“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).

“Our world focuses on the looks of girls and the accomplishments of boys.” At OTV Magazine, Angela Noel reflects on the gendered compliments adults give children, and how they make it hard for girls to separate their self-worth from their appearance.

As the school year is kicking into gear in many countries, Cari White, a librarian in Texas, gives parents and educators 10 reasons to encourage young readers to tackle entire works.

Dorky Mom Erika is preparing to write parenting books for real life: “Baby Girl ripped the page out of the book about positive discipline. Minutes after I corrected her, she used a crayon to scribble in the book about the defiant child.”

Jason Preu with a poem on boxes, candy, and the passing of time: “My daughter enters the room / bearing candy and a smile. // The last time I wrote of her / she was seven. Now she’s ten.”

Caren Chesler confronts her use of profanity: “‘Fuk,’ he said, holding up the fork. He then speared one of the bananas and stuck it in his mouth and smiled. . . . With Eddie now two, I was going to have to begin training my potty mouth now.”

On learning to play: “(Legos are) my escape route from a mind-numbing round of tea-party. I can’t handle sipping air from a tiny teacup, but pull out those LEGO bins and I’ll sprawl out on the floor like a kid. Which, when I’m with my own kid, feels pretty cool.”

Angela Noel on co-parenting and experiencing loss as a part-time mom: “Sucked into this hole are the smiles I won’t see. The giggles I miss. . . . These all live in the hole in my body, the blackhole place where he lives a life outside of the life he shares with me.”

“My children grew despite my hollowness.  They smiled and ate; played and worked.  I wonder if they saw me pretending to live or if they were fooled by me too.  Lola, the masterful charlatan.”

“What happens if my child is never great at anything? I mean, when is my child going to find their thing?”  Is your child a prodigy? Most of us weren’t, and we turned out just fine.

Like father, like son: Rob Moses’ love of photography has taken root in his son, Cameron, age six.

Lori Duron’s 10-year-old gender creative son: “I’m a boy who likes girl stuff. I don’t even like calling it girl stuff and boy stuff. There shouldn’t be girl stuff and boy stuff; it’s all just stuff.”

A mom reflects on preparing her 12-year-old sons to fly alone, to grandma’s house in today’s America: “I thought we would at least get to girls before we got to guns. But this has been an extraordinary year, full of violence and bigotry.”

Lisa Sadikman on raising her daughter: “This is when I feel myself expand, just a little, into the space she’s left behind. There are hours now when I am finally able to twirl in a circle of my own without scraping motherhood’s walls.”