Category Archive

I’ve got a parenting question!

Help! What's the best way to store dirty cloth diapers?

Help! What’s the best way to store dirty cloth diapers?

We are 32 weeks pregnant with our first child and planning on cloth diapering. I’m looking for a little bit of guidance on how to store the dirty diapers until wash time. I looked on the internet but still felt confused after reading about dry pails v. wet pails while other people recommend getting a bidet sprayer to attach to the toilet. I would love to hear what other people do in the time between a diaper getting dirty and laundry time.

I’m pregnant and in a metal band: how do I protect baby’s hearing?

I’m an audio engineer and an electric violinist for a metal band, and just found out that I’m pregnant. It’s early days, but do I need to cancel gigs after a certain point? As an engineer, I experience up to 105db at work, but generally staying under 90db. As a musician, though, I’m onstage next to drum kits and loud amps, including my own, for an average set of 50 minutes. Is there anything I can do to keep them safe without cancelling gigs?

I'm a tattooed, blue-haired mom dealing with mental health stigma: do I need to tone down my look?

I’m a tattooed, blue-haired mom dealing with mental health stigma: do I need to tone down my look?

I’m a tattooed mom with blue hair who loves her family and teenage kids and live in a home full of love. Recently we’ve been working through challenges relating to mental illness — minor but requiring therapy and medication. I’ve lost some friends over it, people who could overlook the superficial style stuff, until it seemed less superficial.

My wardrobe has toned down a LOT in the six years we’ve lived here — but should I go back to being a brunette who tends to stick with long sleeves in the summer for the sake of my teen daughters?

"Are you a boy or a girl?" How do you explain gender to a child?

“Are you a boy or a girl?” How do you explain gender to a child?

My kiddo is biologically male, but when kids ask him if he’s a boy or girl, he says, “I’m me. I’m a person.” Kids, however, don’t accept this answer and pester him to the point of tears. I don’t know how to tell him the difference between boys and girls, or if I want to tell him that there is a difference at all (besides anatomically).

How do you explain gender to a four-year-old?

How do you handle a relative giving religious education to your child without you?

How do you handle a relative giving religious education to your child without you?

My mother-in-law knows I’m a non-religious person. It’s been the subject of very awkward conversations and loaded questions and hasn’t always gone well. The first question from her upon learning her son and I were pregnant was, “Can I take the baby to church?” But she knows my parenting plan of exposing my child to all religious options.

Has anyone tread this road before, and have any advice on how to handle it? What language do I use to make it clear I don’t want my toddler being pushed into a certain religion before she’s old enough to understand?

How do I teach privilege to my able-bodied, white male children?

How do I teach privilege to my able-bodied, white male children?

My partner and I recently welcomed our miracle twin newborns to the world and we’re thrilled! But also terrified. Somehow we managed to bring two more blond-haired, blue-eyed, males into our rural Midwest society (we are both of primarily European ancestry, but we never expected this!).

We had always planned to teach our children to value diversity and to challenge the system of privilege, but now we’re looking at raising children who are the textbook image of privilege. Help! How can we do parenting right?

What do I do to stop my teenage son from pressuring girls into sending nudes?

How do I stop my teenage son from pressuring girls into sending nudes?

I have a 13-year-old son who I’ve recently found out has been pressuring a female friend into sending nude photos to him. I’m SO disappointed as I thought I was doing a good job teaching him about enthusiastic consent, legal issues with minors, and framing media news in a teachable way. But I’m going wrong somewhere. Do any of you have any advice or resources for dealing with this?

Will I be left out in my own home due to a language barrier with my kids?

Will I be left out in my own home due to a language barrier with my kids?

My boyfriend and I have been together for a long time and marriage is in the very near future as well as probable kids. I am white and my boyfriend is Hispanic, and he speaks both fluent English and Spanish. He has recently said that he wants his future children to learn Spanish. However, this makes me worried. Most of his immediate family speaks Spanish and they hardly include me in conversations. So I worry that if it happens now, it will only be 10x worse when it is in our household with the kids and my connection to them won’t be as strong.