parenting skills

With studies and findings to support best practices for raising our children, it’s our job to make sure that everyone who will be in our kids’ lives are aware of those things

What’s it like being a ‘boy mom’? All the things I wish I had known

From wondering how many times is one too many for your son to bump his head in a day to getting an empty tin popcorn bucket slammed onto your head—raising boys is exhausting and fun and extremely unpredictable. 

Sometimes pregnancy is the worst, so let’s stop romanticizing it

Because not every woman has a “perfect” pregnancy.