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.
Repeat After Me: Tablets for Toddlers are Toys.
Am I looking slightly concerned-slash-glum in the screen shot above? That’s me yesterday on Fox & Friends, debating Dr. Jeffrey Gardere on the subject of toddlers and tablets. You know, two year olds with iPads or those kidified tablets from Leap Frog and Nabi and VTech. The good doctor’s approach was that these aren’t […]
I’m Not Sorry and You Shouldn’t Be, Either
My house is kind of a mess. Not the kind where you’d walk in and want to call up one of those hoarder shows to nominate me, mind you. And not the kind where you hold in your pee rather than use one of my bathrooms*. Friends and family always tell me (and I presume […]
It’s a Treat! It’s a Snack! It Shouldn’t Be This Confusing!
I love Target. If you know me, you know that already. If you know me really well, such as if you’re married to me, are my child, or are my friend on Facebook, you also know how floaty I’ve been feeling since a new, shiny-fresh Target has opened less than a mile from my home. […]
Is It Possible To Be An Ethical Parent? (Hint: It’s a Trick Question).
This line in a recent New York Magazine article, called “Is Ethical Parenting Possible,” by Lisa Miller, grabbed me by the throat as I read: “Parenthood, like war, is a state in which it’s impossible to be moral.” The piece is about blahblahblah you’ve heard it all before mostly New York City parents pulling all […]
In-School Spanking? Not Okay with Me
Yesterday morning, I was asked to weigh in on a controversy surrounding corporal punishment in schools by Fox News, via their morning show Fox & Friends. Here’s the four-minute segment. Some of you may be surprised that this is an issue, and may be checking your calendars to be sure it’s 2013 and we’ve not […]
Forget Helicopter Parenting, It’s All About African-Violet Parenting
Every winter, just before my mom and dad pack up and snowbird their way down to Florida until spring, they drop off a couple of plants at my house for safekeeping. Every year I tell them: Your plants are only marginally safer at my home than they would be had you left them to gather […]
FYI (If You’re the Parent of Boys)
Several years ago now, I was watching an episode of the TLC show about the Duggar family — 17 Kids and Counting, I believe it was called then, though I think they currently have 19 children, and I’m not sure they still have a show (I’m afraid to check). In this episode, a bunch of […]
My Kids Are Not Picky Eaters. And It’s Not My Fault.
Going on eleven years ago, I gave birth to a very hungry baby. We had about a week in which we weren’t exactly in sync, milk-wise, but once my milk came in? Man could that kid drain a breast and demand the second one. Two memories reliably make me laugh. One was the day my […]
Yes, I’m Going There: Do You Spank Your Kids?
If you’re wondering, based on the title of this post: No, no I do not. To be 100% honest, there was one time I gave my older boy something a little bit more than a tiny tap. I did not hurt him, but I know I scared him. And worse: I scared myself. I didn’t […]
Camp Care Packages Gone Crazy. Thanks to Parents.
Every so often, I read what I like to call a WTF article. You know the kind; you skim through it with your jaw pretty much on the table, then you read it more carefully and feel either depressed or outraged or just kind of deflated. Happens to me a lot. This week’s WTF article […]
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).
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