The Family Almanac is a stage-matched parenting reference for families from pregnancy through adolescence. I built it because parents face important decisions while sorting through advice that is confident, contradictory and hard to trace. The useful answer is rarely another blanket rule. It is a clear account of what credible books say, where they agree, where they differ and what applies at this age.
I already had a method for turning books into sourced guides. Parenting made the standard clearer: the reader has less time, the context changes as a child grows and disagreement matters. I used that method here, keeping the books behind each claim and organizing the result around the family's stage.
The family still decides. The books are there to make that decision better informed. The aim is to help with one real choice now and remain useful when the next stage brings a different question.
Who it is for
It is for parents and caregivers who need useful guidance for the stage their child is in. They may be on a phone, short on time and facing two confident, opposite answers to a question about sleep, feeding, praise or development. Expecting parents can begin with pregnancy; families can return through adolescence.
The problem
Parenting advice is everywhere, but credible books often disagree about sleep, feeding, praise, discipline and development. Advice is rarely organized around the age of the child, and summaries often hide their sources or smooth over real differences. A parent making a decision may have only a few minutes to judge which claim applies now, decide which source to trust and turn it into a sensible next step for their family.
What I built
The Family Almanac is a stage-matched reference built from parenting books. It has guides for pregnancy, newborn, toddler, preschool, school-age and adolescence, plus a guide to the science of parenting. Parents can check claims against the books behind them, see where those books disagree, browse the library, use the glossary and myths section, and try tools including a due-date calculator, nap schedule, tantrum script and temperament read. Email can be matched to a child's stage. I use the same book-based method as in my professional guides: source material is organized into claims while the link back to supporting books is kept. That gives parents practical guidance and gives careful readers a direct way to inspect its basis.
What is new in it
- Stage is the organizing idea. A family starts with pregnancy, newborn, toddler, preschool, school-age or adolescence, so the guidance appears in the developmental context where it is useful.
- Claims keep a trail back to the parenting books behind them. Readers can inspect the basis for advice instead of relying on a summary with no visible source.
- The reference keeps disagreements between books visible, including the practical stakes, so parents can understand why credible sources differ before deciding what fits their family.
- Stage-matched email lets parents choose the timing that fits their child, so the reference can stay useful as one set of questions gives way to the next.
Where it stands
The aim is for a parent to bring one question and leave with a sound decision, a useful next step and the books behind it, then return when the next stage brings a different question. The live site already has stage guides, a parenting-science guide, a library, glossary, myths, disagreements, practical tools and stage-matched email.