Joanna Schroeder

People try to keep it real by talking about the struggles of being a parent, and that’s great, but the truth is this: Parenting can be great fun.

As I grew older, I came to rely upon dieting as a way to ease my anxiety and feel in control. I was no longer in a cycle of eating too little or body dysmorphia, but controlling my food intake made me feel less invisible in a sea of girls where I felt like I'd disappear. It was almost a form of self-medication, to know that I could go on a diet and lose a few pounds.

There are a lot of women out there right now who think yoga pants are great everyday wear, even when they’re not working out. There are probably also just as many people who think that women wear yoga pants entirely too much, and that they're inappropriate.

No, it’s not the presents. It’s all the little things.

Few things are cuter than the sight of your little boy holding hands with a little girl in his kindergarten classroom, or watching as your daughter puts her arm around a little boy from her tee-ball team. At that moment, parents often assume that what they’re witnessing is young love, even if their child has never had a crush and is just expressing affection. While it may be tempting to call your child’s friend a girlfriend or boyfriend, or to tease them about having a crush, here are seven important reasons to resist.

If we as women get to define for ourselves what beauty looks like, then the power will no longer rest with those who pad their fortunes with our self-loathing.

I’m spelling them out here so that other parents can talk about them and other boys can see that there isn’t just one way to become a good man.

And then reality kicks in and you think, “What happened to us?” Where once there were fireworks are now phone calls about broken appliances and picking up diapers. But these changes aren’t necessarily bad. Sometimes things change dramatically and you realize how amazingly better your relationship is now, all these years later.

I first saw shame take over my son’s face in a somewhat unexpected place: the toy aisle at Target.

We're not saying you need an excuse to have wild, crazy, satisfying and fully consensual sex... But if you did, what could be better motivation than to piss Ted Cruz (and his ultra-Conservative cronies) right the fuck off?