Dear Mother Nature,This winter has been a pleasant surprise. I have not missed the hurried quests to find lost mittens before racing to the bus stop, frantically peeling off layers of clothing so the preschooler can make it to the potty in time, or giving up completely on any hairstyle at all and just wearing a silly knit hat all day.However, I now need snow! If Virginia doesn't have a cold snap and some snow on the ground soon, I will go C-R-A-Z-Y. The following are leading to my mental and emotional demise:I am fully prepared for a snow day—Did I have snow boots when I had to walk through…
My little girl came home from school in tears this week after a classmate said to her Santa Claus isn't real. To my fantasy-immersed imaginative 6-year-old, this was the worst thing someone could have said, and when she told me the story of the conversation she just couldn't stop crying, so of course I cried, too. To top it all off, our Elf on the Shelf, Buddy, didn't move over night, and that added to her distress that something was terribly wrong.Amidst the sadness, I internally panicked. Was I going to end her childhood by saying the wrong thing? In an effort to stall a definitive answer, …
My children are the perfect advertising targets because they are old enough to be highly influenced by toy commercials, yet too young to understand the concept of money. The year that pillow pets was all the rage, my 4-year-old walked around the house singing, “It’s a pillow/ It’s a pet/ It’s a pillow pet!” and then would remind me, “And, it’s also washable!”I know my kids are no different than other kids, and I shouldn’t be concerned about greed, even when they hand me the Target toy catalog with every toy circled…with notes. I remember doing the same with the giant Sears catalog that was …
At the movies, my family watches a felt frog pull a torn wedding photo out of the drawer, and my 6 –year-old gasped, “The frog and the pig got married?”The name "Kermit the Frog" has little significance in my daughter’s world, as there has been no Muppet movie in the past 12 years. She only recognizes Kermit from watching him as a street reporter in Sesame Street clips on DVD. Remember, “Hi ho, Kermit the Frog here!”Jim Henson’s Muppets played a comforting role in my childhood. While “The Muppet Show” (1976-1981) was off the air by the time I was old enough to stay up for primetime TV, “…
Which one of these does not belong: a clumsy yet thrill-seeking 17-year-old loner girl who has no interest in ordinary high school boys, a “vegetarian” vampire attending high school in a Northwestern sleepy town, a Native American teen turned werewolf pining for the love of a human girl or a suburban mom of three?I overheard some fellow moms discussing on the preschool playground how addicted they were to a book called Twilight. I decided to give the book a try. Within a few hours, I was lost in Bella and Edward's world of young love and vampires, and things like dishes, dinner, laundry or …
Recently my in laws came into town for a three-day visit to spend some quality time with the kids. Each time the in-laws visit, they bring a small gift for each of the kids, including one for me: coupons!It amazes me how excited I get every time I see a Red Plum or Smart Source staring at me. However, I recently realized that I’m not overreacting. Coupons are good. They save money.As a child, I can vividly remember grocery shopping with my mother. In her hand were piles of coupons that she was preparing to hand over to the cashier. Rather than learn from her valuable teaching, I ducked my …
Sleep for a parent is like food for someone on a permanent diet. You always want more and you are never completely satisfied. The lack of sleep is an aspect of parenting that is not fully realized until you're in the middle of it, and there's no full night's rest in sight. It's no wonder why Adam Mansbach's "children's book for parents", "Go the F**k to Sleep" was such a hit among parents. The book is crass, but so so true to the internal dialogue of sleep-deprived parents. (For a good laugh, check out Samuel L. Jackson's reading of the book on YouTube, without your children in earshot.)…
My child, who has been a bit glum due to the rigors of first grade, came home from school the other day unusually excited. When asked what made her day so special, she told me that the school had an assembly that day. Hoping for some fabulous science wizard-type demonstration, I was deflated to hear her spout off a long list of prizes she could win during an upcoming school fundraiser. Ugh. She then pulled from her backpack catalogs and instructions and order forms, oh my.This is my second year of dealing with the dreaded school fundraisers at our school and my list of grievances include:1. …
For the first time in a long time there are hours during the week when I have no children at home with me. With my youngest in preschool for a few hours, I'm finding that my efficiency and accomplishments during that time are unparalleled.While I should probably dedicate those hours to the housework that beckons, I have chosen differently. Pintrest, the "virtual pinboard" that has captured the attention and time of many, continuously tempts me with its great project ideas and home organization solutions, and I'm suddenly equipped with a few hours to dedicate to my pins that have been waiting …
Admittedly, I've gotten rusty over the summer. After my children got home from school, the words, “How was your day?" escaped from my mouth. Rookie mistake.I have learned through trial and error that this is the worst question to ask your child if you want to get some real answers. While the afternoon may be your time to catch up with your kiddo, you have to play your cards right if you want to stay connected with your child and not get the one-word brush off response. Here are eight ways to have better after-school conversations with your child: The one- to 30-minute rule should be applied …
Now that the school year has officially begun there are a number of things that are going through your child’s head. Upcoming tests, homework assignments and what they are going to eat for lunch are just a few examples.However, there is one topic that shouldn’t go unnoticed and that’s the issue of bullying. For some kids, bullying seems like a normal part of growing up, and rarely do they speak up when something has happened to them. Perhaps they feel embarrassed or they are afraid it will happen again if they were to say something. Either way, it’s important that this matter doesn’t go …
Two things have happened in the past several weeks, and I cannot determine if they are related: children from all over have started school and families are getting back into their school day routines, and a couple of Texas moms started a Facebook page called Crock PotGirls. That page now has almost 1.2 million fans. The Crock Pot Girls fandom is under scrutiny because of its unusual speedy climb to fame. Some finger-pointers say the page has a Facebook bot software that is stealing "likes" from friend lists of its subscribers to boost its ratings for the website's advertisers. Others, as well…
There’s no doubt that times are tough and I don’t think a day goes by when I don’t worry about my children’s future. How much will things cost when they are my age? Will they be able to afford college tuition? Barely able to save my own money sometimes, I’ve realized that our kid’s future is just as important as mine. But when you throw in bills, while figuring out how much you need to put into your own savings, thinking of your child’s financial status can feel a bit frustrating. As parents, we play an important role in raising our kids to become financially successful adults. Below are a …
Any parent can tell you that having children changes everything. I’m not just talking about our personal lives or whatever freedom we might have had prior to expanding our families, but how we are now affected by every little thing. This includes having a backup Hot Wheels car in case your little guy happens to lose his or going to bed before midnight so you can get enough sleep before your kids wake up at 7 a.m.In my four years of parenting I’ve been introduced to a number of “what should we do?” situations, and even though they aren’t technically emergencies, they almost feel like they …
Somewhere between swim lessons, camps and family trips, my kids started growing up, and I ended up relearning a summer-long lesson about the concept of "challenge versus support." This was our mantra during my grad school years. For those in the college student affairs profession, it means providing college students with programs and services that challenge our students to rise to the occasion, but not push them so far as to make them regress developmentally. While it has been some time since I've been in the student affairs arena, the concept of "challenge versus support" sneaks its way into…
As a child, I sat for hours at the dinner table with a plate of cold food sitting before me. I refused to eat, and worse, the bite that my parents convinced me to try sat macerated in the pocket of my cheek until I was excused from the table.As if by some karmic punishment or perhaps my mom's wish (curse?) for me to have children just like me someday, I now sit across the dinner table from a child with chipmunk cheeks full of food she has no intention of swallowing. Dinnertime is a battle of wits and endurance, and I am determined to win!Here are some tactics that I have found that give me an…
Californians may be chuckling at Virginia’s just-shy-of-significant earthquake Tuesday. However, since living in Virginia I’ve come to the conclusion that if someone says, “Oh, a hurricane/tornado/blizzard/earthquake? Virginia never gets that,” we’re doomed to experience that particular phenomenon.Not only do Virginians experience these “once-in-a-lifetime” natural disasters, we do it horribly. We panic, leave work and get stuck in gridlock.Therefore, after this week’s earthquake, and with Hurricane Irene on the warpath, I thought it’d be a good time to review (make up) our family emergency …
One of the divides with women is the battle between those with children and those without children.After having a baby, a maternal fog leaves a woman unable to imagine a life without her child, who is the new gravitational pull in her life. Whereas, women who have yet to have children may find it difficult to understand how they will maintain their sanity or sense of identity once children enter their world.Becoming a mother can strain friendships with women who do not have children because of the drastic changes in priority and new focus on the child and all things related. Add to this an …
There is no doubt that raising children isn’t easy. I can’t tell you the number of times that both my husband and I have wished for an instruction manual on how to raise our kids. However, it never seems to help when I hear someone else adding his or her two cents about what to feed your kids rather than the fast food burger and fries you gave them one night out of the month, or what they should be wearing when someone else thinks it’s cold outside. Unfortunately, every parent will experience unwanted advice at some point, whether it’s from someone they know or a complete stranger. Here are …
Parenting daughters has gotten complicated. Maybe it has always been, but with every publishing of every child psychologist's theory, it gives parents another reason to worry.In my quest to raise healthy, well-rounded girls, I am sensitive to saying, "Good girl!" instead of praising a job well done, not forcing them to clean their plates for fear of inflicting an eating disorder, and comforting them, but not coddling them. It's exhausting.In best-selling author Peggy Orenstein's latest book, "Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Line of the New Girlie-Girl Culture,” she says …
