Libby Copeland

Writer. Editor. Cultural Spelunker.

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Parenting

Articles on parenting.

When Guilt is Good (The Atlantic Magazine)

Libby Copeland May 24, 2018

Researchers generally regard so-called moral guilt, in the right amount, to be a good thing: A child who claims responsibility for knocking over a tower and tries to rebuild it is engaging in behavior that’s not only reparative but also prosocial.

Categories: Best Of, Parenting, Science, The Atlantic Magazine Tags: guilt, human behavior, parenting, shame, taking responsibility, the atlantic

A Car Accident Took My Body From Me. But Not My Baby.

Libby Copeland May 9, 2013

Last year Marcella Wagner became a mother and a quadriplegic on the very same morning. Here’s the story of the best and worst day of her life.

Categories: Glamour, Parenting Tags: disabilities

Get This Woman Some Laughing Gas! Other countries use nitrous oxide in the delivery room. Why don’t we?

Libby Copeland May 19, 2011

Nitrous oxide has a lot going for it. It merely blunts pain, but it also lets a laboring woman walk, perch on a birthing ball, whatever. It’s comparatively cheap, and it’s fast-acting, offering relief in less than a minute. Perhaps most key from midwives’ point of view, it is easily administered by the laboring woman herself. She grabs the mask when she knows a contraction is coming. She stops as the contraction ends. In other words, she is empowered to manage her own pain.

Categories: Gender, Parenting, Pop Culture, Slate Tags: laughing gas, midwives, pregnancy

Head Over Heels in Love with Baby Olive

Libby Copeland May 9, 2010

We don’t have time. I’m terribly conscious of it. Every moment is gone as I notice it. In our old lives all we had was time — wasted time, long evenings, late mornings. But now: Isn’t it strange how time compresses, how you can be nostalgic for a thing even as you’re in the midst of it?

Categories: Parenting, Personal Essay, Washington Post Tags: babies, motherhood, parenting

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