ParentData

Young children, especially in child care, pre-K, and the early school years, are frequently sick. Which means their parents are also frequently sick. Even though we had those same illnesses when we were children, it’s been so long that our immunity has waned, and we get sick again. If you’re facing down a season (or two, or six) of illness, you’re likely looking for something — anything — to improve your immunity.

For many years, I sat down at the end of the week to plan the next week’s dinners, and got frustrated. I was trying to have variety (but not too much!), to make sure I thought about who was home on which day, to use up the random leftover beans that we somehow always had. Surely, I thought over and over again, there is a better way to do this. But I never found the right program or app to deliver what I wanted: something simple, but customizable.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently announced his plans to screen U.S. troops for low testosterone. Anyone with low levels — including women — would have the option to pursue hormone therapy. While the details are unclear, this lines up with an increasingly common concern: testosterone is in crisis, and a lot of people need to supplement.

Between 1997 and 2008, peanut allergy rates in children in the U.S. increased threefold — from about 0.4% to 1.4% of children. Other allergies, like tree nuts, also became more common. These kinds of food allergies are incredibly difficult for families to manage. A serious peanut allergy can make even an accidental ingestion life-threatening. Many schools and child care centers went completely nut-free to avoid any possible risk.

If you see reels from fertility influencers (and who doesn’t?), you may have heard about “Trimester Zero.” This phrase has become code for the idea of preparing to prepare to be pregnant. It’s all about figuring out how to optimize your health before you even start trying to conceive. As with much of online wellness culture, this area can be deeply predatory. It targets people who are anxious about their chances of pregnancy and who want to do their best for their future children.

If you have a child in day care, you may notice a shift around age 3: kindergarten starts to feel closer, and your kid’s care environment begins to look a little more like “school”. In many cases, this means a move into a preschool classroom. The naming and timing vary by location, but generally preschool covers ages 3 to 4, and pre-K covers ages 4 to 5, right before kindergarten.

Of the big decisions we make about our school-age children, perhaps none looms larger than school. Your child will spend eight hours a day there for about nine months of the year. That’s a lot of time! Their teachers and peers will shape them, for good or ill. All of this makes these school decisions seem incredibly important to many parents.

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Within the last year, two brands of formula — ByHeart and Nara Organics — have recalled all of their products due to outbreaks of infant botulism. This has, understandably, left parents confused and afraid. Fortunately, no babies have died, but some have become seriously ill. I’ve written about what parents can do immediately, including symptoms of infant botulism and what to do if your child was exposed to these formulas.

When our family moved to Barcelona, the only person I knew there was a single friend of a friend. I was also working from home and didn’t have anyone in my new life that I considered a friend, aside from my wife. Four months later, my son was born. Looking back, I can see a clear link between my feelings of loneliness and my paternal postpartum depression. Yes, I had friends elsewhere, and yes, once I opened up and shared that I was struggling, they were a huge support.