Grasshopper New Media Presents...

I’ve heard that first borns tend to develop leadership qualities. Right now, I’m wondering if that will be the case for my daughter Miss K. She is the first born, by 10 minutes, but her “little” sister bosses her around. Miss A is taller and appears to have developed leader qualities at the prime age […]

My thirteen year-old son, who I adore, seems to be in a funk lately.  Instead of swimming being a fun activity, it’s now "stupid and we do it all the time."  He would love to go to an amusement park, but that’s not an every day activity, to be sure.  When asked to come up […]

We arrived at my brother’s house at midnight tonight, which in your time is actually last night. I often choose to drive in the wee hours if I’m solo parenting the kids for a trip. They fall asleep in the car and usually transfer pretty easily when we arrive at our destination, meaning there is […]

Applying sunscreen
Bicycling
Chasing fireflies
Dealing cards
Eating blueberries
Fortifying sand castles
Gathering seashells
Hosting friends
Inventing games
Jumping rope
Killing time
Licking popsicles
Making lemonade
Nursing cuts and scrapes
Ordering ice cream
Playing croquet
Quibbling with siblings
Racing through the sprinkler
Splashing in the pool
Traveling to the beach
Uncovering sand crabs
Viewing the night sky
Wading in lakes
X-tra late bedtimes
Yawning
Zzzzz’s

by Slouching Mom

Photo graciously provided by the author, through […]

They’re out there. Those “other” mothers. The ones with the perfectly pressed locks, bangs never out of place who just seem so, well, together. They are the moms that I imagine must have been those lucky creatures who glowed during pregnancy, who pushed twice and gave birth to a baby with a […]

I was randomly watching a morning news program several months ago and saw an interview with Stephen Covey that fascinated me.  He was talking about building relationships with children, and the specific point he made was to never break a promise.
“No sweat,” I thought to myself.  I don’t have a problem in this area.
Then Covey […]

I’m in charge of the house, and by default, in charge of the family. I didn’t ask to be in charge, nor do I enjoy being in charge. But my kids are, well, kids, so they’re not mature enough to be in charge, and my wife works 60-80 hours a week, so she doesn’t have […]

There is a debate circling schools, states, and the parents of multiples. Many schools have created policies of mandatory separation for twins (or high-order multiples) once they enter kindergarten. Many parents of multiples are angry and are fighting the schools or trying to pass federal or state legislation that would allow them to keep their […]

If you are just beginning to homeschool I am sure that you are worried about how to respond to negative comments from others regarding your decision. I stressed over how to tell my family, my in-laws, and my friends. I also worried about telling the cashier at the grocery store when she asked why my […]

I was sitting alone on a bench by a duck pond, our ignored lunch by my side, while my two-year old daughter Fern, a dozen yards away, slowly fed her rice cake to an indulgent Canada goose. I suppose I must have looked like a safe parent, because just then a chummy 10-year old girl […]