Different from all the rest

I had never heard of Child magazine until I picked up a copy at my gym. The layout and look of the magazine intrigued me. I had received a year's worth of Parenting and other magazines that most parents get free for their baby's first year of life. They were okay, but Child immediately captivated me with the quality of the photography, writing and content. I love their columns and focus on providing a happy childhood for my daughter with their tips on games, crafts and vacations. I'll admit that a lot of their products and clothing are ridiculously expensive, but I figure that it gives me a good idea of what I should look for in stores in my price range: Target & Ross. If you are looking for a child and parenting magazine that is different from everything else out there, then Child is for you!

Lifestyles of the Rich and Teething

"Child" is a lovely to look at magazine that reeks of quality. Sadly, though, it also reeks of pretension and $$$.

Anyone with the tiniest bit of a jealous streak will go apoplectic perusing even a few pages. Every mother pictured is drop-dead gorgeous (in a "freak of nature" kind of way), all the children are attired in clothing that requires a second mortgage, and fathers are obviously tycoons that sold off their dot-com business for several billion and now just tend the yacht. Every house is furnished with the original Scandinavian furniture that IKEA rips off so elegantly for those of us who can't fly to Denmark to get the originals. The ads are clearly aimed at those willing to buy handcrafted Italian strollers and $500 seersucker suits for junior's Easter appearance at church.

This is no exaggeration. A recent edition looked at the best spas for expectant mothers to visit. Another article capped boys' fashions with a pair of $90 shorts. And lastly, a recommended hotel for moms to get away with their girlfriends is The Four Seasons in Chicago. It's only $1200 a night. And while Hoover or even Dyson might advertise in your "normal" parenting magazines, Electroluxe gets the nod here.

The magazine, as noted, is easy on the eyes and probably wins mountains of design awards. Every page has a clean sense of style that cops a European sensibility. The articles fall into the category of nothing over twenty-five hundred words (with most articles around a thousand or fifteen hundred), keeping the magazine in line with all the others who have adopted the short attention span style made popular by USA Today--but always with that exclusive country club feel. The total pages are a bit over a hundred fifty and the ads don't overwhelm the actual content (although it the average reader might find it difficult to separate the two.)

Anyone wanting to know how the children of the other half live should pick up "Child." For those of us who shop at JC Penney, stick with something less tony.

GReat mag...one of my favoirtes

CHILD is the InStyle of Kids fashion, kid-related housewares and cooking and craft ideas. I love the format and the asthetics of the layout really appeal to me. This is a classy mag at a VERY affordable price.