Support Smart, Local Journalism
Make a Small Monthly Donation
Remember the Sesame Street cartoon where the little girl was sent to the corner store for groceries? She had to remember a list of three things, and succeeded by repeating the list and then visualizing her mother saying it. I remember being sent to the store sometimes, too. Nowadays, it seems people would sooner call […]
Like most parents, I had children so I could live out my failed hopes and dreams through someone else. One of those dreams happened to be “team sports.” I’d always longed to spend my days playing on sunny fields, attending post-game pizza parties, and building lifelong friendships. After deciding my daughter should experience the joy […]
Aly’ce Brannon-Reid—a cheerful, impassioned 25-year-old North Portland woman with light brown skin, curly black hair, and a master’s degree in nonprofit leadership—insists that she not be identified as an “expert in parenting” for this article. Fair enough. However, for many parents in Portland, she’s provided expertise that has fundamentally changed their relationships with their children. […]
If True Parent had its own Goodyear Blimp, written across the side would be, “THERE ARE SO MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF PARENTS, GUYS!” It’s true. Some people assume there’s only one kind of parent—those who stroll blissfully down the street pushing a doublewide stroller, sipping Stumptown, and beaming gloriously at the adorable progeny who sprang […]
We’re at the bookstore where Eleanor, edging on two and dangerously bright, gropes the staff weekly picks like summer fruit. Touching her back, I remind her again to look with her eyes, not her hands. “That’s great parenting.” It’s the cashier—a woman with a short bob and blunt bangs. “Thanks,” I say, yanked toward the […]
Picture this if you will, one of those teens you hear about in the news, see on the MAX, or who maybe appear in nightmares about your own kids. They’re never home, ignore authority, and get into serious trouble. They’re angry, shut down, and living by their own rules. Now imagine opening your home to […]
Got a question too embarrassing to ask anyone else? Send it to asktheparent@trueparent.com, and we’ll find an expert to answer it for you! This month we have Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Intern Gianna Russo-Mitma dishing out the real talk. My daughter (she’s 10) wants an Instagram account. When my wife and I expressed doubts […]
When my daughter was in sixth grade, I started having recurring nightmares about Tilda Swinton. In my dream, no matter where I went in my house, angry Tilda Swinton was there, glaring at me with hateful contempt, while seemingly always wanting a snack. “I’m sorry, Tilda Swinton!” my dream self would say. “I love you, […]
PORTLAND’S POPULATION is booming, and therefore so is enrollment at Portland Public Schools (PPS). Portland Metro predicts as many as 725,000 new residents could call Portland home in the next two decades. And with all those new people come a lot of new kids—5,000 over the next 10 years, according to the most recent estimates. […]
The first time I flipped the bird at my child was when she was four. (And yes, I’m ashamed to say it’s happened more than once.) Touch of background: My partner and I use the “1-2-3 Magic” disciplinary system, in which the kid does something rotten, you hold up a finger and say, “That’s one.” […]
More and more, the subject of open marriages has been popping up in conversation. I don’t mean group marriage or a Sister Wives man-plus-harem situation—I mean people having sex with someone besides their spouse… and that spouse being okay with it. Of course this has been going on for a long time (swingers, “key parties,” […]
“Dad, why is that band called ‘Crazy Horse’?” “Is God a real person?” “Why do people have tombstones?” These questions, posed by my twin six-year-old daughters, led to a big change in my life. In 2014, work had been insanely busy for this single dad. The girls had to tolerate my need to work overtime […]
Sign up for our newsletter for news recaps, updates, and more!
