A rare non-selfie of the author and one of her daughters. Photo: courtesy of Kristen Thompson I had a bitter epiphany earlier this month when, (belatedly) editing hundreds of pictures from last Christmas, I realized there was not one photo of me. If an outsider had been scrolling through the documentation of our family’s yuletide
Nurture
Photo: Eric Putz When her daughter started kindergarten, Ann Toohey enrolled at the University of Calgary as an undergraduate student. She was 40. The mom of one already had a liberal arts degree in chemistry, but after two decades of doing various jobs—in cancer research, bike-path development, fundraising and communications—Toohey realized she wanted to work
PHOTO: COURTESY OF VISIT ANNAPOLIS 1. Explore downtown Annapolis Annapolis is Maryland’s capital city, but you’ll quickly discover it’s nothing like Baltimore. The walkable city is easy to maneuver with the kids or hitch a ride on the free Circulator bus, which operates daily and does a loop around the city. On Main Street, you’ll
Women are repeatedly told that having kids will hurt their careers, but in fact the opposite is often true. Having children can make you work harder and smarter than you ever thought was possible. In fact, working mothers know that you’ll never meet a more productive or loyal employee than a mom with a good
Federal elections are usually about families, and how to woo them. But getting parents’ attention? Not so easy. How are you supposed to get a full understanding of each party’s promises if you can barely manage to get the dog fed and the laundry done between shuttling kids to and from daycare and school and
Federal elections are usually about families, and how to woo them. But getting parents’ attention? Not so easy. How are you supposed to get a full understanding of each party’s promises if you can barely manage to get the dog fed and the laundry done between shuttling kids to and from daycare and school and
Photo: iStockphoto The Government of British Columbia has put an end to “birth alerts” — a practice that allows hospital staff to alert child welfare workers that a newborn may be at risk for harm, without informing expectant parents. This practice, which can lead to traumatic child apprehensions soon after delivery, disproportionately impacts Indigenous women.
Photo: Joanne Loewen After trying for a year to conceive, undergoing a heartbreakingly unsuccessful round of in vitro fertilization and waiting two long years after our initial application to adopt, our two-day-old baby arrived at our home on Christmas Eve. Brought over by his heartbroken young birth parents, he was absolutely beautiful. It was an
Amassing napkins, tea lights and random pieces of glassware (don’t make me explain, just enjoy the options when I’m making you a cocktail) is my standard strategy for trips to Ikea. (That and the staple soft ice cream cone I ravage while raging around the parking lot looking for my car.) 25 best things to
Illustration: Holly Stapleton When my two kids were little, I felt I had to inhale every moment with them. Every time they tasted something new, every time they fell off a swing—you don’t get those moments back, which meant everything else had to wait so I could be present for them. I resisted pursuing a
Photo: iStockphoto On our daily 10-minute walk to my son’s school in Toronto’s west end, we pass a number of familiar sights: a couple of small dogs (a Boston terrier named Happ and a chihuahua named Milo); a grubby parkette littered with ancient, sun-bleached toys; the malodorous dumpster behind the seafood shop; the somewhat less
Photo: Courtesy of istock It’s literally never occurred to me to take a vacation on my own. My fam doesn’t travel that often, so if I’m going anywhere, it’s with the kids and husband. Which is why, when I was invited on a trip for journalists to learn about The Palm Beaches area earlier this
Photo: COURTESY OF SAMANTHA WESTREN What would you do if your marriage imploded just as you were trying to start a family? How would you react if the thing you wanted most in the world was ripped out from under you? And what if it turned out, in retrospect, that it was the best thing