Gearing Up for Gift Giving: Do You “Owe” Your Kids a Holiday Bonanza?
As I was mulling over the subject of this post — do we owe it to our kids to give them A Great Holiday? Does your definition of A Great Holiday involve a certain number or type of distribution of gifts? A certain price point? An even-Steven stack for each child? — I read this excellent post by my friend Meagan Francis, over at The Happiest Mom. And wouldn’t you know it’s about the whole “owe” concept. Meagan’s talking here more broadly about ditching the idea that we “owe” our children things, if those things don’t fit in to our …Keep Reading
What Would the Easter Bunny Say? Helicopter Parents Ruin Colorado Easter Egg Hunt
I’m laughing over this story, which I read yesterday in the Toronto Star online, about the cancellation of the annual Easter Egg Hunt, sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and held in Colorado Springs, thanks to past instances of overzealous parents hopping (ha!) the rope lines to “help” their children get the most eggs. That’s not funny, obviously. I’m laughing because if I didn’t, I’d cry. I’d cry because I could just imagine it: A small clutch of parents who arrived early in order to be first at the entrance, pressing their kids against the barriers, whispering in their …Keep Reading
The Power of No
Who’s afraid of saying “no” to their children? Just this morning, literally five minutes after watching me pack his and his brother’s lunchboxes for school, my seven-year-old asked me, “Can I buy lunch today?” Now, I could have looked at him, and realized in that split second that saying “No, honey, not today, Mommy already packed your lunch and you bought lunch yesterday” would elicit a moan and a whine and simply given in (the lunch in the box would keep until later; I could eat his turkey sandwich and he could have the grapes and the yogurt for an …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
Rudolph and his Dad: Why Donner Would Never Be Allowed to Call his Son a Misfit Today
The other day, on impulse at the supermarket, I picked up the DVD of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” for the boys. They hadn’t seen it yet, even though it’s been on TV. Both of them are rehearsing holiday songs for their school concerts, so it’s been a nonstop chorus of Rudolph over here, and I figured it was better to own the dang thing than to sit through commercials. So we watched. And while James tucked his head under a blanket whenever the Bumble came on the screen, and Daniel laughed over my favorite character, Yukon Cornelius, I was taken …Keep Reading
