I was talking to a neighbor parent yesterday, and I shared a daily thought of mine: “there’s nothing more comical about my pre-kids assumptions about parenting than my belief that a parent’s biggest job is to teach their children.” In actuality, I’ve learned far more about myself and the world from my children than I’ve […]
Tag: Parenting
One hot as blazes Friday this August, I splurged for an extra day of camp for the kids, started the morning getting the ladies hugged so tight at my annual mammogram, and then landed my 43-year-old backside in a tattoo chair for the first time. (My husband happened upon the day’s calendar a couple days […]
School starts in one day, and I think I’m finally ready to say it. (Well, maybe whisper it.) We had a good summer. This is new, so I’m afraid I might jinx it if I say it out loud. It reminds me of our son’s remote control airplane that he really wants to fly but […]
We can be flexible. We can be flexible. We can be flexible. We can be flexible. If we have a family mantra, this might be it. We have two neurodiverse children that are not known for their go-with-the-flowness. Flexibility is something we’re actively cultivating every damn day in our household. It’s what we aspire to, […]
I was a just-right child for most adults — the kind introverted enough to not talk much in class, anxious enough to deeply fear getting into any degree of trouble, engaged enough to want to learn, people-pleasing enough to strive for good grades and reviews, and not quite brave enough to ask too many difficult […]
I just watched a big, burly Dad swing his front door open and walk outside to play with his adorable toddler daughter — pigtails, pink and purple everywhere, smiles for miles. Perfection, I thought. Cute, happy little girl…must be nice snuck into my mind. And then I noticed that the dad had a big ol’ […]
Today, I am grateful for almost a decade of front-seat parenting. I just put a name to this concept, but it occurs to me now that it’s been in play for years and years. This weekend, I drove thirteen hours to drop my boys off at their Nana and Pop-Pop’s house. It’s a win-win — […]
I’m on vacation in one of my favorite places — there’s ocean air and sunshine and people I enjoy so much — and this trip is one we’ve delayed for a year and a half and looked so forward to. It almost didn’t happen. We almost cancelled…twice. But in the end, we decided to roll […]
Well, that didn’t take long. It’s day two of this gratitude parade, and I was already trying to talk myself out of showing up. (I’m tired. I have more time tomorrow. There’s no way I can keep this up for a whole month…) But, honestly, if I wasn’t sitting down to reflect on the goodness […]
“Mom, do I have Autism?” Those words stopped my mama heart for a moment. I was grateful my boys were buckled safely in the back seat where they couldn’t see the panic in my eyes. I meant for my tentative “Yes, you do” to come out with more confidence, but my brain was racing ahead […]
