This year, Greater Good magazine dramatically expanded coverage of parenting and child development. We didn’t just report on new studies—we tried to apply cutting-edge scientific insights to private problems all parents can face, as well as to public controversies like the impact on boys of Donald Trump’s statements about women. Our editors measured their own judgment against both site traffic and reader response to compile this list of our eleven best parenting articles from 2016. And the best is yet to come: Next year we’ll be adding staff and creating even more content targeted at parents. Stay tuned!
What Happens to Kids When Parents Fight, by Diana Divecha: This hopeful piece acknowledges the necessity and inevitability of conflict while trying to show parents how to turn a disagreement into a teachable moment for children.
Three Lessons from Zootopia to Discuss with Kids, by Allison Briscoe-Smith: The movie Zootopia wasn’t just entertaining—it also revealed scientific insights about prejudice and raised tough questions for parents to explore with children.
Ten Changes New Parents Face, by Diana Divecha: A compassionate overview of how your mind, body, and life will change with the arrival of a baby.
How to Talk with Your Kids about Donald Trump, by Allison Briscoe-Smith: This troubling piece, about the impact of the president-elect’s rhetoric on children of color, proved highly controversial with readers. We ended up deleting about 50 comments on the site and our Facebook page for explicitly racist or foul-mouthed content, which was a first for Greater Good.
How Nature Helps Fathers Nurture, by Jeremy Adam Smith and Summer Allen: Does a man’s body change after he becomes a dad? This piece subtly explores new research into how biology, behavior, and culture interact in the life of a father.
What Adolescents Really Need from Parents, by Jill Suttie: This Q&A with UC Berkeley researcher Ron Dahl proved exceptionally popular with readers—and drew a passionate response on social media.
Five Ways Parents Can Help Prevent Teen Depression, by Jill Suttie: Suttie wrote a series of articles this spring about about teens and depression—and this piece was the culmination of that effort, explaining what we know about the subject while providing concrete tips for parents.
Feeling Entitled to a Little Gratitude This Mother’s Day? by Christine Carter: This article struck a chord with our readers, who appreciated Carter’s honesty and insight around an issue that many mothers struggle with: resentment.
Five Ways to Help Misbehaving Kids, by Stuart Shanker: At its heart, this article is a call for empathy. It may change the way you think about people’s “bad” behavior—and not just kids’!
How to Talk with Boys about Trump’s Attitude Toward Women, by Jeremy Adam Smith: As with Briscoe-Smith’s essay about talking with kids about Trump, this piece provoked ferocious criticism as well as passionate defenses.
How to Help Kids Learn to Love Giving, by Jason Marsh: We just published these “five science-based strategies for the holidays,” but we think it embodies what a Greater Good article should be: thoughtful, helpful, hopeful, smart, and compassionate!
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