+

motherhood

Parenting

A soon-to-be dad asked for the best parts of having kids. Parents delivered with heartwarming joy.

He was tired of only hearing about how his life would soon be over and how he'd never sleep again.

Baby giggles are one of the best things about parenthood.

The dizzying preparation stage of soon-to-be-parenthood can be a little daunting. Everyone and their grandma—literally—bombards you with congratulations, advice and doomsday-like predictions about how your life is about to change.

People try to prepare you for parenthood by sharing horror stories or warning you about how hard it's going to be with the best of intentions. Parenting can be tough, and going into it with overly rose-colored glasses can lead to some painful reality checks. But too many jokes about never sleeping again or anecdotes about toddler tantrums can also dampen what should be a joyful time of anticipation and excitement and make parenting sound like a total drag, which it's not.

That's why soon-to-be-dad Harris Fanaroff took to Twitter to ask parents what they really love about raising kids.

"I’m tired of hearing the…'You’ll never sleep again' 'Your travel life is over' 'Say goodbye to your weekends,'" Fanaroff wrote. "My first baby is joining us in the next 3 weeks and I’m excited, nervous, anxious, and grateful. I’d love to hear your favorite parts of having a newborn/baby/kids."

Keep ReadingShow less
Family

5-year-old gave his mom advice for handling nerves. It was both adorable and spot-on.

"You say, ‘I am brave of this meeting!’, ‘I am loved!’, ‘I smell good!"

Kids really do say the darnedest things.

This article originally appeared on 01.31.22


Any parent knows that kids can be surprisingly astute little philosophers at the most unexpected times. One minute your child is throwing a tantrum because you sliced their sandwich wrong, and the next they are blowing you away with their deep preschool thoughts. It's enough to give you whiplash, but it's also one of the most fun things about being around kids. You never know what they're going to say and sometimes what they say is just awesome.

Case in point: This 5-year-old who gave his mom some sage advice about handling her nerves.

Twitter user @Eprecipice (StressieBessie) shared the story in a tweet thread. She wrote:

Keep ReadingShow less

This article originally appeared on 02.04.21


One of the greatest parenting milestones is the day you get to explain to your children the basics of sex. Sometimes that day arrives because a kid bluntly asks how babies are made, sometimes parents bring it up so their kids to hear it from them before they hear it from other people, and sometimes it's a result of an unexpected encounter (like a kid walking in on their parents doing the deed).

However you arrive at it, that initial conversation is always interesting. No matter how prepared you think you are, some awkward hilarity is inevitable as you navigate those new waters. Sex is pretty simple on the one hand, but quite complicated on the other, and figuring what details to share at what stage is a tricky balancing act.

Keep ReadingShow less
Science

Breastfeeding mom's touching encounter with an orangutan has people swooning—and debating

"She sat with me for approximately half an hour, kept stroking the glass and lay down next to me as if to support and protect me."

This article originally appeared on 10.04.22


A breastfeeding mother's experience at Vienna's Schoenbrunn Zoo is touching people's hearts—but not without a fair amount of controversy.

Gemma Copeland shared her story on Facebook, which was then picked up by the Facebook page Boobie Babies. Photos show the mom breastfeeding her baby next to the window of the zoo's orangutan habitat, with a female orangutan sitting close to the glass, gazing at them.

"Today I got feeding support from the most unlikely of places, the most surreal moment of my life that had me in tears," Copeland wrote.

Keep ReadingShow less