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.
IPhones are a Privilege, Not a Right (or, my ode to the mom who created an iPhone contract for her son)
Did you hear about the mom who, when she gave her 13-year-old son an iPhone for Christmas last year, followed up the gift with a 18-point contract that he had to sign in order to use his phone? It was aaaall over the Internet at the time, and the mom, a writer named Janell Burley […]
Living with Less: How Much Stuff Does a Family Need?
Last spring, at the height of weekend garage sale season, my older boy asked me, “Mom, do people all over the world have garage sales?” How I answered will be revealed at the end of this post. But I thought about our conversation after reading this opinion piece in the Sunday New York Times, about […]
It’s Okay Not to Share: A Q&A With Author Heather Shumaker
I have to say, when I read the title of Heather Shumaker’s new (and terrific!) book It’s Okay Not to Share…and Other Renegade Rules for Raising Competent and Compassionate Kids (Jeremy Tarcher/Penguin), I breathed a sigh of relief. Because to be honest, when my kids were very little, I couldn’t bear the sharing emphasis. Good […]
Shut Your Mouth, Mom! An Interview and Podcast with Duct Tape Parenting author Vicki Hoefle
Last Friday, as the rain and sleet that had been falling since early morning turned to swirls of snow and strong winds — the beginnings of the Northeast’s so-called Winter Storm Nemo (don’t get me started!) — I was on the phone with parent educator, author and mother of five Vicki Hoefle. I don’t know […]
The Hardest Part of Being a Mean Mom? I’d Have to Say the Repetition (And Then I’d Have to Say it Again!)
My kids don’t think I’m mean! And yet, I am — at least, by my definition, which is that this whole long-haul-parenting gig is hard, in large part because it’s so darned repetitive. You don’t get to say things one time. If you believe it, you have to stick to it. Like exercise: Just once, […]
Parents, Unite! What Happens if a “Mean” Mom Lives With a “Softie” Dad?
First, happy new year. And second, thanks to my Facebook Mean Moms Rule subscribers, who answered my “what should I blog about next/what do you guys want to talk about” post the other day. So many great ideas! I’ve decided to start by addressing this: What happen when you and the adult person you’re raising […]
Looking Back, and Looking Forward
So, here we are, the tail end of another year. I got older, my kids got older, and bigger, and stranger. My big boy uses deodorant now (I’m not embarrassing him by saying this, he was excited to hear that he’d reached this milestone.) Meanwhile my little boy (oops — I promised him I wouldn’t […]
I Am Not Afraid of School Shootings. Are You?
I wasn’t planning to write a post about the terrible tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut last Friday. I feel as though there are no real words one can say here. All we have our feelings, and mine have been rubbed raw. But I am a writer, and as such, before I write, I analyze. And I’ve […]
Beware the White Van! How Do You Balance Safety with Fear?
Kids! Beware the white panel van! I kid, sort of, but we got one of those robo calls from the school district superintendent last night informing us about two girls being approached or called out to, while they were walking home from school, by someone in a white van. (I’m sure a letter is coming, […]
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 […]
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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