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Your Digital Village: 10 Parenting Experts To Follow in These Crazy Times
Whether it’s a weekly newsletter in your inbox or encouraging words, these are the guiding voices that we turn for advice on everything from meltdowns to quarantines.
Collective exhale, parents. We survived 2021. The school closures, the Covid quarantines, talking to our kids about difficult news events, Delta uncertainty, Omicron uncertainty, holiday meltdowns, all of it. But we didn’t do it alone. It takes a village, as the saying goes, and sometimes a digital village can be just as key. Whether it’s a weekly newsletter in your inbox or encouraging words scribbled across an instagram tile, here are a few guiding voices that carried us through—and who we are sure to turn to again in the New Year.
Dr. Kelly Fradin
Dr. Kelly Fradin is a pediatrician and mother of two who combines medical knowledge with a side of “Don’t worry, I’ve been there” empathy in her instagram account @adviceigivemyfriends. From medical questions like how to tell if it’s covid or a cold, what you need to know about ear infections, or the science behind vaccination during pregnancy to parenting advice like managing anger or teaching positive self-talk, Dr. Fradin offers research-based solutions in an approachable, you’ve got this style.
Simon Holland
If there’s one thing all parents need now, it’s comic relief. And Simon Holland gives us jus t that with his pitch-perfect missives on the absurdities of modern parenting. Asides like “Sorry you gave your kid a board game for Christmas and now they keep asking you to play it with them,” to “You mean we can spend several hours cooking and cleaning up after it so we can eat dinner for 17 minutes? Yes, let’s do that every day forever,” will make you feel seen and validated. Here’s to more laughs and solidarity in the New Year
This year, we’ve turned to our Ask Lauren columnist (Founder and author of “The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom’s Guide to Style, Sanity and Big Success After Baby”) to help us with everything from caregiver conundrums to navigating the new workplace normal to avoiding holiday drama. She’s a lso committed to helping employers create policies and culture to retain women and has been fighting on the front lines to save paid family leave. Her straightforward, authentic and meet-you-where-you-are approach has been a beacon of reason and hope in crazy times.
Melinda Wenner Moyer is a journalist and the author of “How to Raise Kids Who Aren’t Assholes.” Her newsletter, “Is My Kid the Asshole?” is a must-read, drawing on her own personal experience as a parent, other experts and her own in-depth reporting to offer timely insights into why our kids behave the way they do, from why screens make kids crazy and how to fix it to this deep dive expanding on a New York Times piece she wrote about why it can be good when kids are bad.
Kevin Maguire
Kevin Maguire is a father of two and the author of a weekly newsletter, The New Fatherhood, which tackles all things dad. From the benefits of meditation, to embracing vulnerability, Maguire casts a far and wide lens on what it means to be a father today.
Emily Oster
You may know Emily Oster from her evidence-based pregnancy and parenting books, Expecting Better, Cribsheet and The Family Firm, but did you know that she also has a newsletter? ParentData delves into all things Covid, of course, but also other sources of parental anxiety like sibling rivalry, sleep training, and screen time.
Dr. Nanika Coor
Dr. Nanika Coor of Brooklyn Parent Therapy is a clinical psychologist and respectful parenting enthusiast. As a regular contributor to Le Scoop, Dr. Coor has guided us on everything from practicing radical acceptance, to how to use inclusive langu age, and the ins and out of RIE parenting. Tune in to her weekly podcast, Project Parenthood for her ten minute guide to raising your kids with empathy while taking care of yourself, too. Her always thoughtful insights have helped us become better and more intentional parents.
Dr. Jazmine’s is a child psychologist and mother of two girls focused on helping parents to connect with their children. Her instagram account @themompsychologist is full of actionable parenting advice and reminders to get you through the toughest moments. Whether offering ideas for things to do with your child when you’re burned out or mantras to call on mid-tantrum, Dr. Jazmine feels like an understanding friend walking you through what to do in difficult situations—and who couldn’t use one of those?
Our resident child-development expert, Dr. Bronwyn Charlton of seedlingsgroup is the first person we turn to for expert advice on everything from what to do when your kids has a tantrum to raising grateful kids. Dr Bronwyn is a pro at helping parents understand and anticipate their child’s behavior and respond appropriately.
Pooja Lakshmin MD
Dr. Pooja Lakshmin is a psychiatrist and author focused on women’s mental health. In her IG account @womensmentalhealthdoc, she reminds us all how to do something that we often forget which is to tend to our own emotional and mental well-being. And not in a trendy, self-care sort of way, but in an authentic and sustainable way, which she writes about in her book. From emotional detox strategies to calming our own back to school fears, Dr. Lakshmin puts your mental health front and center.