Online parenting mags tell it like it is
Filed under: Media, That's Entertainment
I've always been a voracious reader, and when I found out I was pregnant, I inhaled every possible parenting manual in the Universe and then went out looking for more. Somehow, this perilous journey doesn't seem quite so scary when I read about all the other women who have done this and flourished.When Nolan was born, I took out every current issue of every Mom magazine I could find. And, I was a little disappointed with what I found.
Where were the articles on how hard new parenting was? Where were the articles about the relationship tension that can happen when a newborn arrives? What about the dark side of parenting? I knew it must be out there, I knew I couldn't be alone.
So I was so happy to find several online magazines that don't shy away from the true issues of parenting: the good as well as the bad. Here are a couple of my favourites:
Brain Child Mag
Mom Writer's Literary Magazine
Literary Mama
All have compelling, thought-provoking material that tells it like it is. Am I missing any? A new Mom can never have too much to read.












ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
6-29-2006 @ 9:40AM
Lotta said...Wonderful, thanks! I just subscribed to Brainchild. Other great mags, though not "mommy" based are def. more intelligent reads.
Bust
Ready Made
Enjoy!
Lotta
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6-29-2006 @ 10:00AM
Mercy said...Try Hip Mama, and Mothering. Those are two very honest magazines. Also, invest in a copy of Anne Lamott's "Operating Instructions." It's her memoir of the first year of her son's life, and it is funny, and dark, and raw, and real. Reading about the 'real' challenges of parenting have really helped me to relax with myself, since I've seen that I'm not the only out there living on no sleep and rage.
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6-29-2006 @ 10:50AM
daisy said...Brain, Child looks great, but does anyone else get irritated by comments about "thinking mothers"? I wish they'd say "parents." And I wish the tagline didn't suggest that most moms are dumb. Grr.
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6-29-2006 @ 12:05PM
Spring said...Brain, Child commented on the thinking mothers thing a while back in one of their issues in response to a dad's letter saying he enjoyed it too. Can't remember the specifics but they did say they are standing by the mothers and the thinking thing is to counteract the myth that your brain stops working once you become a mom.
Brain, child is my favourite parenting publication. You can sometimes find it at Chapters stores- Edmontonians can try the one on Whyte.
Operating Instructions, mentioned above, is also a great read and I've been meaning to reread it.
Ariel Gore is the editor of the hipmama 'zine and has several books published, I recommend The Mother Trip and The Essential Hipmama.
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6-29-2006 @ 2:24PM
R. said...I've always had trouble with the phrase "thinking mothers," (and also Salon's late great "Mothers who Think") -- not because it doesn't include fathers, but because it implies, in a kind of snotty way, that all mothers do *not* think.
We might not all be introspective, and some of us might not have the time (or the inclination) to read literary essays -- but that doesn't mean we don't think.
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6-29-2006 @ 7:04PM
daisy said...R., yes, that's it exactly! The salon column used to bug me, too.
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7-01-2006 @ 12:54AM
Richard Kuhlenschmidt said...thanks for pointing these out, but where are the dad magazines?
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