This page explains how The Culture Mom decides what to publish, how we test what we recommend, where our money comes from, and what we do when we get something wrong. Last reviewed June 20, 2026.
Editorial independence
No brand, advertiser, affiliate partner or PR agency has any say in what we publish, how we rank things, or what we conclude about a product. Not in exchange for money, not in exchange for access, not in exchange for a relationship we would like to keep.
We do not sell placement in a roundup. We do not sell a position in a ranking. We do not publish sponsored content designed to read like editorial. If a piece is sponsored or produced in partnership with a brand, it is labeled at the top of the page in plain language before you read a word of it, and it is written to a different standard than our editorial work because it is a different thing.
Advertisers do not receive advance copies of reviews. They do not get to approve quotes. They cannot request removal of unfavorable coverage. Occasionally this costs us a partnership. That is the correct outcome.
Our commercial arrangements are explained in full on our affiliate disclosure page.
How we test products
Every product we recommend in a review has been used by a named editor for a minimum of 21 days of real, ordinary use. Not unboxed. Not photographed. Used, in a house with children in it, for three weeks.
We buy most of what we test with our own money. When a brand sends us something, we say so in the article. Receiving a product creates no obligation to cover it and no obligation to like it, and we regularly test things that never make it into a story because they were not good enough to write about.
For each review we document what we tested, how long, under what conditions, and what specifically failed or held up. Reviews include what we did not like. A product with no downsides has not been tested hard enough.
We do not accept payment to include a product in a roundup, and we do not rank by commission rate. If two products are close, we say they are close.
Where a category genuinely requires expertise we do not have in house, we bring in an outside expert and name them.
How we source
Primary sources first. If we can talk to the researcher, the chef, the pediatrician or the person who was there, we do that instead of quoting a secondhand summary.
For health, nutrition, psychology and child-development claims, we rely on peer-reviewed research, systematic reviews and guidance from professional bodies. We prefer .gov and .edu sources, along with organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, the NIH and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. We link to the underlying study rather than to a news article about the study.
We flag preliminary findings as preliminary. A single small trial is not a recommendation. When the evidence is thin or contested, we say that outright instead of picking the more interesting side.
For travel, we visit. For restaurants, we eat there. For theater and film, we see it. Coverage assembled from other people’s coverage is not coverage, and we do not publish it.
Fact-checking
Every article passes through a named editor before publication. That editor checks factual claims against the cited sources, verifies names, dates, prices, addresses and statistics, and confirms that links go where the text says they go.
Health, nutrition and psychology content receives an additional review from the relevant credentialed editor. Priya Shetty, RD reviews nutrition and postpartum claims. Dr. Renee Halverson reviews child-development and mental-health claims.
Prices and availability change. We date our articles, note when they were last updated, and re-check time-sensitive information on a rolling basis.
Corrections
When we publish something wrong, we correct it and we say we corrected it.
Confirmed factual errors are fixed in the article and accompanied by a dated correction note at the bottom of the page describing what was wrong and what it now says. That note stays there. We do not silently edit errors out of the record.
Minor changes such as typos or broken links are fixed without a note. Changes that alter the meaning of a claim, a recommendation or a ranking always get one.
If a piece is so flawed that correction is not sufficient, we unpublish it and explain why at the URL.
To flag an error, write to corrections@theculturemom.com with the URL and the specific claim. We review these within two business days.
Our stance on AI
We will be direct about this, because a lot of publishers are not.
We use AI tools in our workflow. They help us with background research, organizing notes, first-pass structure, and drafting assistance on sections of some articles. They are useful and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
Here is what that does not mean. No article on this site is published as an AI output. Every piece is written, rewritten or substantially revised by a human editor, fact-checked against real sources by that editor, and published under that editor’s real name. Every product recommendation reflects a real person who used the real product. Every restaurant, hotel, show and trip in our travel and culture coverage reflects a human being who actually went.
AI cannot test a stroller for three weeks, sit through a matinee with an eight-year-old, or tell you what a hotel smells like. Those are the parts that make the article worth reading, and they are ours.
We do not publish AI-generated images presented as photographs of real places, products or people. We do not accept AI-generated drafts from freelancers as original work.
Health and medical content
Priya Shetty is a registered dietitian. Dr. Renee Halverson is a clinical psychologist with a PhD from Columbia. Their credentials are real, and their sections are held to a higher sourcing standard because of it.
Nothing on The Culture Mom is individual medical, psychological or nutritional advice. Reading an article does not create a clinician-patient relationship with any of our editors. Our health and wellness content is general information intended to help you ask better questions of your own doctor, dietitian or therapist.
Do not use anything here to diagnose or treat a condition, to start or stop a medication or supplement, or to delay professional care. If you have a specific medical concern about yourself or your child, talk to a qualified clinician who can examine the actual patient. In an emergency, call 911 or your local emergency number.
Questions
Anything about this policy can go to hello@theculturemom.com, or through our contact page. You can read about the editors who apply it on our masthead.