Denise Schipani / 29 Comments / babies, family life / American Baby, baby lust, newborns, The Big Lie /
If I were as mean a mommy as I profess, if I were so hooked on schedules and eager to turn my little babies into independent boys-to-men, if I so valued my me-time and my work ethic, then I wouldn’t want a third child quite so badly, would I? But I do. And I’m not […]
Denise Schipani / 24 Comments / babies, discipline, family life, kids and food / Baby Safe feeder, cabinet locks, Capri Sun, childproofing, juice boxes, mesh fruit feeder, One Step Ahead catalog, outlet covers, Terracycle, toilet locks /
Years and years ago, well before I had kids, I was hanging around in my sister’s newly refinished basement, playing some board games with two of her kids and my dad. My niece and nephew, Tara and Nick, were drinking juice out of those foil pouches, like Capri Sun (which now, by the way, are […]
Denise Schipani / 4 Comments / family life, humor, summer, vacation / Catskill Mountains, resort, Riedlbauer's, summer, vacation /
For many Americans, and famously for much of Western Europe, August is vacation season. Everyone who’s anyone decamps for mountains, lakes, beaches, theme parks, the family cabin, the campground… you get the idea. We’re not going anywhere; in fact, we haven’t gone on vacation in any real sense (that is, for more than a few […]
Denise Schipani / 16 Comments / family life, humor, shopping /
I don’t like to whine (though I am genetically attracted to complaining. There’s a difference: Complaining suggests that there’s a problem that can and should be fixed. Whining is unproductive, but sometimes feels good.) So. Here’s my current complaint. I can’t find toothpaste for my boys that meets their need for something simple, yet without […]
Denise Schipani / 9 Comments / family life, vacation / American Museum of Natural History, bicycles, Journey to the Stars, pajamas, planetarium, South Huntington Public Library, summer /
I’m having a “first” this summer, as a parent. First time that I am — on the face of it, anyway — just being, here at home, with my sons. It’s been … interesting, a word my high school English teacher (rest in peace, Ms. Richman) instructed us to avoid at all costs because it’s […]
Denise Schipani / 29 Comments / family life, school /
Last fall, a new family moved into our neighborhood, and on the first day of school, there was a new girl at our little bus stop. They’d arrived at their house literally the day before school started. From Israel. That first day, the father took his little girl, Hadar, 6, to the stop. She wanted […]
Denise Schipani / 12 Comments / family life, school, summer / Brigid Schulte, first grade, summer vacation; YMCA camp, The Washington Post /
The sign at the entrance to my son’s primary school reads, under the school’s name, “A First-Class Experience.” And it is, truly. So much so, that I wish he could stay there all year. And why not? I love school, and my son does, too — he just finished first grade, and this year we […]
Denise Schipani / 8 Comments / family life, toys / CityMommy.com, Toys R Us /
I was recently asked to write a guest-blog post for City Mommy, a local community website for moms in cities and towns around the country (you sign up, and access forums for local groups, and so on — a virtual coffee shop for moms). Anyway, I thought for a bit about what I might want […]
Denise Schipani / 11 Comments / discipline, family life /
My boys and I had quite a day this past Friday. I’d known for months that May 22 would be a big day: my niece, my beautiful Tara, would be graduating from Marymount Manhattan College. I had to be there, no question about it. Tara was born when I was a senior in college, and […]
Denise Schipani / 7 Comments / discipline, family life / delayed gratification, Jonah Lehrer, marshmallows, patience, The New Yorker /
I read a fascinating article in The New Yorker yesterday. (Which, having read the magazine weekly for years now, is a sentence that pops out of my mouth pretty frequently.) It’s called “Don’t! The Secret of Self Control,” by Jonah Lehrer. The piece opens with a description of an experiment conducted in the late 1960s, […]