About Our Children Online Magazine
Our Children Magazine is the unique voice for parents, published by National PTA. This online publication was created for the parent who’s always on the go and looking for the best parenting, wellness, education and PTA community info to help their child excel at school and in life. If parents should know it, we want to cover it!
Originality, creativity and interactive twists on informational content are encouraged. Our readers really enjoy a good “how-to, can-do” angle. You can view our monthly content themes on our editorial calendar.
What are the Our Children Editors looking for?
When it comes to new articles for our online magazine, we are generally looking for info from experts in a variety of fields, features by journalists—and of course stories from moms and dads who want to share their experiences to help other parents.
We like articles that are based on research and interviews, presented in a friendly, approachable manner and written with parents in mind. We particularly enjoy articles that include bulleted or numbered lists, checklists or a Top 10 (or Top 3 or more) list. Depending on the subject and format, our articles are generally:
- 500 – 750 words for online articles
- 750 – 1,500 words for print articles
We are especially interested in original, non-promotional content on …
- Parenting
- Education
- Family Fun (Crafts, Activities, Recipes)
- Wellness (Health & Safety)
Here are a few tips to guide you as you write …
- Start your article with an interesting lead paragraph that will get your readers attention.
- Keep your sentences short. Run on sentences are hard to understand. 20 words or less in a sentence is the goal.
- Use a conversational, casual tone that speaks directly to parents.
- Use examples and provide tips for parents.
- Use bullets and/or key points to break down ideas.
- You can reference articles, stats and/or use favorite quotes, however, embed them in the article and include hyperlinks instead of a list of research sources at the end of the article.
What to include with your submission …
- Headline (10 words or less)
- Author bio (one-line bio)
- Keywords (4-5 topical words) — And use them in your lead paragraph and throughout the article
- Images (high-res .jpg or .png files; infographics are great!)
Please email your final submission to ourchildrenmagazine@pta.org.
Editor’s Note
The Our Children editorial team reserves the right to accept or reject any article submitted for publication, and to edit submitted articles in any way deemed appropriate and necessary for our audience. Promotional content is discouraged. Edited articles are not routinely returned to authors for their review.