You Can’t Always Get (The Kid) That You Want
Yesterday afternoon, as I was quietly melting away in the 90-degree heat on the edge of the soccer field, watching (well, sorta watching) my son Daniel’s practice, I started chatting with another mother, whose son was in D’s preschool class. We were just having one of those idle, “aren’t they getting so big” back-and-forth things, before we both turned back to our bottles of water/magazines/making sure our other son wasn’t putting rocks in his pockets for me to find in the bottom of the washer (me). Now, Daniel and this other boy, I’ll call him O. because his first name …Keep Reading
Mean Mom’s Question Time: How Much Do You Meddle in Your Kids’ Friendships?
Just this weekend, I was talking to my sister, who had recently attended a mini-reunion of her high school class. She told me she talked to a girl who used to live around the corner from us, whose older brother, Charlie, was The Tormenter of the Bus Stop. (I recall that I actually mentioned our old bus stop in this old post about kids and bus stops, but I’d forgotten Charlie’s name.) Anyway, my sister said to Charlie’s sister, Annie: “you know, your brother was really mean to us, and I still have psychic scars!” Annie apologized for her big …Keep Reading
On the Day After Mother’s Day: Trust Your Gut, Moms!
As readers can tell by perusing my last post, I’m not on board with junking up emotions surrounding motherhood with borrowed words or treacly sentiment. I’m all about the reality, kiddos. I’ve also never been, since becoming a mom, about abandoning my own hard-won instincts in order to follow any crowd into a place that leaves me wondering if I’m doing the right thing. I can (mostly) figure that out myself. Though I’ve posted about this before, few people I know address this topic better than the incomparable Jen Singer, mother, soccer coach, blogger, book author, and wearer of leopard …Keep Reading
Let’s Tell The Truth About Mother’s Day
Sigh. Facebook is at it again. well, not Facebook itself, but the community of FBers. As I type, with a day and a half until Mother’s Day descends upon us again, one of those “copy and paste this and put it in your status line if you’re a Mom!” thingies is virusing its way around. (And yes, I just made virus into a gerund, sue me). Here’s the version I saw: Mothers’ Day Declaration ~ I wanted you before you were born. I loved you when you were born. I saw your face and I knew that I was in …Keep Reading
Mean Mom’s Question Time: How Much TV Do Your Kids Watch?
Starting this week (and hopefully continuing because it turns out to be wildly successful!), I’m instituting Mean Mom’s Question Time. Because I got to thinking: I can write (and write, and write, and write), but I’d rather discuss sometimes. So. Here’s the topic for Week One of Mean Mom’s Question Time: How much TV do your kids watch? The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends no boob tube for babies and toddlers under age 2, and a limited amount thereafter. Baby “education” DVD and video creators tried to get around this by touting their products as not-TV (think, HBO for …Keep Reading
