Tell me if this is a familiar scene … It’s 5pm. There is homework to be done but no one besides you seems to care about it. After three clenched-teeth reminders you see your child staring off into space, shuffling around in his chair and thinking of a million other things he “needs to do first.” Your phone starts pinging you with reminders to respond to a couple of important emails you didn’t have a chance to get to earlier …
If kids came with instructions, these would be the 3 most important chapters…
Q: What do a Wubble Ball, a coffee pot and anything that requires batteries have in common? A: A user’s guide You know, that little number-and-picture-filled pamphlet that comes with everything we own. It seems the only thing lacking that handy-dandy-how-to-guide is our children! Wouldn’t it be amazing if a wise, half-magical individual gently escorted us out of the maternity unit (while we are awkwardly holding our tightly-swaddled baby wearing that pink and blue striped beanie) … and this genie-like-person …
Why does everyone else’s family look so much more together than mine?
It’s almost as if we are programmed to compare. Whether we blame it on the Jones’s, or on the highlight reels we are bombarded with on social media, it’s a daunting task to separate “us” from “them” and not pay attention to how and if we are measuring up. Believe me, this is a battle I fight as well. These almost-automatic comparisons I make when, for instance, I can’t help but notice the family sitting at a table across from …
Are You Screwing Up Your Kids?
This is a question I ask myself all the time. Yep – as recently as last night. (Well, not about you and your kids, but about me and mine). And I know I’m not alone. If we’re brave enough to shed our superhero capes and admit it, we all question our decisions surrounding parenting – whether it’s the big, blatant ones, or the hundreds of teeny, tiny ones throughout the day – which is going to be the thing that …
Gifts To Prevent The Gimmies!
The holidays are upon us and the season of giving can sometimes turn into the season of “gimmies” for our kids. As much as we try to explain to them that the holidays are not only about receiving toys upon toys, it can be hard to manage their expectations when they get bombarded by all the tempting commercials, toy catalogs, and store displays. So, how can we manage these gift expectations during the holidays? We want to be able to …
Welcome to My Mess
We have a puppy. A very big puppy. She’s 4 months old and already over 60 pounds. It looks like PetSmart vomited all over our house. I have two sons and a husband. Somehow papers, bouncy balls, lone socks and half empty water glasses are covering the areas that are not already occupied by said puppy explosion. And then there’s me. By no means super organized, tidy or clutter-free by any means, but craving order and sparkly clean no less. …
Man Hairs, Magnifying Mirrors and Parenting
I thought I had done a great job. I was attentive, thorough, present and thoughtful — and had all the most important bases covered. I was confident. I felt proud. I may even be so bold to say that I had a little “mom swagger” in my step. Yes, I got all of those little wiry, unsuspecting suckers. Success! I put the tweezers away and left on our much anticipated vacation. However, unbeknownst to me I had been the fool. …
The superpower all parents need…
If you are struggling to find just enough energy to get through the day, or feeling like you have to rush about with little time to eat (or take a deep breath) in between “what’s next,” then you are probably not showing up as your best self. This is a hard truth to swallow, and it feels near impossible to pull it all off without dropping a few balls here and there. I get it. It’s still hard for me to this day. All we want is to provide and give …
5 Reasons to Calm Down About Screen-Time
Screen-time is definitely a touchy subject for parents. How much is too much? What is good screen-time and what is bad screen-time? There’s so much information out there it can be overwhelming to even begin to sift through it all. And then the guilt as a parent sets in as you wonder if you’re doing this whole screen-time-monitoring-thing right. I recently wrote an article on “screen-control” (which you can read here) that gives some easy tips that you can apply in your home now to reduce the stress that screen-time can bring. On the flipside, I …
A smile is life-changing
I thought we’d keep it light again this week 🙂 Did you enjoy the memes from last week’s email? Laughter really is a powerful form of healing. The more we have of it in our lives, the better off we are! Parenting is probably the most challenging job any adult can have. Without support from other parents who understand the struggles and triumphs that come with children, the path can feel very lonely. But we have each other in our …