The Parenting Journal

A playpen feels like a solution. You put the baby down, turn your back for three minutes, and nothing terrible happens. It works so reliably that it’s easy to start thinking of it as a substitute for baby proofing rather...

Every year, parents buy the same three things first: a baby monitor, a car seat, and a cute mobile for the crib. Then the baby starts moving, and the real education begins.Babyproofing is not a single afternoon project. It is...

Every new parent I know has a version of the same story. They spent two weekends installing cabinet locks and outlet covers, stepped back to admire their work, and felt accomplished. Then their kid found the one thing they missed.I’ve...

Every experienced parent has a version of the same story. You turned your back for sixty seconds. Maybe it was the doorbell, maybe a sibling needed something, maybe you just needed to breathe. And in that sixty seconds, your toddler...

Renting changes nothing about how fast a baby moves. It changes everything about how you’re allowed to respond.The wall anchors you’d use in a house you own? Off the table, or at least complicated by a lease that charges you...

Hiring someone to walk through your home and tell you what’s dangerous sounds like a luxury. It isn’t, necessarily. But it’s also not always the right call. Here’s how to figure out which side of that line you’re on. 36,000...

Every year, parents spend hours researching strollers and minutes thinking about what happens when the baby starts to move. That gap is where children get hurt.Not anxiety. Evidence. 3,500 — Infants die from sleep-related causes in the U.S. each year...

Every parent I know has had the same moment: you look up from your phone, and your baby is somewhere they absolutely should not be. For me, it was the afternoon my younger daughter emptied the entire under-sink cabinet in...