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October 4, 2021 (Last updated: December 4, 2021)
The Ultimate Guide to the Best Online Parenting Resources
Being a parent is hard work. But there’s no reason to navigate this process alone. The internet is home to a treasure trove of quality parenting resources designed to guide you through every challenge of raising kids. But as a parent, you barely have time to breathe, much less determine which resources are worth your time. We’ve done the work for you. Here’s an overview of the best online parenting resources available today and what you can expect from using them.
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► Raising Newborns Through Toddlers
► Raising Toddlers Through School-Age Children
When you’re new to the world of family planning, getting pregnant can feel overwhelming. Maybe you’ve found yourself expecting unexpectedly, or perhaps you’ve been trying to conceive for months without success. No matter your story, these resources will help you navigate the challenges associated with getting pregnant and living that way for the next nine months.
Rated as the #1 pregnancy and parenting brand in the United States, What to Expect provides soon-to-be moms with absolutely everything they need to know from conception and beyond. Use the site’s pregnancy-related resources to calculate your due date, determine whether your symptoms are typical, and to research which stroller is best for your lifestyle. You’ll also find resources for managing your baby through the toddler years. What To Expect also maintains lively message boards.
Considered by many to be the most comprehensive ovulation tracking app available, Fertility Friend lets you note every symptom throughout your cycles to gauge when you’re most likely to conceive. Sign up for premium, and you’ll gain access to discussion forums, detailed assessments of your chances of getting pregnant every day, and even weekly pregnancy trackers once you succeed.
If you’re new to pregnancy or confused about conception, the BUMP will answer every question and more. This site for moms includes a week-to-week pregnancy guide along with top tips for setting up a baby registry and connecting with a robust online mom community. You can even research baby names to find the perfect choice for your little one.
Are you struggling to come up with the perfect name for your little one? BabyNames.com has been the authority for name information since 1996. This site lets you search through thousands of names by first letter, origin, or dozens of other categories and provides comprehensive information about the origin and meaning of every option.
As the self-proclaimed “most accurate and trustworthy pregnancy resource online, Babycenter will walk you through every step of having a baby. Join the site’s online community for guidance on getting pregnant, surviving those first few months with an infant, and even dealing with the drama of starting your child in school.
Find trusted pregnancy and parenting advice in an easy-to-digest format on Verywell Family. This offshoot of the company’s main site offers a comprehensive resource base of articles on every part of parenting. Use it as a resource for understanding ovulation while trying to get pregnant or learning how to make friends as a parent—this site covers it all.
Overwhelmed with deciding what you need for your newborn? The world of baby gear is formidable, but Amazon aims to make the decision process straightforward. Read reviews for thousands of products, browse best-buy lists from parents who’ve already been there, and set up your registry to make gift-giving easier for others.
Cut through the hype to determine what gear you really need for your growing family with Babylist. This site makes it possible to build a universal baby registry, no matter what store you’re selecting from. This puts your wishlist all in one place to make it easier to receive exactly what you want.
Raising Newborns Through Toddlers
Babies are not born with an instruction guide. Thankfully, online resources abound for navigating life at home with a little one. Whether you’re a first-time mom or more than familiar with motherhood, these resources will make the transition easier for everyone and help you get answers to your most pressing questions.
This online encyclopedia contains up-to-date scientific knowledge on early childhood development, covering topics from conception through age five. Browse for peer-reviewed research findings on behavior, education and learning, health and nutrition, pregnancy, and general family topics.
Get answers to all your breastfeeding questions and gain support and encouragement from experts and other mothers through online forums. You can even join local La Leche chapters to meet up with nursing mothers in your area.
This member-based organization aims to ensure that babies and toddlers are given the resources and interpersonal connections needed for a strong start in life. Explore topics ranging from infant brain development to school readiness assessments and screen time guides to give your little one what they need to thrive.
Raising Toddlers Through School-Age Children
The toddler years are a time of wonder and discovery for your child, but they offer unique challenges for a parent. When’s the best time to start potty training? How can you tell whether your child is ready for school? These resources will help you navigate the terrible twos and ensure you’re putting your child on the track to success.
Help prepare your child for school and foster a lifelong love for learning by reading 1000 books together before the first day of kindergarten. This nonprofit lets you connect with programs near you for encouragement and even lets your little one receive prizes and other incentives from the local library for succeeding. Check out this online resource for free printable tracking sheets and phone apps.
Help prepare your child for school and foster a lifelong love for learning by reading 1000 books together before the first day of kindergarten. This nonprofit lets you connect with programs near you for encouragement and even lets your little one receive prizes and other incentives from the local library for succeeding. Check out this online resource for free printable tracking sheets and phone apps.
Developed by the APA Violence Prevention Office, this online resource aims to teach positive parenting skills to caregivers with children aged from birth to age ten. You’ll learn the best ways to provide a safe, stable, and nurturing environment for growing up that limits exposure to abuse and adversity.
The Center for Disease Control’s guide to developmental milestones shares clear and concise guidelines on the ways your child should play, learn, speak, act and move from two months through five years. Browse the page for each age for free materials to gauge whether your child is on track and get advice on when to seek intervention.
This resource guide of the CDC gives you a comprehensive overview of some of the most pertinent topics that parents of toddlers and preschoolers need to address. Dive in to learn how to provide direction to little ones and use a time out as an effective tool for discipline.
Yale University offers this free online course. It gives you access to the tools and techniques to improve home life for you and your little ones. Each lesson provides step-by-step instructions for improving your interactions with children and teens to change problematic behavior and improve the parent-child relationship. It includes more than 20 how-to videos and can be taken at your own pace.
VroomTips is an interactive app sponsored by the Bezos Family Foundation that includes 1,000 free activities designed to add fun and engaging learning adventures to mealtimes, bedtime, and even bath time. It’s designed to give parents in-the-moment advice for turning downtime into an opportunity to learn.
Raising Teens
For parents and caregivers of teens, the Young Adult Development Project can be a lifesaver. It was created to capture new and noteworthy research on development between the ages of 18 to 25 and provides their findings in ways that make them accessible. The project goes deep into the science of brain changes during this phase of life and their effects on behavior and mental abilities.
This project distills more than 300 research studies into key messages and strategies for parents of teens. The database includes research findings categorized as the ten tasks of adolescent development, the five basics of parenting adolescents, and much more.
Children & Technology
Thanks to the internet and all the devices capable of accessing it, parents today are facing unprecedented challenges when raising their children. There’s a lot of conflicting information available about technology and kids, which makes it overwhelming to know what’s best. Are you causing long-term damage by letting your baby watch Cocomelon or compromising the safety of your tweens by letting them be on social media? These resources will help you navigate these questions and more.
This resource helps parents understand how they can control their children’s screen time and social media habits. It includes reviews of the best parental controls for blocking websites, controlling kid’s phones, tracking children’s locations, and more.
As a Silicon Valley nonprofit, Connect Safely aims to help parents navigate the tricky terrain of kids and the internet. The organization gives you access to valuable online resources related to safety, privacy, security, cyberbullying, and general digital wellness in the form of guidebooks, in-depth guides, webcasts, and podcasts.
Resources for School and Childcare Choices
Much as you might wish otherwise, your child will someday need to spend time away from you. Whether you’re looking for the right daycare option or starting the process of picking a preschool, there are lots of factors that need consideration. These resources will give you the facts to make it easier to make informed choices in your child's best interest.
If you’re struggling to find someone to take care of your little one, Care.com makes it easy to find the best childcare providers in your area. This site makes it possible to track down everything from full-time daycare to a one-time babysitter, and you can read reviews and pricing information for every applicant on the site. It takes much of the mystery out of deciding who you can trust with your child to give you peace of mind when you’re away from each other.
Determining where your child will get their education is one of the most important decisions a parent can make. Great! Schools.org is designed to make the decision easier. The site provides the resources necessary to compare nearby options while also advocating for better schools and empowering parents to take their children’s education into their own hands.
Don’t trust your child with just anyone. Sittercity makes it possible to vet out potential in-home childcare providers in your area to find the best fit. The site is the first and largest digital platform for finding in-home care, and it connects millions of parents with babysitters and nannies every year in a matching process that’s safe and effortless for all involved.
Health Resources
Even the healthiest child will get sick eventually. A baby’s first illness is a harrowing experience for some parents, but you’ll feel better when equipped with the facts. Look into the resources for no-nonsense guides to keeping kids healthy and understanding when they need specialized attention.
WebMD has a stellar reputation for quality health content online, and the site’s childcare pages don’t disappoint. You’ll find resources related to everything from toddler milestones to child safety guidelines and ways to establish healthy habits for the whole household, all backed up by the best research.
Harvard offers parents a plethora of science-based resources for approaching raising children and improving their long-term outcomes. You can find peer-viewed articles covering topics ranging from the effects of racism on children to the ways that physical health and learning are closely intertwined.
Nemours KidsHealth was founded in 1995 and is committed to giving families the tools and confidence necessary to make the best health choices for their children. On the site, you’ll find doctor-reviewed advice for hundreds of physical, emotional, and behavioral wellness topics, along with easy-to-follow articles and other tools designed to clear up common questions. Teachers and early childhood educators can also access free lesson plans for supporting healthy development.
Parenting Support Groups
Being a mother can get lonely. Thankfully, the internet offers better ways for caregivers to connect than ever before. These resources will help you feel better understood and give you hope that other parents have been in your shoes and made it to the other side successfully.
Café Mom aims to meet every mom's emotional and practical needs with relatable content about childcare, womanhood, and general fun. You’ll find articles on everything from getting pregnant to the daily life of the British royals and maintaining a solid relationship with your spouse.
This network of parent-led self-help groups provides a friendly, supportive environment for parents and caregivers to get together and help each other hone their techniques for raising happy, resilient children. Members can join weekly meetings (both in-person and virtual) to take part in an open exchange of ideas for the parenting journey.
This online forum and podcast is designed to support moms at every stage of the parenting journey. Through conversations with Dr. Marti Erickson and her daughter Erin Erickson, you’ll explore the many facets of motherhood in today’s world, including dealing with the guilt of feeling like you’re never enough for your kids.
Are you feeling stressed and isolated at the idea of balancing a career and a child? Working Mother is the online resource you need for support. This site is a trove of resources dedicated to balancing mom life with your professional goals, with articles on strategies for pumping in the office and ways to battle the pressure of feeling like you need to be supermom at home after a long workday.
For dads
As the leading digital media brand for dads, Fatherly aims to empower men to raise great kids and feel fulfilled in the process. Browse the site to access deep-dive reports, original video series, podcasts, and more—all designed to give dads and father figures the support they need in their parenting journey.
Dedicated to dads, this site provides resources, tips, and activities for father figures to better bond with their kids and encourage healthy development. You can browse for activities to do together for every age group, with suggestions ranging from ways to exercise together and poems to read to celebrate America’s national parks.
General Parenting
These resources are some of the best available. They cover parenting topics from conception to the first day of college and use peer-reviewed scientific studies to back up their claims. Browse them, and you’re almost guaranteed to get an answer to your pressing parenting question.
Browse this website for handouts on topics related to raising kids at three ages: early childhood, school-age childhood, and parental involvement in education. These handouts focus on ways that caregivers can enhance their knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards taking care of children for the best results.
This ongoing collaboration with the Consortium for Science-Based Information on Children, Youth and Families provides science-based information and trustworthy resources for parents and other caregivers. Psychologists have vetted every resource, and the site aims to promote healthy development in children through their body, mind, emotions, and relationships.
The Search Institute offers this online platform as a way to foster healthy relationships between children and their caregivers. You’ll find expert advice on how to strengthen your bond with your children and the best ways to set family goals together.
As a program of the Bezos Family Foundation, Mind in the Making curates topics related to the science of children’s brain development and distills them in ways that the general public can benefit. It covers the seven essential life skills that every child needs (focus and self-control, perspective taking, communicating, making connections, critical thinking, taking on challenges, and self-directed, engaged learning) and offers hundreds of resources for caregivers to help them develop.
For parenting articles with a journalist bend, The Guardian delivers insightful think pieces that will benefit every caregiver. You can explore topics related to the country’s falling birth rates, COVID’s effect on moms in the workforce, and whether giving kids any screentime at all is advisable.
Tufts University aims to help parents navigate conflicting information about raising children with a thoroughly reviewed collection of credible websites backed by authoritative voices. Topics covered include development, education and schooling, physical and mental health, and parenting and family.
This leading national newspaper’s parenting page doesn’t compromise on what you expect from the New York Times. Browse in-depth articles on a range of parenting topics from fertility health to raising adolescents. You can learn about everything from the newest toy crazes to how to navigate Covid-19 in schools.
TED Talks share ideas worth spreading from short recorded lectures given by thought leaders worldwide. Browse this platform’s parenting site for talks on topics pertaining to family life. You’ll find series for parents who have lost a child, how to co-parent successfully with your ex-partner, and so much more.
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