It made me proud thinking that to him, it didn’t matter what he liked or what he wore, that his masculinity was perfect the way it was. It is fascinating to me that my beautiful little boy came out wanting and enjoying things that were traditionally associated with girls. His favorite colors are pink and […]
I’d been hurt by the facade of the “nuclear family,” and I never saw a roadmap for the kind of childhood I had. I was 8 the first time I had a nervous breakdown and wanted to die. Some of us are born into families that, for whatever reason, aren’t able to be families to […]
Why shouldn’t we have a say in what kind of care we received during this enormous transition? The first time my partner Charlie gave birth was in a hospital. He wanted a home birth, and we hired a skilled, compassionate midwife, someone who was affirming toward our queer family and Charlie’s identity as a transmasculine […]
My tiny but mighty family is beautiful—even if it doesn’t look like the others. A while back my son decided that he wanted to play soccer with a local parks and rec group. We packed his backpack with matching knee socks and the most adorable little shin guards I had ever seen. I stuck Rivi, […]
Our girls can be more like boys — but for goodness sake, don’t let our boys act like girls. My 4-year-old son loves Legos, rocket ships, and his big sister (not necessarily in that order). He also loves hair bows, sequins, and his sister’s dresses. This love of so-called girls’ clothing is not new. He’s been […]
When did we start defining imperfection as “everything’s falling apart”? When did we start billing a rough day (or week) as abject failure? I have a confession to make: I am not a mess. As a mom, this is apparently unusual. Moms who are a mess dominate social media. They have a dedicated hashtag (#hotmessmom) […]
I have come to accept that my parenting and/or co-parenting is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I have to do what is best for my son and our family. Parenthood is hard enough without worrying about everyone else’s opinion. Seven years ago when I was going through my divorce, I typed into Google “non-custodial […]
Like accidentally seeing your parents naked, ambivalence about motherhood makes people uncomfortable. My baby turns 1 today. Later I’ll probably post an adorable picture of him on social media and write something about how I never knew what love was until he came along and what an honor it is to be his mother. All […]
