There has been a ton of buzz around the latest cover of Time magazine, the one with the mother breastfeeding her toddler next to the title “Are You Mom Enough?” The goal of the picture is to shock people who aren’t accustomed to seeing this sort of thing, and the goal of the title is […]
The other day, my daughter told me that she doesn’t like two of the kids in her class because one of them asks why too much, and the other cries. She then labeled the two children as “The Why-er” and “The Crier.” I restrained myself from laughing at the irony of this, since she probably […]
I haven’t written in this blog for a while because my household has been doing what I call “Immunity Boot Camp.” All of us have had multiple illnesses since our daughter started preschool in January. Needless to say, writing here was on the bottom of the to-do list. It may still be a low priority […]
Being a toddler, my daughter struggles with the concept of sharing with others. She likes to play with friends, but she also wants to have things go exactly her way. She gets frustrated when they don’t. She is learning a painful but important lesson about what it means to live in the world with other […]
It is easy to get caught up in the rush of activity that comes with a busy and full life. We revert to autopilot as we rush around, and this affects all of our relationships. If you are in autopilot much of the time, it is difficult to switch back to the present moment. You […]
The other day, my daughter and I saw an interesting drawing: it was of a puzzle being put together by a child who was in the puzzle itself. My daughter had questions. Why was the child in the puzzle? Why was the child doing a puzzle? She forced me to think about this drawing in […]
Lately, my daughter is trying to figure out how to spell things. She knows how to spell her name out loud, but when it comes to putting the physical letters together, her instinct is to make the letters go from right to left. Seeing her do this made me realize that I’ve taken for granted […]
My daughter knows how to ask for things nicely, but lately she’s discovered that when she does, sometimes the answer is “No.” As a result, she’s been experimenting with ways to avoid getting the answer she doesn’t want. Instead of asking, she announces things like, “I’m just going to have a taste of this butter,” […]
As I’ve mentioned before, I like to look at the search terms people use to find this site. I’ve noticed that people regularly search about whether to give their children the silent treatment. I have a very strong opinion about this, and feel that parents should never give their children the silent treatment. To avoid […]
Some days I just hate to give consequences. The ensuing tantrum from my daughter is no fun to deal with. I often hope that the threat of the consequence is enough to get her to listen to me. I’ve definitely learned that I need to be ready to back up whatever consequence I tell her […]