“She’d have less to worry about if she knew none of these things. But if she knew none of these things, I reason, she also wouldn’t know me.” At LitHub, Rachel Beanland explores whether or not family secrets are ever justified.

Kim Foster’s James Beard Award-winning essay weaves together the themes of family, addiction, and fast food into a beautiful (and heartbreaking) narrative.

In isolation, Stephanie Land finds surprising relief from PTSD — and discovers she is able to write again.

Tara Williamson reflects on the lives of Tina Fontaine and Colten Boushie and on how Canada’s systemic dehumanization of Indigenous people led to their needless deaths.

“Being a mother, a woman, a wife and a writer is different from being a writer-writer. It’s possibly more precarious.” This Longreads essay by an anonymous writer — which has gone viral — is about the struggle to write as a woman, a mother, and as the wife of another writer who is jealous of […]

“The impulse to see pregnancy as a sci-fi curiosity turns pregnant people into something that is not human, or at least adds an asterisk to their humanity.” In this longread, Sara Fredman writes about pregnancy, demons, and Stranger Things.

“For all I say I’m envious of my daughter’s freedoms, perhaps the older woman has more leeway, more agency.” Artist Myfanwy Tristram was irritated by her teenage daughter’s extreme fashions — until she took an illustrated journey into their origins.

Thoughts from Heather Kirn Lanier, who is the mother of Fiona, a child with Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome: “They are treated, in other words, like banks, where the teacher deposits information and then, at a later date, requests that the information be returned back.”

“After a while, a boy not unkindly asks my daughter, ‘Why is your Mummy in a wheelchair?’ My heart squeezed.” Lorna at Gin & Lemonade writes about talking to her daughter, Isla, about disability.  

“When I was pregnant with my fourth child, Maely, I just wanted to keep wearing my jeans.” Holly Kjar discusses the product she created for pregnant women, the Maeband, and the growth of her business and online community.

In an excerpt from her debut memoir, WordPress.com blogger-turned-author Stephanie Land recalls moving from a homeless shelter to transitional housing with her young daughter.

“All I’ve wanted from the beginning is just to put a human face on poverty that is not the one that we think of…” Stephanie Land, who wrote a memoir on working as a maid and being a single mother, first found an audience on her blog.

At Tea & Bannock, shayla snowshoe reflects on the joys of mothering her daughter, Dani-Mae: “But with each passing day, I become more aware of myself as a person and the strength that I carry.”

“Same kid. Different wrapper.” In 2004, the Smartypants family adopted baby Nora. In 2018, they amended Nora’s Certificate of Foreign Birth when Nora transitioned, changing his name Aaron.

Designer, author, and AltSummit founder Gabrielle Blair created Design Mom in 2006; since then, she’s published thousands of posts on design and parenting, travel, food, and other topics (from the evergreen to the timely).