Category Archive

Families

Our sister site Offbeat Mama launched in 2009, became Offbeat Families in 2012, and was merged into Offbeat Home & Life in 2015. This archive contains all the posts ever published on those sites! We believe that while children change your life forever, being around kids doesn’t necessitate abandoning your identity. We believe in supporting and inspiring parents and caregivers who are moving beyond mainstream visions of parenting. We welcome anyone who’s interested in families, whether you’re pre-parental, in the process of becoming a parent, or choosing to live childfree.

How should I talk to my kid about puberty?

Rebecca’s son is nine, and she’s starting to wonder: is it time to talk about puberty? Did your parents ever talk about it with you, or what did you tell your kids?

How do you talk to your kids about Jesus when you’re an atheist?

One day, my five-year-old asked me if I knew Jesus made the world. So, I told her what we know: that once the earth was here, things started to happen little by little, until one little creature had become a million little creatures, all changing and growing.

Raising Miss Manners: how I taught my toddler to be polite

Maybe I am old-fashioned (despite the piercings and tattoos), but I think that by teaching my children manners, even before they fully understand them, that I’m laying groundwork for a future where they show others respect, and are respectable. Whats more, I feel that because my family is unconventional in many ways, that its even more important to observe conventional manners and etiquette.

Do I have to have a birth plan?

Birth plan, smirth plan. Jess understands the reason behind them, but feels like she can do without — what do you think?

Biracial lesbian seeking known donor of color

At the beginning of my journey, “brown” was at the top of my list. I wanted, as much as it was (im)possible to control, to have a baby with whom I shared a skin color. I have struggled with this desire for a brown child on and off the entire first year of my search for a known donor.

Get ready to swoon over a tattooed punk mama and her blue-haired offbeatling

Brittany’s Flickr stream contains more goodies than I can count: kids with pink and blue hair, infants with (fake) tattoos, and a whole lot more. I’ll say this: this ain’t your mama’s child and family photography, y’all.

My son has a firetruck: gender-neutral doesn’t mean genderless

I was recently interviewed for an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about gender-neutral parenting. The response to the article included a lot of people fretting about how gender-neutral parenting supposedly “denies” a child from having a gender. Well, here’s why that’s a load of hooey.

I talked about sex with my kids… and possibly scarred them for life

I always thought I’d rock having THE talk with my kids, but I think I might not have. Using the appropriate words was a cinch, but getting down to the mechanics of IT was a challenge.