Mommybites Chit-Chat: Eric Messinger – Editor of New York Family Magazine

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Mommybites Chit-Chat: Conversations with luminaries, entrepreneurs and influencers in the parenting world

Tell us a little about you (your background, your job, what makes you tick or anything else you think our Mommybites moms will find interesting).

I’m the Editor of New York Family magazine and the Content and Programming Director of the New York Baby Show (coming up this weekend).  I love my job and at the heart of that is the ability and responsibility and fun of delivering good information and good stories to parents.

What or who inspires you?

Hmmm.  Well, the non-famous person who comes right to mind is my wife. I’m blessed to face the stresses of parenting and life with such a good and fun person as my partner.

What is your best piece of parenting advice?

“This too shall pass.” Okay, hmmm… I think most of us parents go on a journey to learn to love our children for who they are and not who we hope they would be.  Seems obvious, but there are ways in which this plays out more subtly. I wish I realized that sooner.

What’s the worst piece of parenting advice you have heard?  

Not sure, actually. I will tell you that I wish I had been more of a consistent enforcer of household chores when my kids were younger.  Now that they’re teens, it’s not pretty.

What’s the most common question you are asked by parents?

Because of my editor role in NYC in particular, I get a lot of school admissions questions – public school vs. private school.

What are some of your favorite T.V. shows? Books? Foods?

My favorite book this year has been The Folded Clock by Heidi Julavitz. She’s funny like Nora Ephron, and more of a nuanced thinker.

What parenting books do you most recommend to parents?

There are a lot of good books to get you going as a new parents. But there are fewer books to help guide you as your kids are growing up. I loved Ron Lieber’s The Opposite Of Spoiled and Jessica Lahey’s The Gift Of Failure.

What are some of your favorite parenting products?

Yikes!  Hugs?

If you could be someone else for a day who would it be and why?

My road not taken is probably another form of writing or producing, like for TV. Yeah, so it would interest me to see what it would be like to be a showrunner of a hit TV show.

What’s up next for your professionally?

I’m hoping to ride this gig out to the sunset.

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