Some days when I'm at work, I feel guilty that I'm not with my kids. And some days when I'm with my kids, I'm feeling guilty that I'm falling behind on my workload.As I've gotten older, I've learned to be present. At least, I'm getting better at it. When I'm at home, I'm trying not to think about work. And when I'm at work, I know my kids are going to a great school they love and they're being influenced by their wonderful teachers.In an effort to be present, I'm trying to squeeze in … [Read more...]
Positive Parenting Gold: “Listen, Allow, Support, Repeat”
Yesterday was a crazy day (power outages, cancelled activities, melt downs, etc.) and let's just say, I wasn't at my positive parenting best.That afternoon, during a 5-minute period when all three of the kids had miraculously found something to entertain them, I picked up my copy of Parents Magazine. (Do you guys subscribe? I've found it to be surprisingly useful month after month.)Inside I spied an article on great podcasts for parents and immediately picked up my phone and subscribed … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: When You Have 3 Siblings, You Share Your Parents
This morning, our two-year-old woke up crying. She’s a sunny kid most of the time, padding downstairs to beam and greet us all, “Good merning!”However, we’ve been dealing with runny noses and terrible coughs and croup and double ear infections in our house over the last two weeks – horror – and E was the last of the kids to go down. I scooped her up and climbed into my bed with her. She snuggled up and closed her eyes until her big sister slid in to join us.E took immediate, … [Read more...]
The One Question that Has Made Me a Better Mother
Happy Friday friends! I wanted to pop in quickly and share with you a post I wrote this week for eHow's Mom Channel. It's a personal one for me and I really hope you like it - here's a preview: ...The perfectionist in me wants to slow down and make sure I do this parenting thing exactly right. But the kids, and their incessant growing, seem to have other ideas. In fact, I had the bone-chilling realization the other day that we’re already one-third of the way done raising our … [Read more...]