My Daughter's Fears Make Me Feel Helpless Because I Can't "Fix" Them for Her
This is a submission in our monthly contest. December’s theme is Growth. It's over 90 degrees out, the kind of heat that warps your skin. I splash my face and feel a moment of cool, but my daughter...
You've Seen Me at the Park. Let Me Tell You What Kind of Mother I Am
I want to tell this woman I do care, that my aloof exterior belies an infinite reservoir of caring. I want to tell her she has no idea what kind of mother I am.
Confessions of an Off-Duty Mom
Spending time with my family is the greatest joy in my life, but it also feels like the greatest burden for an introvert like me.
Dating Your Wife With Kids Under Five
It can be difficult to make time for yourself and for each other when you have children, but it’s also a great time to grow together in a new way.
I know I will always be a mom, but a new era is opening up now.
Using Your Kid as an Effective Mediator and Email Service
The trick is learning how to maximize your child’s potential as a mediator, facilitator, spreader of a wide range of truths, and email service.
New Parents, Your Life Is over – Embrace It
While I don’t feel remarkably different as a person, my life is astronomically different than it used to be.
This is a submission in our monthly contest. December’s theme is Growth. Change can be hard, especially for parents. A former neighbor (and at the time soon to be mother of five) once explained the...
As we slowly inched closer and closer to the drive-through speaker box, a drip of nervous perspiration rolled down my forehead. “Do you know what you want?” I asked my wife. “I can’t see the menu,”...
Everything We Know About Parenting Will Eventually Be Wrong
What are "mesofacts" and how will they contribute to our kids' arguments when leaving us four pages of instructions for watching our grandkids?
If Everything is Impermanent, Let's Rest Assured the Effort Remains
All I had wanted was to do something that would last. But that’s how it is with motherhood, isn’t it?
Your Parenting Style Needs a Makeover
The problem of parenting styles isn't that any style is right or wrong, it's that in our adherence to them we forget style is massively subjective.
How to Help Kids Cope With Post-Christmas Letdown
When the morning of December 25th arrives, it’s seemingly gone in an instant, often leaving children with a post-holiday letdown.
Are you a parent? How do you see yourself? How would you define your role? This is important. It will impact everything you do with your child and how you do it. With the growing influence of gurus...
They're Their Milestones, Not Ours
Time and again we’re presented with a measuring stick, and sometimes our child simply doesn’t measure up.
My daughter had an assignment at school recently to write a letter to herself, and the teacher will send it to her when she graduates high school.
How MAC's Ruby Woo Lipstick Saved the Day
As I burst into his room, I half expected to be saving my child from immediate death. Instead, Ry was naked and playing with his diaper, glaring at me from his bed. There was poop smeared all over ...
It's Okay to Let Your Partner Be Their Own Parent
There is seldom a right and wrong way of doing things. The spectrum is wide and there's often plenty of room for grace.
Growth Is Imperative in the Journey Called Parenting
Just like in every relationship, growth is a crucial element in parenting as well. Parenting offers us a chance to observe and sometimes self-reflect on our actions and reactions towards our childr...
The House-To-House Holiday Shuffle: a Chaotic Tradition We’re Lucky to Have
Is it a challenge to cart around children, canines, presents, diaper bags, and baked goods to multiple houses? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Absolutely.
A Mom's Top 10 Television Moments of 2017
It truly is the golden age of television. It's also the age of interruption, nervous breakdowns, and endless piles of laundry.
How to Survive Mom-Shaming When Home for the Holidays
Mom-shaming seems to be a pervasive problem; however, a different interpretation may help young parents through the holidays.
Santa and His Magic – in Full Effect for as Long as Possible
When it’s all said and done, if my children have joyful memories, then I have given them a great gift.
From day one our children are measured. We know their heights, weights, and head circumferences, for that matter. At each check-up these measurements are again taken. With data in hand we can look ...