Category: Parenting

Before my husband and I had our first child, we lived for a year on one income. It was an intentional decision to adjust to a lower standard of living before children entered the picture. We knew we wanted to have a parent at home to raise them so…it seemed like a good idea at the time. Life was very chill that year, and during my first pregnancy. Before, when we were both working, it seemed that something was always left undone. The mail and papers and laundry piled up, the dinners were lame. The little annoyances in taking care...

I love it when an adult child says, “Mom, you gotta help me with this dilemma!” It’s awesome to be trusted in that way. It sucks for him that I can’t actually help the way I always have with say, finding lost shoes, giving a ride, making a killer dessert. Those times I can do it for him. In some cases, he has to decide how he “feels” on the subject and what he thinks and what path he will take to deal with it. When we were chatting, I shared an example of what I would call “emotional dishonesty”...

My three sons have had many dreams for their lives over the tender years. I’ve heard the expression, “I’m going to be,” followed by: a professional baseball player, a quarterback, a paid street skater, a lawyer, an Olympian, a veterinarian, a YouTube-er and some I can’t remember. Oh, the winner of American Idol, was a big one for a while, times three! Interestingly, I’ve heard it said that rather than asking, “what do you want to be,” a better idea is to pay attention to who our kids already are. As much as we want to provide inspiration, if we...