The Auntie Bulletin

A father in a cowboy hat holding an infant and a mother in a blue dress holding a toddler in red boots, surrounded by seven children.

Culture

Where are the Trad Aunties?

There aren’t any, and that’s by design. So, have you read Yesteryear? I read the first two chapters as a free preview in the public library’s Libby app, and I think that’s enough for me. I’ll say more about why shortly. But first, for Auntie

A woman sits cross-legged on a sandy beach, laughing and cradling a small curly-haired dog in her lap.

Community Care

On Quitting: How Sobriety Prepared Me for Infertility

And what came next… Today we have a guest post from the lovely Lexi Weber Johnson, whose work I didn’t know until she reached out to me to pitch this story about sobriety, infertility, and auntiehood. I took a look at her newsletter, Not Expecting, which turned out to

A promotional image showing author Darby Saxbe, PhD, a smiling woman with short sandy hair wearing a blue-and-black striped dress and colorful necklace

Community Care

How Care Changes Dads’ Brains – and What That Means for Alloparents

“Attunement to a small person's needs is there in anyone, ready to get unlocked.” There’s not much social science research out there about alloparents. Here’s where you tend to find us: in biological research about the animal kingdom (elephants, whales, birds, primates – lots of aunties!) and

Aunties

Here’s Your End-of-May Care Package

Time to offset the fools on the news and soak up wholesome content instead. Hey Aunties, welcome to your end-of-May care package! This is the part where always I acknowledge what rough and ugly times we are living through (because it keeps on being true). I talk about

Two abstract figures sit side by side on a yellow benchA speech bubble with three dots floats above them, suggesting conversation. The illustration uses a simple, hand-drawn style.

Design

Rebranding The Auntie Bulletin

"Make it look like a pack of children’s markers, please." Today’s post is a little different from our typical content, aunties, but I’ve been slowly working toward a newsletter rebrand since the fall, and it’s finally time, and I’m really excited about it.

Culture

How to Rest

Uncomfortable truths that you probably won’t like, from someone who’s been forced to rest a lot. Rest! It’s the best! Or at any rate, rest would be the best if it weren’t so stupidly hard to pull off. Sure, it’s hard to carve out the

Parenting

The Nuclear Family is a Failed Experiment

When has a nuclear experiment ever been good, honestly? I got to go on Virginia Sole-Smith’s Burnt Toast podcast recently, which was so awesome. I’m a longtime fan[[1]] of Virginia’s anti-diet parenting newsletter and podcast and grateful for the exposure to her large and

Aunties

An Auntie's Compendium of Delightful Activities for Children

You can start a summer camp now. I first came to Substack by way of Anne Helen Petersen’s consistently excellent newsletter, Culture Study. I knew nothing about the Substack platform, but I got wind of AHP’s newsletter, started subscribing, and read it eagerly as soon as it hit

Mother with Children Playing National Gallery of Art Illustration

Women

The #1 Best Way to Decide If You Want to Have Kids

From compulsory parenthood to informed consent. It took my partner and me a long time to decide not to become parents. We really wrestled with it. I had never wanted kids until, literally from one moment to the next, I did. My partner was game, so we started trying. I

Family

Why Sensitive, Neurodivergent Introverts Make Great Aunties

So 👋 many 👋 waving 👋 hand 👋 emojis 👋. I don’t know about you, but the idea that sensitive, neurodivergent, introverted adults would be great with kids strikes me as counterintuitive. Those of us with sensory sensitivities (hi! 👋) often have very specific needs around lighting, noise levels, smells, messes, and bodies careening around

The Auntie Bulletin

Practical everyday kinship

Latest

On Befriending Kids

Kids don't want to make polite conversation. Here's what they want to talk about instead. There’s a nine year old in my life who I only see occasionally because he and his family live in another state. He’s historically had approximately zero interest in