What makes a great family car? When selecting the vehicles in our Family Car Awards, our team looked at such down-the-middle criteria as drivability, safety, dependability, storage space, and efficiency. But they were equally concerned with parent- and child-specific features that make a big difference in family’s lives: How easy the interior is to clean, what it’s like to hoist a kid into the back seat, the practical systems and instrumentation that keeps a driver’s eyes on the road, and much more. The winners that made are list are in our minds the best family cars of the year and worthy of carrying your precious cargo. Including well-appointed electric SUVs, crossovers fit weekend adventures, feature-packed minivans that still drive like a dream, and family wagons that don’t skimp on the fun, here are the best family cars of the year.
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Why Buy a Car Now?
A good question to ask. Because it’s fall, most carmakers are turning over to 2022 models, and that means dealers desperately want to unload 2021 cars. Translation: You’re in a pretty good negotiating position as a result. Whether you’re buying used or new, our favorite, unbiased shopping tool for determining the correct price to pay for a vehicle is TrueCar.com, which looks at the transaction price of new and used cars nationwide to give you an accurate window into what to pay locally. TrueCar, by the way, is also the backend tool for car purchasers who do their transactions via American Express or Sam’s Club to rack up extra points. Also, veterans can get a shopping discount. So take a spin through and compare.
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Where’s the road map for new parents? Glad you asked! Fatherhood, by the editors of Fatherly, is a comprehensive parenting guide that walks dads through everything they need to know over the course of the first year of a baby’s life and beyond. It’s full of practical tips (everything you need), as well as work-life balance guidance (this is crucial), relationship advice (doubly crucial!), and as well as tons of expert-driven analysis that will help guide parents through a truly disorienting time. Pre-order it now and get the first copies on November 9.
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How to Calm a Child After Mom and Dad Fight
Parents aren’t supposed to lose their temper, but they inevitably do. And that’s upsetting to children. If it happens a lot early in life, research indicates that the stress of exposure to anger can create behavior patterns that affect future socialization, emotional management, and self-esteem. Exposure to volatility can even lead to anxiety issues and OCD. Though the ideal solution may be to remain calm, the more workable solution is to know how to calm a kid down. Here are the basics to remember.
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Calm down. Parents need to regulate their own emotions before addressing what happened.
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Reflect on what the child has seen and experienced. Parental anger is very frightening and possibly threatening to a child. Parents should imagine it from the child’s perspective.
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Explain what happened and how the kid experienced it. Be explicit with emotions, and ask for the kid’s help for finding ways to avoid it.
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Connect. It’s not making up or covering up what happened — it’s having a normal parent-child connection
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Have a question? Comment? Want to tell us a no-good terrible story? Or a helpful parenting tip? We want to hear from you (and yes, we may publish your response in an article or forthcoming newsletter).
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