This article originally appeared in Brooding, a newsletter delivering deep thoughts on modern family life. Sign up here.
Welcome to the Brooding year in review! Writing this column is a hoot. It’s more about questions than answers, and I am so grateful for all the readers who have emailed and messaged me with their ideas and thoughts. It feels like we’re having a long and focused conversation in a room with very good lighting — lots of small lamps, very flattering. At least that’s what I picture when I’m writing it.
This year we entered the second year of Brooding, and I began doing interviews, kicking off with the one and only Joanna Goddard, one of the most influential moms on the internet. I chatted with one of my favorite directors, Nicole Holofcener and most recently with the brilliant sociologist of early child care, Dr. Casey Stockstill. Next year, I’ll be talking with some dads, too. Dads are in the mix! One of my favorite columns of the year was about dads!
In 2023, I also dipped into the mailbag and ran a couple of columns, one of which — “My Mom Is Selfish. Do I Still Have to Be a ‘Good Daughter’?” — generated a ton of debate among the readers.
I have no idea what 2024 will bring, but I can promise you that I will never write about anything that bores me personally. Lucky for us, family life is a huge topic and we can make almost anything fit within it. I look forward to lots more surprises to come. Thank you so much for reading.
When all the accoutrements are stripped away, what does it mean to care for a child? That’s what Cormac McCarthy was really writing about. Read the story ➼
Maybe they’re soothing their anxiety; maybe they’re just choosing the path of least resistance. Read the story ➼
My children very rarely have to wait for anyone for very long — is it time to establish stronger boundaries around my alone time? Read the story ➼
Or are we all just cosplaying adulthood? Read the story ➼
Having a living mom, no matter how self-centered, is important — even if frustrating. Read the story ➼
When you’re caring for young children, you are crossing a metaphysical desert of the self. It’s emerging from it that’s the hard part. Read the story ➼
What if we are inadvertently contributing to a decades-long crisis? Read the story ➼
The visual appeal of homesteading and hand-making overrides the conservative ideology living in the background — and that’s the point. Read the story ➼
“There’s something really nice about waking up in a house alone. It feels kind of quietly revolutionary.” Read the story ➼
Our ideas about cleanliness are stuck in the mid-20th century. Today, women can afford to care less. Read the story ➼
More From This Newsletter
- How Much Nostalgia for the Holidays Should We Have?
- What Do Kids Lose When Preschools Are Segregated?
- Why Does the Internet Tell Us to ‘Raise Good Humans’?
