My reaction to kid/parenting videos like these evolves in 3 phases. Phase 1: The Ugly Cry. (Tears streaming and snot dribbling included.) Phase 2: The irrational fear that I am a terrible parent who will never raise kids like that. Phase 3: The decision to quit our jobs, sell our home, and […]
Time For Bed: A Monologue
Time for bed! I said, time for bed! I’m sorry you don’t want to, but it’s time. Please put your shoes and socks where they belong. Both shoes. All the socks. Well, they certainly aren’t mine. Go brush your teeth. Leave your brother alone. Don’t forget toothpaste. Stop touching your brother. Brush your teeth! […]
How to Parent Without Using Words
Men speak approximately 7,000 words per day.* Women speak approximately 20,000 words per day.* Mothers speak 2,846,325 words per day… ** and most of them are the same phrases repeated over and over and over. Put your backpack away pick up your shoes make your bed brush your teeth stop touching your brother don’t […]
The road to hell is paved with guilt and YouTube videos
After careful examination I have determined that 63% of my parenting is motivated by guilt. I feel guilty about that. I have also discovered, though, that while guilt isn’t the healthiest of inspirations, it can sometimes lead me to a positive place. For example… “Ugh, I feel so guilty for feeding my kids donuts […]
A letter to the mother of daughters from the mother of sons…
To the mothers of daughters from the mother of sons, As mothers we have similar goals, regardless of gender. We want our children to have happy, healthy relationships- both physically and emotionally. We want them to go out into the world prepared to make educated choices and calculated risks- with a healthy dose of caution […]
10 Things I Learned Spending 4,197 Consecutive Minutes with My 10 Year Old
Last week I had the pleasure of spending 3 days traveling to Northern California with my son and his 4th grade class. Let’s clarify here: “pleasure” is subjective. What is “pleasurable” to one person might be excruciating to another. I think I fall somewhere in the middle with a slight lean to one side on the […]
What we’ve got here is failure to communicate
Living in a house full of men, I spend the majority of my time being worshiped and adored completely ignored. It’s not that I’m not loved. The fact that my children can’t bear to be apart from me for the 2 minutes it takes me to pee, proves that. Their desperate need to share their […]
Daddy’s Girl
“Oh, is this your son and daughter in law?” the sweet waitress asked my father as we sat having dinner. Seems like a reasonable enough question, right? It was, save for one simple fact: She was not speaking about my brother and his wife. She was referring to me and my husband. Me- my father’s daughter. It’s […]
Full Hearts, Full Bellies
I don’t know about the rest of you, but my Facebook feed is full of grateful people. They are grateful for their children, their spouse, their job. They are immensely grateful for their pets and their parents. And I have quite a few friends who are not afraid to admit they are exceptionally grateful for […]
My son totally threw me under the bus
That’s my kid tossing me under the bus. They say children begin to identify with their same-sex parent somewhere around the ages of 5 to 7. Personally, I’ve been waiting for this day. As the SAH/WAH Mom I’ve been the primary caregiver and it’s about darn time The Hubs should have to navigate the inquiry […]
