Top 10 Parenting Markets
                               

Babies don't come with an owner's manual. Four year old are precocious enough to think they make the rules. Teens don't think about it - they just live life the way they want to, to their parents' horror. Parents need all the help they can get. This month's top ten markets try to fill the void with articles and advice on child care and parenting tips.

Christian Parenting Today
Christianity Today International
465 Gundersen Dr.
Carol Stream, IL 60188

Contact: Raelynn Eickhoff, editorial coordinator
E-mail: cptchristianparenting.net
Website: www.christianparenting.net

Christian Parenting Today is a bimonthly magazine that offers practical, positive information that speaks to the "real needs" of parents of children from birth to fourteen years.

Christian Parenting Today's target area is the spiritual, social, emotional, physical and academic growth of children.

Needs:
How-to (parenting), Book excerpts, Inspirational, Religious

Length:750-2,000 words
Pays:12-20 cents per word

Columns most open to freelancers: Ideas That Work (family tested parenting ideas ) 25-100 words, Our house (entertaining true, humorous stories about your family) 25-100 words, and Growing Up (spiritual development) 420-520 words.

Pays $25-$100.00 for columns.

Tips: "Tell it like is. If you've been there, tell us."

Parenting Magazine
430 Fifth Ave.
New York, NY 10036

Contact: Articles Editor

Parenting Magazine is published ten times per year for mothers of children birth through twelve years. Parenting Magazine covers the emotional and practical aspects of parenting.

Needs:

Book excerpts, Personal Experience, Child development/ behavior/health, Investigative reports

Length: 1000-2,500 words

Pays: $1,000-$3,000

Columns most open to freelancers: Ages and Stages (child development and behavior). 100-400 words and Children's Health. 100-350 words. Pays $50-$400.00 per column.

Tips: Query to the specific department editor. The best guide for writers is the magazine itself.

Parents
Gruner + Jahr
375 Lexington Ave.
New York, NY 10017

Website: www.Parents.com

Tips: "We are interested in anything with a strong appeal to a wide variety of parents."

South Florida Parenting
555 Nob Hill Rd.
Sunrise, FL 33351

e-mail: vmcash@sfparenting.com

website: www.sfparenting.com

Contact: Vicki McCash Brennan, Managing Editor

South Florida Parenting is a bimonthly magazine covering parenting and family issues of interest to south Florida readers. The magazine provides news, information and a calendar of events of interest to parents.

Needs: How-to, Interview/profile, Family and children's issues

Special Issues:

January - education/women's health
February - birthday party
March - summer camp
April - maternity
May - Florida vacation guide
July - Kid Crown awards
Aug - back-to-school
Sept. - education
Dec. - holiday

Length: 400- 2,000 words

Pays: $40-$300.00

Columns most open to freelancers: Baby Basics, Preteen Power, and Family Money (family finances)

Length: 500-750 words

Tips: Preference is given to writers based in south Florida. Especially needs more writers from the Miami-Dade area

Pediatrics for Parents
Pediatrics for Parents, Inc.
P.O. Box 63716
P. Philadelphia, PA 19147

E-mail: rich.sagall@pobox.com

Contact: Richard Sagall, Editor

Pediatrics for Parents is a monthly newsletter covering children's health. It takes a well informed, common sense approach to childhood health care and stresses preventative action and accident prevention.

Needs: medical

Length 500-1,000 words

Pays: $10 -$50.00

Tips: "Looking for articles that describe general, medical pediatric problems, new advances, new treatment, etc. All articles must be medically accurate and useful to parents and children (prenatal to adolescence.)

Today's Parent
Today's Parent Group
269 Richmond St. W.
Toronto, ON M5V
1X1
Canada

Web site: www.Todaysparent.com

Contact: Linda Lewis, Editor

Today's Parent is a monthly magazine for parents of children age birth to twelve. The web site banner proclaims itself to be "Canada's number one parenting web site." Contact editor for guidelines and specific needs.

Catholic Parent
Our Sunday Visitor
100 Noll Plaza
Huntington, IN 46750-4310

E-mail: cparent@osv.com

Web site: www.osv.com

Contact: Woodeene Koening-Brisker, Editor

Catholic Parent is a monthly magazine offering practical, realistic parenting advice.

Needs: Essays, How-to, Humor, Inspirational, Personal Experience, Religious

Length : 850-1,200 words

Payment varies

Column most open to freelancers: This Works (parenting tips). 200 words. $15-$25.00

Tips: Extremely receptive to first person accounts of personal experience dealing with parenting issues that are moving, emotionally engaging and uplifting for the reader.

American Baby Magazine
Merideth Corp.
110 Fifth Avenue
Fourth Floor
New York, NY 10011

Web site: www.Americanbaby.com

Contact: Sarah Jones, Assistant Editor

American Baby is a monthly magazine covering health, medical, and child care issues for expectant and new parents.

Needs: Book Excerpts, Essays, General interest, How-to (pregnancy or child care), Humor, New Product, Personal Experience, Fitness, Beauty, Health

No "hearts and flowers" or fantasy pieces.

Length: 1,000 - 2,000 words. Pays $740-$1,200 for assigned articles; $600-$800 for unsolicited articles.

Columns most open to freelancers: Personal Experience (700-1,000 words), Short Items, Crib notes (news and feature items) and Medical Update. Column length: 50-250 words. Payment: $200 - $1,000

Tips: "A simple, straight forward approach is mandatory."

Child
Gruner + Jahr
375 Lexington Ave.
New York, NY 10017-5514

Web site: www.child.com

Contact: Submissions

Child is a monthly magazine covering parenting issues.

Needs: Book Excerpts, Essays, Interview/profile, Personal Experience, Travel, Health

Timely trend stories on topics that affect today's parents

Length 650- 2,500 words

Pays: $1.00 per word and up

No poetry or fiction
Query by mail.

Working Mother Magazine
260 Madison Ave.
Second Floor
New York, NY 10014

E-mail: editors@workingmother.com

Web site: www.workingmother.com

Contact: Articles Department

Working Mother Magazine is a monthly magazine for mothers who balance a career with the concerns of parenting.

Needs: Service, Humor, Child Development, Material pertinent to working mother's predicament.

Length: 1,500 to 2,000 words

Payment varies.

Tips: Looking for pieces that help the reader. Don't report without discussing how topic affects readers' lives.

As always query first with your article ideas before submitting the manuscript.

Nita Walker Frazier is a struggling writer, trying to go full-time free-lance. She has lived in the West Texas area all of her life. She is the mother of two, ages 21 and 18. She is also foster mother to all their friends. She does not work outside the home due to medical disabilities, but volunteers her time to the local Girl Scouts as a leader and to the literacy council as a tutor. When she was a child, her dream was to own an elephant that she could keep in her back yard. She gave that up in favor of a dog malamute/chow mix and two cats.