Parents (magazine)

Parents
Editor in ChiefJulia Edelstein
CategoriesParenting
FrequencyMonthly
PublisherDotdash Meredith
Total circulation
(2011)		2,215,645
FoundedOctober 1926
Final issueApril 2022
CountryUnited States
Based inNew York City[1]
LanguageEnglish
Websitewww.parents.com
ISSN1083-6373

Parents was an American monthly magazine founded in 1926 that featured scientific information on child development geared to help parents in raising their children. Subscribers were notified of the magazine’s dissolution via a postcard mailing in March 2022.

History

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The magazine was started by George J. Hecht in 1926. The magazine was originally titled Children, The Magazine for Parents.[2] Hecht hired Clara Savage Littledale to be its first editor. The first issue was published in October 1926[3][4] and soon was selling 100,000 copies a month.[5] Beginning with the August 1929 issue, the name was changed to Parents' Magazine (with an apostrophe).[6] Littledale was followed as editor by Mary Buchanan. In 1937, the magazine was granted trademark registration for the mark Parents' Magazine.[7]

From 1941 to 1965, Parents' Magazine Press published a line of comic books and magazines heavily featuring comics, including such long-running titles as Calling All Girls, Children's Digest, Polly Pigtails, True Comics, and True Picture-Magazine.[8] Parents Magazine Press also published Humpty Dumpty from the 1950s through the early 1980s, until it and Children's Digest were sold to The Saturday Evening Post company.

Parents' Magazine was sold to Gruner + Jahr in 1978. At that time, the magazine was "relaunched" and its name was shortened, utilizing only the word "Parents", without an apostrophe.[7] Elizabeth Crow became the magazine's editor for the next decade, before being replaced by Ann Pleshette Murphy, who was editor-in-chief between 1988 and 1998, and a contributing editor from 1998 to 2002.[9]

In 1992, Gruner + Jahr filed suit against Meredith for trademark infringement of Parents when Meredith published Parent's Digest. With the court finding no actual confusion of the products (though there was testimony from managers and employees as to inquiries about a possible relationship between the publications), the case was dismissed.[10]

Meredith acquired Parents magazine when Gruner + Jahr left the US magazine business in 2005. Sally Lee was the editor from 1998 to 2008. Dana Points was editor-in-chief from 2008 to 2016. The Meredith Corporation would later be acquired by IAC in 2021.

In February 2022, it was revealed that Parents would end print publication and switch to an all-digital format.[11]

Profile

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Its editorial focus is on the daily needs and concerns of mothers with young children. The monthly features information about child health, safety, behavior, discipline and education. There are also stories on women's health, nutrition, pregnancy, marriage, and beauty. It is aimed primarily at women ages 18–35 with young children.

Columns include "As They Grow," which cover age-specific child development issues, as well as the reader-generated "Baby Bloopers," "It Worked for Me," and "Goody Bag." The magazine also produces a website,[12] an iPhone app for kids, Parents Flash Cards, and GoodyBlog.com, the now-defunct blog.

With its historical reach, Parents has frequently been used by academics, to document social and cultural shifts over time. Melissa Milkie and Kathleen Denny describe the prominence of the magazine:

The magazine's goal of disseminating scientific knowledge of all types concerning children's development and family life in general, proved to be very popular. The magazine was the only U.S. periodical whose circulation rose during the Great Depression, and during the 1930s and 1940s, it was proclaimed as the most popular advice periodical in the world (Schlossman, 1985).[13] By 1971, PM claimed in its pages to have counseled mothers and fathers in the 'rearing of more than 100 million children,' attesting to its prominence"[14]

Despite its gender-neutral title, the magazine's advice has implicitly been directed toward women.[15] On the February 2019 issue it features a same-sex male couple, the first in its history.[16]

The magazine has received criticism for featuring a bored white child who appears to be screaming, dressed in a toy headdress on its January 2016 cover. Dr. Debbie Reese of American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) called the depiction racist, as it implies a "wild Indian" stereotype.[17]

Medal for "Movie of the Month"

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Each month, Parents' Magazine would award a medal to a "Movie of the Month". The image of the "Movie of the Month" Medal was subsequently used on movie posters and lobby cards. Past recipients include:

References

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  1. ^ Dave Eisenstadter (May 28, 2015). "Family Fun magazine leaving Northampton; jobs moving to New York City". GazetteNet. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  2. ^ Marten, James (August 24, 2002). Children and War: A Historical Anthology. NYU Press. ISBN 9780814756676.
  3. ^ "Magazines in Alphabetical Order". Radcliffe Institute. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  4. ^ "Top 100 U.S. Magazines by Circulation" (PDF). PSA Research Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 15, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  5. ^ Selig, Diana. "Parents Magazine". Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
  6. ^ Hudson, Robert Vernon (1987). Mass Media: A Chronological Encyclopedia of Television, Radio, Motion Pictures, Magazines, Newspapers, and Books in the United States. Garland Publishing, Incorporated. ISBN 9780824086954. parents' magazine apostrophe.
  7. ^ a b "Gruner+ Jahr USA Pub. v. Meredith Corp., 793 F. Supp. 1222 (S.D.N.Y. 1992)", Justia, July 14, 1992.
  8. ^ Parents Magazine Press, Grand Comics Database. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  9. ^ "Ann Pleshette Murphy". ABC News. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  10. ^ "GRUNER + JAHR USA PUB. v. MEREDITH CORP.", Leagle, 1993.
  11. ^ Bruell, Alexandra (February 9, 2022). "Barry Diller's Media Group Ends Print Versions of InStyle, Entertainment Weekly, Others". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  12. ^ "Parents". parents.com. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
  13. ^ Schlossman, S. (1985), "Perils of Popularization: The founding of Parents' Magazine". Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50, 65–77.
  14. ^ Milkie, M. and K. Denny (2014), "Changes in the Cultural Model of Father Involvement: Descriptions of Benefits to Fathers, Children, and Mothers in Parents' Magazine, 1926–2006". Journal of Family Issues, 35:223–53.
  15. ^ Strathman, T. (1984). "From the quotidian to the utopian: Child rearing literature in America, 1926–1946". Berkeley Journal of Sociology, 29, 1–34.
  16. ^ Leighton-Dore, Samuel (January 21, 2019),"'Parents' magazine features same-sex dads on its cover", SBS.
  17. ^ "Tell Parents Magazine This is NOT an Acceptable Cover". 10 December 2015.
  18. ^ "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Award Medal from Parents Magazine". Heritage Auction.
  19. ^ Fricke, John (November 7, 2013). The Wonderful World of Oz: An Illustrated History of the American Classic. Down East Books. ISBN 9781461744771.
  20. ^ Sammond, Nicholas (July 20, 2005). Babes in Tomorrowland: Walt Disney and the Making of the American Child, 1930–1960. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822386836.
  21. ^ "Shirley Temple - Kathleen Award Medal from Parents Magazine", Heritage Auctions.
  22. ^ Heritage Music & Entertainment Auction #7006. Heritage Capital Corporation. ISBN 9781599673691.
  23. ^ "Son of Lassie Award Medal from Parents Magazine", Heritage Auctions.
  24. ^ "Parents magazine September 1951", September 1, 2014.
  25. ^ Full text of "Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1954)". Internet Archive.
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