Meghan Moravcik Walbert

Over the course of my career, from my newspaper reporting days to my freelance writing days, I have pitched a lot of stories. In my role as writer and editor of Lifehacker’s Offspring vertical, I still pitch ideas to my own bosses basically every day. But I also field a lot of pitches from freelance…

When I put out a call for freelance pitches last week, I also asked readers to send me post or topic ideas they’d like to read—even if they didn’t want to write them themselves. Which is how it came to be that a 53-year-old newspaper editor named Andy contacted me with an undeniably good idea: Parents should buy their…

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As I write this, it is snowing outside my home in eastern Pennsylvania. Again. It has been snowing on and off for so long it’s almost comical—except that we passed the “where do we even put this stuff?” stage many days ago and it still keeps on falling. What I know this snowfall means, though, is that pretty soon my…

If you—or your teenager—are into gaming, you’ve likely at least heard of Discord, even if you haven’t used it yourself. It’s one more way for teenagers to connect with their friends and chat about gaming or other topics via private or public servers, individual messages, or group chats. But, as with any social network…

We’ve been talking this week about the best parenting advice you’ve ever received (and the worst parenting advice), and out of those discussions came a shining gem that I could not, in good conscience, keep to myself. And that is a reminder of the ultimate—and most natural—of all parenting hacks: wa…

It may be somewhat counter-intuitive that a liquid that arguably smells pretty foul on its own actually stands with the best household cleaners and odor-eliminators. Yet many years of homeownership have taught me that plain old white vinegar’s acidity—often when mixed with equal parts water—is an absolute beast on the…

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The other day, my son had to come up with some questions about space for a science class assignment. His favorite, and rightfully so, was: Why does the sun look yellow, but stars that are farther away look white? One of the best things about being a parent is seeing the world in a fresh way through…

There are plenty of basic tasks that kids commonly struggle to learn as they hone their fine motor skills. Holding a pencil, tying their shoes, and putting on their own jacket, for example, are all skills we help them master with practice and patience. When it comes to wielding a pair of scissors, though, we may…

It seems to take my 10-year-old much longer than it should to get out the door to go anywhere. It is the single most frustrating part of any day. My son is chatty, which I love, but he often decides to have these great, in-depth conversations about his favorite video game at the same time I’m trying to remind him that…

When our kids are babies, we cater to their every need and want. We’re their whole world, so it doesn’t matter how exhausted or busy we might be—when they call for us, we jump to attention. We go everywhere they go, and experience what they experience right along with them. As they get older, though, the way we spend…

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We talked earlier this week about how to be a more gentle parent, which sounds sweet and lovely but can be hard to pull off when you’re feeling frazzled after a long day with whiny children. As with any attempt to shift our behavior, if we can create new routines or habits, it can help us go on autopilot in those…

Who among us has not endured a restless night (after night after night) of sleep? When you can’t fall asleep, all you can think about is how you can’t fall asleep. You might even be constantly recalculating how much sleep you’ll get if only you could fall asleep right now. Or now. While we know all that kind of thinking is hindering our ability make our dreams of sleep a reality, how can we stop it from happening? The answer, according to one cognitive scientist, might be a trick he calls “cogn…

Don’t be stubborn about this—no crybabies allowed in this post.

I only learned about “time-ins” long after fully implementing the “time-out.”

Because the teams always need volunteers, but no one else volunteers.

In 2022, we stopped gaslighting our kids, taught them basic life skills, and got them to listen to us without nagging.

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