Mean Moms Rule: The Blog
Observations on parenting in the tween and teen years.
This blog was born in 2009 as Confessions of a Mean Mommy, and gave rise to the book you see over on the right. Since I began blogging, my sons morphed from 5- and 7-year olds who looked to me for just about everything, to 11- and 13-year olds who have perfected their eye rolls and have one foot out the door. This parenting thing just got real.
Angels in the Outfield, Devils at Home: I’ll take some private mayhem if it means good behavior in public.
We had quite the day on New Year’s Eve. We woke to a snowstorm, which we drove through, slipping and sliding, for an hour to reach a lawyer’s office in a town that’s normally a 20-minute drive away. We were closing on a refinance of our home mortgage, a process that had taken many frustrating […]
What’s in a Name? In Mine? A Lot!
So, I didn’t change my name when I married my dear husband just over 9 years ago. Surprised? No one who knew me was, but I’m continually surprised at the hoopla it causes even now. Or maybe especially now, with our two sons firmly entrenched in the local public school system. But more on school […]
I Suck at Sick Days.
I’m going to make a major admission here: I’m not very good at being at home with my kids. I’m not looking for either condemnation or sympathy; it’s simply a fact of my personality. And knowing this fact for sure has been what’s made me able to create my working-and-family life “balance” (which I put […]
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 […]
Wanting, Wishing, Hoping… What Gifts Will You Give This Year?
I don’t know who or what deserves the credit for this (though I’m happy to take it!), but my boys have had to be coaxed and prodded to come up with ideas for what they want for Christmas (which is the gift-giving holiday we celebrate in these parts). Is it my strictness? My older son’s […]
I Am the Alpha Dog! How Dog-Training is the New Parenting
Did anyone see this article in the New York Times’ Style section the other day? It’s by Alex Williams, it’s titled Becoming the Alpha Dog in Your Own Home, and woo, boy did I get a good laugh over it. In a good way, I assure you! The story is about how some parents today […]
A Glass of Wine for Grandma: Why Giving Babysitting Grandparents a List of Rules is Just… Wrong
Yesterday, I was reading my friend Lenore Skenazy’s blog, Free Range Kids. She posted about a “Dear Amy” advice column that appeared in the paper — the writer of the question, a grandmother, had an interesting problem: She and her husband have been babysitting their grandson, overnight, twice a week, since he was born (right […]
Having Faith: The Spiritual Education of Mommy, part I
The boys and I have just begun our second year of religious education at our church. Remember, if you are/were Catholic or grew up with Catholic friends, the old CCD, or Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, a.k.a. a weekly class either in a parents’ home or at the church, that pretty much ended after Confirmation in […]
I’m No Betty Draper! My Mad Men Mom Musings
Some fellow Mad Men-obsessed writers and I were discussing the finale episode from last night. So, if you’ve not yet watched, and would hate me for revealing spoiler plot points, click away right now and come back after you view the episode (and if you don’t watch, please keep reading anyway; I have a point […]
My Baby’s No Einstein (Or, why I won’t be asking the Baby Einstein Co. for my money back)
So a totally hilarious thing came out recently in the news. Turns out that parents who bought the Baby Einstein videos (originally conceived by chic blonde Colorado mom and entrepreneur Julie Aigner Clark, who was Einstein-smart enough herself to sell out to Disney) can now ask for their money back. Because, you know, turns out […]
My name is Denise, and I’m a Mean Mom.
That’s the very first line of my book, Mean Moms Rule. Let me explain the “mean” for you, in case you were under the impression that I never hug my boys (I possibly do this too much, as evidenced by the fact that they routinely try to wiggle away from my embraces and especially my sloppy kisses, the urchins), or that I advocate for children to work in coal mines (it’s illegal! Plus, no coal mines in my area!). I say “mean” because my approach often bucks the prevailing parenting trend, which you could call helicopter-y or indulgent (I prefer my own technical term, “squishy”). It’s mean because it’s not easy. Because it’s focused on the end game, not the here-and-now (and anyone who has kids’ll tell you, they are all about the here and now).
Grab a copy from your favorite bookseller:
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