I have a picky eater. Correction- I have a child who once successfully carried out an 18-hour hunger strike. After years of cooking three separate meals at dinnertime, I had the unreasonable idea that I should just cook one meal and that we could all eat like normal families. After all, I had never aspired to being a short-order cook, and preparing multiple meals meant I relied way too much on microwaving processed foods shaped like animals. I was going to make a change. … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: How I Re-Connected with My Kids
I don’t think I sat on the couch for more than five minutes when my kids were toddlers—we were always on the floor playing trains, or at the table squeezing Play-Doh, or off on an adventure somewhere. Honestly, I thought I’d enjoy it more than I did. Oh, I could play Thomas the Tank Engine for 30 minutes just fine, but the whole day? Not so much. I’ll admit it—I couldn’t wait for them to play independently. Parents often joke about kids’ short attention spans, but I will say that my kids … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: Why You Should Learn Something New with Your Kid
I awkwardly pulled the mesh helmet over my head in my first fencing class. It was hot. My glasses fell down my nose and my hair was in my face. My heart beat as rapidly as if I were standing in line for a roller coaster. True confession: I never wanted to be a fencer. When I was pregnant, I dreamed of Mom-n-Me ballet classes. I couldn’t wait for my kids to be old enough for the adult and child mixed beginner Taekwando class in the rec department’s catalog. The idea of taking … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: 7 Reasons I Love Short Vacations
When I was a kid, my parents saved their time off work and extra spending money for the big two-week summer vacation. The trips started out humbly—camping in a tent—but progressed to more exotic locations like Mexico and Hawaii. Two weeks is a significant amount of time. You can drive far distances, really experience a new location, do all the tourist things on the list. While there’s nothing wrong with the two-week vacation, I’ve found that mini-breaks work best for my family. We spent two … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: My Biggest Mistake with Family Game Night
I was pretty excited when my eldest was old enough to play Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. I’d been waiting for years and years to reach board game age. Unfortunately, the two-and-a-half-year age gap between my kids meant that my youngest wasn’t ready—not by a long shot. Neither was he interested in leaving us alone to play a board game without his “help.” If you have a toddler, you know just how helpful they can be. I came up with “baby rules,” which meant that the baby got to do whatever he … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: I’m Giving My Kids a 1970s Summer
I meant to be a free-range parent (affiliate link). I love the idea of kids roaming through the neighborhood, devising their own games, riding bikes and climbing trees. Instead, I became a helicopter parent with an over-excitability concerning signing up for activities. And honestly, my social life mainly consists of chatting with my parent-friends at sporting events. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself with all that free time either. Yet, every summer, I declare that this year, I’m not … [Read more...]
Exclusive Excerpt: Mama, Mama, Only Mama!
Mama, Mama, Only Mama: An Irreverent Guide for the Newly Single Parent—From Divorce and Dating to Cooking and Crafting, All While Raising the Kids and Maintaining Your Own Sanity (Sort Of)Negotiating with SpidersAn excerpt from Mama, Mama, Only MamaI had never lived completely on my own before, without a boyfriend, husband, or roommate. Yes, technically I wasn’t “alone,” as someone pointed out once—I had the children five days a week, but toddlers are more like badly behaved pets than life … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: 5 Words for When Your Child Struggles Academically
My kid recently bombed a Big and Important Test. It happens to all of us at some point. I certainly bombed a test or two in my day. OK, let’s be honest, I’ve bombed plenty of tests—and not just the written kind. I’ve gotten Fs—note the plural. I’ve been fired from a job. Backed my car into more than one inanimate object. Been divorced not once but twice. My life is salted with screw ups of various gradations. I generally don’t need someone to help me feel bad about my … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: The Best Thing I Did For My Mental Health Was Relax My Cleaning Standards. A Lot.
I thought I was being wise by installing carpeting that matched the dog. No one could see how rarely I vacuumed, unless they looked closely. Then my baby started crawling, and vacuuming became important. Really important. I spent a lot of time vacuuming regularly. Then I had a second child and bought a dark red oriental rug. I was in over my head.It became readily apparent that I did not have the skills or discipline required to both raise my kids the way I had always … [Read more...]