When it happens
The questions that arrive at 2am.
Most of what's written for parents is organised by age — useful when you're planning, useless when something has just started and you want to know whether to worry. These are organised by what happened. Each one says what's actually going on, where the line is, and when to call someone.
Your child has a fever: what the number actually means
A fever is the immune system doing its job, not the emergency itself. What to read instead of the thermometer, the one age where the number is absolute, why the cooling folklore is wrong, and what febrile seizures really are.
When it happens · 6 min read
Your baby was sleeping, and suddenly isn't
Why sleep breaks at four months and doesn't go back, what the later disruptions at 8–10 months and 18 months are actually tracking, and how to tell an ordinary bad fortnight from something worth a call.
When it happens · 7 min read
Your toddler is having tantrums, and nothing you say helps
What's actually happening in a two-year-old mid-tantrum, why reasoning fails, the counting exercise that removes more of them than any technique, and where the line is between ordinary and worth asking about.
When it happens · 6 min read
The new baby arrived, and your older child has fallen apart
Why the regression is the normal shape of this rather than a problem to solve, what actually helps a displaced toddler, and the specific safety risk that isn't the one everybody watches for.
When it happens · 5 min read
They woke up screaming and won't remember it in the morning
Night terrors and nightmares get treated as one problem and they are opposites — different halves of the night, different sleep stages, and near-opposite responses. How to tell them apart at 1am, and what actually helps with each.
When it happens · 5 min read
They cry every morning when you leave
Why a child who separated fine at two can fall apart at four, the goodbye ritual that actually works, and the one question to ask the room that you cannot answer yourself.
When it happens · 5 min read
Your children fight constantly and you are refereeing all day
Why sibling conflict is structurally worse than conflict with friends, why adjudicating makes it more frequent, and the line between ordinary rivalry and something worth raising.
When it happens · 5 min read
More of these are being written — fever was first because it's the question that wakes people up most. Sleep that suddenly broke, tantrums, and the ones nobody writes about honestly are next.