Paranting Magazine- Making the Attainable, Aspirational

{GIFTED} What do you do whilst you’re waiting for your gymnast during long training sessions? For some people, being a gym parent can mean lots of time spent sitting in a waiting room or in your car, and there’s only so many times you can scroll through social media or play Candy Crush without getting bored; so when I was kindly gifted the first and second editions of the brand new Paranting magazine (yes, that’s an ‘a,’ not an ‘e!’), I was interested to read it and see if it would help me pass the time.

Paranting is a little different to most magazines aimed at parents, as it doesn’t just cover parenting topics- in fact, there’s very little in the way of actual ‘parenting’ content. Instead, the magazine covers a wide range of issues which the editor believes may be of interest to people who have children. Yes, there are interviews with inspirational parents like Ami Hook-Ireland, or articles about how cuts to Universal Credit are likely to unfairly affect single parent families, but there’s also current affairs from around the world, fashion spreads featuring sustainable brands, and even a rather rude opinion page from ‘Father Filth!’

I found it really interesting to learn more about issues as diverse as the COVID crisis in India, maternity provision in Cameroon, and ongoing climate change – all things I wouldn’t necessarily have read about otherwise –  alongside the more light hearted articles that you would usually expect to find in a ‘mum’ magazine. I nodded along in agreement with the opinion piece about feeling nostalgic at all of your last baby’s ‘firsts,’ and felt so inspired by an article on adding colour into your home, that I put the magazine down and went off to arrange Mr S’s book shelves into rainbow-colour order straight away!

Paranting magazine mostly consists of quite short articles, so they’re easy to read when you’re pressed for time. You could easily finish several articles whilst waiting for your child’s gymnastics session to finish, as most are only one or two pages long. Although the magazine would be great for a new parent to dip into during nap times, it certainly isn’t just aimed at those with babies and toddlers- my children are aged between three and ten, and I still felt like I was part of Paranting magazine’s target audience.  

Although I did spot a few minor proofreading oversights while reading the magazine, such as an extra comma, or misplaced apostrophe, it didn’t distract me from the articles I was reading, and I do feel that these small issues can be forgiven in a new publication that is still finding its feet in the world of print.

Paranting is written by contributors who are knowledgeable about their subjects; either parents themselves, or experts in their field, and I think this shone through when I read the magazine. I felt like I had really learned something by the time I turned the back cover of each copy, and I’ll certainly be interested in reading Paranting again in the future.