5 Personal Essay Markets for Parents

Writer Abroad had a few unique experiences giving birth in Switzerland. One involved cheese.

Anyway, four and a half months after the fact, she's finally had the time and energy to turn one of these strange Swiss experiences into a personal essay. Hopefully, she'll be able to share that essay via a published link in the future.

Writing and babies aside, one of the biggest time suckers for most writers is researching markets. And since there may be others out there that are short on time but big on writing and babies, Writer Abroad thought she'd pass along a few paying markets that accept personal essays about motherhood, parenting, and family.

American Baby

This U.S. publication has a personal essay column called Sharing. One recent essay was about a mother who missed breastfeeding.

Babble.com

A website devoted to all things parenting, babble.com publishes many personal essays. A recent one was titled, "Why I want to be a French Mom." Ah, yes, the American obsession with France continues.

The Christian Science Monitor

The Home Forum section of this national newspaper especially seeks essays about family. Writer Abroad had an essay she wrote about her father published here a few years back.

Salon.com

This well-known website runs many essays about parenting and other topics in its Life section. I especially enjoy the essays under New Mom Confessions.

New York Times Magazine

While not specific to parenting, the popular Lives column is about, well, lives.

Anyone else have a paying personal essay market to recommend?