I just tell my daughter the truth: I have PMS, my back is killing me, and we’re going to eat a lot of chocolate. My daughter is singing. There’s nothing that makes me happier. At 2 years old, her grasp of pitch and rhythm are rudimentary at best, but what she lacks in technique she […]
Pregnant people and babies deserve a positive, affirming, supportive birth experience. We should set the bar for birth care higher than “not dying.” My partner and I were so unprepared for a hospital birth, we didn’t even have a bag packed. We spent 42 weeks planning for my partner to give birth to our daughter […]
Dear Dana is a bi-weekly advice column for humans who engage in romantic relationships. Please send your dilemmas, issues, conundrums, assumptions, conflicts, anxieties, worriments, obstacles, complications, predicaments, queries, questions, and any other synonyms for “problems” to deardana@rolereboot.org. Dear Dana, My daughter just informed me that her teacher told her that only girls wear lipstick. I immediately […]
It might seem frivolous to those who feel right at home being called “mom” or “dad,” but many queer parents agonize over what their children will call them. At my partner’s choir concert, my daughter is disruptive. She wants to sing; she wants to dance; she wants to be held by her dad. The choir […]
Dear Dana is a bi-weekly advice column for humans who engage in romantic relationships. Please send your dilemmas, issues, conundrums, assumptions, conflicts, anxieties, worriments, obstacles, complications, predicaments, queries, questions, and any other synonyms for “problems” to deardana@rolereboot.org. Dear Dana, I don’t know what to do and could really use your help. I have two young kids, […]
The idea that young men need to learn about consent in high school or college goes hand-in-hand with the idea that sex education shouldn’t be taught before then, either. The second week of first grade, my 6-year-old son came home and told me, very seriously, “Mama, I have a girlfriend and I love her.” I […]
Who would have thought that being a failure would be so useful? If at first you don’t succeed, lay on your bathroom floor in the fetal position and weep until sunrise. No? Oh. Just me then? Apparently the saying is something more along the lines of, “get up and keep trying. MY GOD what is […]
In 2018 I resolve to spend less time obsessing about the chasm between my own life and the fantasy of idealized motherhood, and more time enjoying what I already have. Last month I was hanging out with a friend – another mom – while our daughters played together. “Are you making New Year’s resolutions?” I […]
