When my son turned two, my better half and I discussed enrolling the baby in a Mommy and Me class. Since her background is in child development when she made the suggestion, I listened. We agreed he needed to spend more time playing with kids his age. Since my wife…

There comes a time when you switch roles with your parents. The role reversal sneaks up on you — one day Mom and Dad are attending your high school graduation, and the next you’re scheduling their doctors’ appointments. When my parents reached their 70s, my brother and I agreed that…

In my last post, I wrote about my family history and memories. Seven years of parenthood have given me both. My son Cristian always loved animals. When he was a toddler, my wife, Esther, signed us up for a family pass to a series of zoos and aquariums. When the…

I'm late to the party, but what else is new. I'm new(ish) to Medium, and like many, I need good writing prompts to stir my creative juices every now and then. I've always had a cranky streak. In my twenties, a friend said, "I had the personality of a cranky…

A few years ago, my family participated in a charity walk — we do a lot of them. Before becoming parents, my wife Esther and I ran, rode, or walked for many causes and charities. When our son Cristian was born, it only seemed natural to put him in a…

This is Cristian. He’s seven years old, loves to read books, and play soccer, and he’s a yellow belt in karate. He’s also autistic. People constantly tell my wife Esther and me, “he doesn’t look autistic.” Those meeting him for the first time see an energetic child with an amazing…

You’re in the twilight of your pregnancy, surviving Lamaze classes, the baby shower, and pregnancy hormones so intense they make a rectal exam from a longshoreman seem enviable. Just one thing remains — having the baby. If you thought the past forty weeks were rough — just wait. You’re in…

We long to return to normal, but **normal led to this**. To avert the future pandemics we know are coming, we MUST grapple with all the ways normal failed us. We have to build something better. I hope this piece, in showing what went wrong, helps. — Ed Yong British…

Am I Young at Heart or Just Delusional? — I was 50 years old when my son Cristian was born and a stay-at-home dad for the first two years of his life. Initially, this concerned me because I had never changed, fed, or bathed a baby before. I was working without a net; it was just him and me…