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Other Media: Non-Book Sources Including Magazines, Videos,
etc.
- _Mothering_ magazine (ISSN 0733-3013), published quarterly.
Subscription Office: PO Box 532, Mt. Morris, IL 61054; 800-827-1061;
$22/year in US (as of Winter 1992).
- _Mothering_ magazine is a great parenting resource. It's intelligent,
compassionate and covers the complete range of parenting topics from a
humanistic, holistic (in the best sense), natural point of view.
Articles and letters are always genuine, accessible, and immediately
applicable to real parenting, much like the best of misc.kids.
Even the ads are great -- they run lots of ads from small companies
selling alternative sorts of clothes, diapers and accessories, baby
carriers -- all those baby and parenting things you need, but can't
always find in stores.
- Mothering magazine has advocated against vaccinations;
this has probably led to unnecessary deaths among some of the children
of readers who might otherwise have had their children vaccinated.
For me, this sort of irresponsibility is a major problem, in spite of
the pleasingly alternative character of the magazine. --Paula Burch
- In its favor, it does offer a perspective on parenting and children
that one might not find in other more mainstream magazines, and it
does seem to have more editorial content and fewer ads per unit space,
but there are some things about this magazine that I really do not
like. The medical information can be outlandishly, frighteningly
wrong, including some statements against vaccinations that were
absurd. I was almost willing to believe they had some valid
scientific argument against vaccination, but after reading some of the
quotes from someone they call an expert, I find them completely
non-credible. In general, I find the tone to be dogmatic and guilt
inducing about the right way to parent (stay-at-home mom, attachment
parenting, homeschooling...) A recent article on teaching a child how
to ride a bike is a perfect example of why I won't renew my gift
subscription. no real information offered that could actually help
anyone else, just a touchy feely kind of essay about the emotions that
a man had while teaching his son. Interesting and valid if you are
looking for creative writing, but not what I am looking for (plus the
use of a helmet was never mentioned, nor anything to do with teaching
safe riding skills.)
[And another one....]
- I consider myself a hands-on, holistic mother. I had natural
childbirth, nursed my babies for two years, carried them in a sling
instead of a stroller, slept with them, and memorized _Siblings
Without Rivalry_. BUT I also had them vaccinated, circumcised my son,
used disposable diapers, and worked full-time outside the home. I
soon got sick of Mothering's trying to make me feel guilty for my
choices, and eagerly let my gift subscription lapse. Where do the
editors get their chutzpah?
- Parents
- American Baby
- Thanks to everyone who responded to my query about parenting
magazines. Of the two I mentioned, Parents and American
Baby, Parents won by a landslide. I also found out that
American Baby offers a free six-months to expectant moms,
which I don't think I'll refuse, since I've got nothing
to lose. I'll probably get one issue of Parents, and
subscribe if it's interesting. Of the responses I got,
about half made negative comments about American Baby, and
I don't think anyone felt it was better than Parents.
Ironic thing is, the subscription prices are comparable
(unless you're expecting, as I mentioned above).
--Nancy Fisher Hansen [posted]
- Parenting
- Child
- The two others most mentioned were Parenting and Growing
Child newsletters. Parenting seems to be the alternative
to Parents, and was cited by a few as being more intellectual
and less conservative than Parents, but still more people
preferred Parents, many saying that they had been reading
it for years. Growing Child is not a magazine but a
newsletter tailored to your own child's age. Sounds pretty
neat... --Nancy Fisher Hansen [posted]
- As for other magazines, I used to think that "Parents" was the only
one, and it was useless collection of advertisements with a few
content-free articles thrown in. But I recently was given a stack of
"Child" and "Parenting" mags, and have found them to have interesting
articles with real content, depth and coverage. Still lots of ads, I
probably won't subscribe, but if you are looking for a magazine, these
are worth thinking about.
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