Meg St-Esprit

Online communities might be accessed through apps on our phones, but they are as real as the communities our mothers relied on when they were raising us. As a new mom with three kids born in less than two years — a new mom drowning in my new role — I…

On any given day, a friend might walk into my house and see all three of my kids — 4-year-old twins and a 6 year old — sitting on the couches zonked out on a tablet. The screen illuminates their tiny faces, while I sit at the table working in peace a…

In the months leading up to Trump’s inauguration, I feverishly tried to imprint memories of Barack Obama into my Black twins, who were then 3 years old. I was desperate that they remember when a man who reflected their beauty graced the highest seat …

Not only am I the mother of a princess-obsessed daughter, I am the daughter of a princess-obsessed mother. I’ve been "royal-watching" since toddlerhood, with a VHS tape my mom had recorded of Princess Diana’s wedding just a few years before I was bor…

The crib. The most basic baby item, the center of every nursery pinned on Pinterest. Matching crib-dresser-and-changer sets sell for thousands of dollars; used sets are battled for in the Facebook Marketplace. Purchasing a crib seems like a foregone …

As I sit in the mall play area, a bit bored out of my mind as my kiddos run around engaged in a raucous game of tag with some kids they just met, I snap an adorable picture as they run by. I post it, tag the location, and go back to scanning my newsf…

“Hey mommas! I am weeks from my due date, and getting ready to pack my hospital bag! What were your must-haves? What did you bring and not even use? TIA!” This post, or a variation of it, showed up in my Facebook feed weekly during my childless year…

In the middle of the night, a bedroom window creaks open, and a woman enters. She grabs the child sleeping from the bed, wrapped in a blanket, and sneaks out the window. They fade into the distance under the moonlight. The child’s parents wake up in …