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.
My Olympic Moment: How Do Ordinary Sports Parents Become … Well, Crazy Sports Parents?
Did everyone see this clip, of the parents of U.S. Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman? They are not just feeling what most parent would feel while watching their child compete, at any level: the sense that you hope like hell that she won’t fall/that he’ll save the goal/that she makes the point. No, Mr. and Mrs. […]
The Hard Lesson of the $5 Fries: Me, My Kid, and Envy
I talk a good game about how important it is to let kids feel disappointment, to experience failure. That’s how they learn important life lessons, how they grow stronger, how they develop skills to get along in a world that, come on, is not fair or, as kids would prefer it to be, “even.” In […]
Are American Kids Spoiled? What’s Your Verdict?
Spoiled kids. It’s a big topic — and often a misunderstood one. What do we actually mean by spoiling? 1. Are we saying an unspoiled kid is like a perfect ripe peach, and a spoiled kid is a piece of fruit in which rot has set in? Like, there’s nothing you can do? 2. Is […]
Food From a Pouch: Space-age, or Scary?
Kids have been drinking out of pouches for a generation at least. It bears remembering that when many of us were in our juice-drinking days, juice boxes and pouches, as well as sippy cups, didn’t exist. Now, it’s more common in some circles for kids to drink out of so-called spillproof devices or disposable containers […]
“I Did It For My Daughter!” I Call Bulls$#t on Rielle Hunter
As you might have gathered from this post I wrote about Octomom, or even this sort of tongue-and-cheek mention of Madonna, I’m not a celeb-worshiper. I like the actors and musicians and others entertainment types, or don’t enjoy them, based on their work, and for no other reason. (I might except some personalities from that […]
It’s Graduation Time! Oh, and By the Way: You are NOT Special!
It’s graduation time! It’s also time for the myriad end-of-year hoopla that accompanies just about every activity children do. In point of fact, I just returned, about a half-hour ago, from Daniel’s school for the fourth-grade band and orchestra concert. He’s with the band (I love saying that!). He’s no virtuoso — geez, the kid […]
Take a Big Gulp and Read This: Does Anyone NEED 32 Ounces of Soda?
I have never had a giant-size or super-size or Big Gulp size soda. In point of fact, I’ve had almost no regular (as in, non-diet) soda in my life, apart from a span between about age 12, when I suddenly decided I liked grape and orange soda or root beer, in cans served up out […]
When Fear Goes Viral: Panic should never replace instinct
In my last post, I answered a question from a reader who wanted to know how we could, as parents, quit being an overprotective helicopter parent (which I espouse! Land that ‘copter, please!), but still keep our kids safe from ever-present danger. My answer was that danger may be ever-present, but not the kind of […]
Ask the Mean Mom: You Asked, I’m Answering
Questions and answers. Who doesn’t love ’em? Just the other day, when the four of us were driving home from a family event, our boys slipped into fierce, rapid-fire question mode. My husband found it exhausting (though certainly better than breaking up fights!), but I like it, even when it’s tiring: I like answering their […]
No! I Don’t WANT to Comment on the Now-Infamous Time Magazine Breastfeeding Cover Story! (But, Okay, I Will)
Note: I will answer the questions posed in the comments section of last week’s Ask the Mean Mom post, but I’ve also been asked by a subscriber and some others what my “take” is on the by-now-infamous Time Magazine cover, here: I didn’t want to comment, really. Certainly, I didn’t want to comment just on […]
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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