"Despite my avoidance of self-help parenting books, I’ve been an avid reader my whole life, and as I thought about what kind of parent I wanted to be, a few principles from my favorite novels came to mind." www.the-pom.com/p/why-i-star...

"My younger son is a gleeful thrower, a mess-maker who creates for the sheer love of art and not to express any real distaste with the meal offered. Blueberries, mashed into a pulp– trash. Noodles shoved beneath the high chair seat– trash." www.the-pom.com/p/why-i-star...

I wrote about one of my favorite books today for @thepom.bsky.social and about wanting to give my kids the gift of wasting security. www.the-pom.com/p/why-i-star...

As you might imagine, @kristenmulrooney.bsky.social and I have a lot of daylight (no pun!) between our perspectives here but what I love about @thepom.bsky.social is that there’s a space for both of our voices plus reading her writing is always a treat

I can’t say enough about this essay by @clhubes.bsky.social and I think it’s what I like best about @thepom.bsky.social. In the overwhelm of parenting, it can be hard to know when anxiety and frustration are normal or when something is genuinely wrong. A vital and important perspective -

I’m up at @thepom.bsky.social today. At this time of year, it’s hard for working mothers especially not to feel the structural abandonment of our labor policies. I wrote about how “back to school” can bring sharp reminders, worry, and even despair. Link in replies.

"'It’s starting early this year,' a mom friend said to me earlier this week, and I didn’t have to ask her what she meant. I know I won’t be reading for a while. All of the things I might call hobbies are on the chopping block." www.the-pom.com/p/i-dont-car...

"Did they really not yell at their kids or were they just being sanctimonious? It’s not like I planned to lose it. It’s just that sometimes I got so frustrated, so panicked that there was nothing I could do to stop whatever behavior he was doing and I lost control." www.the-pom.com/p/anti-anxie...

One of our editorial team, @kristenmulrooney.bsky.social, has a fun new byline today: she not only wrote the story on which the new Vera Bradley ad campaign is based, but she stars in it! youtu.be/y5iLDXXb4Yk?...

"An eco-friendly diaper genie that harvests the methane from your little bundle of joy’s worst messes and converts it to energy to warm your wipes. Don’t forget to get the wipe warmer add-on, otherwise the methane will permeate your nursery." www.the-pom.com/p/every-pare...

Congratulations to @beccys.bsky.social who has won a year of free premium access to The Pom!

I’m nearly through with my intensive mothering years as the empty nest beckons in 18 short months (😢) - but I wish that @thepom.bsky.social was a thing when I was a younger mama. If you’re not familiar with their content, go ahead and check them out!

I enjoy reading the different parenting perspectives shared by these women. The articles are thought-provoking, funny, and heartfelt. I have been a mother for 18 years but am still learning and open to new ideas. I also am reassured that I am getting some things right! 😅

To celebrate a subscriber milestone, we're choosing one subscription at random to comp for one year of access to our paid articles! If you'd like to be considered, share this post or make your own post linking to the-pom.com and tag us to be entered.

"When we treat disliking an entire, diverse group of humans for something they can’t change as reasonable, we enter dangerous territory... Children [are] billions of people, as fully human as the rest of us. Their right to participate and engage with the community isn’t up for discussion or debate."

"We want childlike wonder without children I think because, I’ll be perfectly frank, some of these folks still want to be society’s baby themselves." www.the-pom.com/p/childrens-...

"I was thrilled that my son made a period joke at the dinner table, not just because the timing was perfect and his delivery was impeccable, but because it felt like a win to me that my kids were comfortable with this topic that would have mortified me in my youth." www.the-pom.com/p/i-dont-min...

Another great read by @laureneahmed.bsky.social and @thepom.bsky.social. The truth of it is that, as the piece says so well, “…some of these folks still want to be society’s baby themselves.” That’s it, that’s the whole thing. There is no other explanation for resenting children at Disney World. 🧵

"'Enjoy every moment!' I said sarcastically to the dinosaur stuffies on the floor. “You’re gonna miss this!” (They did not respond, for they are not sentient.)" www.the-pom.com/p/stop-telli...

I wrote about how saying, "it goes so fast! You're gonna miss it!" and the like is unhelpful to new parents, and what I'm going to try to say instead. www.the-pom.com/p/stop-telli...

My tirade against Instagrammers who do Beach Stuff for their kids continues

THIS: “…parents and kids can only thrive when we aren’t in a mode of constant scarcity…” I’ve (gratefully) missed most of the ‘90s summer promos, but another reason I know it’s not possible is that Lynette Jennings & Aleene’s Creative Living aren’t on the air anymore. 📺

"What an incredible privilege it is to be able to travel with our children, I would repeat to myself over and over again every summer, as traffic jams, flight delays, motion sickness and just plain overstimulation led everyone in our family to tears." www.the-pom.com/p/wait-until...

"The woman seated across the plastic table was one of my own students in the Intro level class, and her children– older than mine by several years– ate their food like human beings, not shrieking warthogs. She smiled warmly at me, unfazed by the noise and mayhem." www.the-pom.com/p/do-the-har...

@thepom.bsky.social is my favorite when it showcases different opinions! Earlier this year @laureneahmed.bsky.social posted an almost completely opposite take, and having read this one I find that they both resonate. (More)

One of my favorite things about @thepom.bsky.social is that we aren't a hive mind; everyone has different perspectives, so we get great essays like Lauren's "I Love to Travel With Kids Who Are Too Young to Remember It" and @sarahradz.bsky.social's piece today. www.the-pom.com/p/wait-until...

"These 90s summers I so cherished hadn’t vanished because we’ve failed to see the value in rest, relaxation, and unstructured time. They’d simply ended because the world my kids live in is utterly unrecognizable from 1995." www.the-pom.com/p/stop-tryin...

"I like to think that by being open with all kinds of vocabulary with my kids, I've opened the door to communicate freely about other things, including the things I was always too embarrassed to talk to my family about when I was young." www.the-pom.com/p/i-dont-min...

The summer Lauren describes from her childhood not only no longer exists, but was never supposed to be aspirational in the first place. Today at @thepom.bsky.social: www.the-pom.com/p/stop-tryin...

I couldn't agree with this more. Ugh, the idea of planting store-bought crap instead of teaching your kid to marvel in nature. They'll be chasing that fake thrill forever, when you could be setting them up to find perfect and imperfect wonder all around them. Naturally, for free, on their own.

Now that camp season is underway, boosting this post I guest-wrote for @thepom.bsky.social. My house is filling up with space-themed crafts and kids’ hand-drawn anti-lanternfly propaganda. Everyone’s sleeping pretty great How’s it going in your house? www.the-pom.com/p/summer-cam...

"Let me tell you something about the ocean. Did you know that there is a shark that lives for 400 years? It’s called the Greenland shark and there are Greenland sharks that have been swimming around since the Pilgrims arrived in America." www.the-pom.com/p/the-beach-...

Great piece by @laureneahmed.bsky.social "...we don’t need to curate a specific experience just because the temperatures outside are climbing... childhood is fun because it’s childhood, not because we spent it at the pool versus the YMCA day camp." @thepom.bsky.social

Today at @thepom.bsky.social I wrote about struggling through non-kid-oriented events while my children are climbing on me, and why I'm determined to keep doing this. www.the-pom.com/p/do-the-har...

If you pay $7 you can read the article someone on the internet told me was ABUSIVE of my husband (although y one fair I do not think they paid the $7 to read the article)

Last week, Lucy wrote about the possibility of having another kid-- and how she and her spouse feel about that, respectively-- for our paid subscribers. What do you do when the person you love doesn't quite see eye-to-eye with you on the size of your family? www.the-pom.com/p/i-want-a-t...

I love everything I read from the writers over at @thepom.bsky.social and boy do I wish I’d read things like this when my kids were little. Just refreshing in its common sense. Anyway, this piece really spoke to me—PLEASE feel free to correct my kids if needed!

Not to brag but I'm celebrating the dads today on @thepom.bsky.social www.the-pom.com/p/dad-humble...

We're getting ready to feature a new guest writer on The Pom tomorrow, just in time for Father's Day-- any guesses as to who's writing for us this month?

My kids are tough, tough sleepers. I have tried everything (yes, including Consistency). I don't know where this inability to rest comes from. Except... maybe I do. I wrote about generational insomnia and the mom I want to be for @thepom.bsky.social today. www.the-pom.com/p/my-kids-do...

I had a lot of anxiety about quitting my teaching job to stay home with my kids. Today for @thepom.bsky.social I wrote about how I slowly set up the building blocks for a writing career in tiny chunks of time I scraped together between diaper changes. www.the-pom.com/p/how-i-used...

"Talking about your husband as an achievement robs everyone of autonomy and, more importantly, shifts accountability from the structural factors making families’ lives harder back onto the very same women most oppressed by this system." - Lauren Ahmed in @thepom.bsky.social

ICYMI: editor @laureneahmed.bsky.social wrote a bonus piece over the weekend about the disturbing trend of relationship bragging in household labor discussions, and why this is not only insufferable, but dangerous. Read for free here: www.the-pom.com/p/someone-to...

My pandemic baby is turning 5, and this one goes out to my fellow 2020 parents, especially those who had babies born that Spring when things were so wild and unpredictable. We did it!

My article for @thepom.bsky.social got picked up by Slate! Love sharing a hot take with a wide audience, what could go wrong 😄 slate.com/life/2025/05...

Oh my gosh this essay by @clhubes.bsky.social for @thepom.bsky.social absolutely clutched me by the heart www.the-pom.com/p/my-pandemi...

Our own @kristenmulrooney.bsky.social is published in @slate.com today! slate.com/life/2025/05...

Read this essay from @thepom.bsky.social on summer camps by @shanders.bsky.social, and listen to our interview with Sanders here! literarymama.substack.com/p/on-being-e...

I got to write a guest post for @thepom.bsky.social today! The US is making life harder on working moms on a daily basis in 2025. As summer approaches, I had things to say about how sometimes the things families do to make parents’ work possible can enrich the kids’ lives as if that was the point.

I love @thepom.bsky.social because sometimes we get to ask my very favorite authors to write a piece and they say yes! @shanders.bsky.social today on summer camp. She writes about being a working mom in such an affectionate, authentic, and incisive way - I devoured this.