Denise Schipani / 1 Comment / family life /
My little cowboy: Who wouldn’t want to be his friend? We moved from the city to our suburban home 11 years ago this October. Our son Daniel was about to turn one. My husband had just started a new job and, as luck would have it, he needed to fly to Arizona for a week […]
Denise Schipani / 9 Comments / education, family life, parenting in the media / Jezebel.com, Lisa Miller, New York magazine, parenting and ethics /
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 […]
Denise Schipani / 6 Comments / family life, kids and food /
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 […]
Denise Schipani / 24 Comments / Ask the Mean Mom, discipline, family life, parenting controversies /
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 […]
Denise Schipani / 6 Comments / discipline, family life / Mean Moms Rule book, parental control /
The above is what my younger son, James, said to me yesterday. It wasn’t in response to anything earth-shaking (I wasn’t telling him what instrument to take up in fourth grade, where he must go to college, or whom he should marry). In fact, I forget why he tossed that off, but trust me, it […]
Denise Schipani / 3 Comments / family life, guest posts/authors, parenting research / Christine Gross-Loh, Parenting Without Borders /
I am so thrilled to share this Q&A with you. Author and mother of four Christine Gross-Loh is a longtime writer friend/colleague of mine, and I’ve been watching from the sidelines as she worked on this amazing book, a sensible, smart, deeply researched book about how other cultures around the world do parenting differently. Did […]
Denise Schipani / 16 Comments / family life, home /
Here’s a picture of a box of artwork I unearthed from under my son’s bed, in an ongoing effort to conquer the paper tiger around here, save what’s worth saving, and toss what’s not: This particular box escaped a big purge/organization I did last year (and am still recovering from; sorting through piles of papers, […]
Denise Schipani / 3 Comments / family life, mommy guilt, mothers and work, parenting in the media, school / Downton Abbey, Jezebel, Lindy West, New York Post /
Small housekeeping note: Y’all might be accustomed to my post-writing pace of, what, a couple times a month? But brace yourself for the month of June. Better yet, tell all your mom friends to subscribe before June 1 (the subscribe button is right up at the top right, next to the blog header!), because I’ve […]
Denise Schipani / 26 Comments / family life, modern families / Goodwill, Graham Hill, House Hunters International, New York Times, organizing /
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 […]
Denise Schipani / 42 Comments / bullying, education, family life, guest posts, kids and friendship, play / Heather Shumaker, It's Okay Not to Share...and Other Renegade Rules for Raising Competent and Compassionate Kids /
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 […]