Parenting
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Don’t Fear the Newborn
The hardest part of the third trimester is trying to get a decent night’s sleep. Between the sore hips, heartburn, night sweats, and an ever growing baby pressing down on your bladder, you’re lucky if you get more than two hours of uninterrupted sleep. Whenever I complained about this, everyone had the same response: You think you’re tired now? Just wait until the baby’s here. In fact, throughout my pregnancy everyone was more than happy to point out just how miserable we would be immediately after P.B.’s arrival. Experienced moms would warn me that the newborn stage is just awful. “You just have to get through it,” they’d say. Childless…
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The New Dad Mindset: How to Keep Sanity and Perspective
Becoming a dad is great, but there are also challenges. Newborns enter our lives like wrecking balls, destroying all that is familiar, and it takes time to rebuild. While the work is ongoing, life can feel chaotic and uncertain. Having the right outlook is key. With a positive mindset and a bit of perspective, we can not only survive this difficult period, but thrive. While I’m no expert—I’ve been at this fatherhood thing for just a couple of months—I am blessed with a great dad who taught me a ton through his example. I’ve also done way more reading about parenting than I care to admit. Below are a few…
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The Importance of Paternity Leave
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Baby Talk: How to Speak to your Newborn
Parents of newborns often hear about the importance of speaking to our babies. It’s sound advice, as far as it goes: research shows that exposing very young children to language boosts their brainpower and prepares them for later academic success. But the guidance feels incomplete. How, exactly, should we speak to our very small children? What should we say? Does cadence matter? Tone? Worse, for parents who want desperately to give their babies a leg up, obsessive focus on language can come at the expense of other important experiences, driving exhausting and unproductive parenting practices. Fortunately, language development research adds texture to the standard advice with practical applications. The key,…