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This parenting thing is hard.  Some days I feel as if I am on the verge of having a good old fashioned melt down, just like my three-year-old does when we try to put shoes and socks on his precious, tender feet.  With three kids I feel like it can never be smooth sailing with […]

My son is sixteen years old, and I try to give him as much leeway as possible. I do my best to give him the opportunities to try out different methods of living, letting him make mistakes, hoping he learns.
But I recently ran into a situation that had me compelled to take action, to rein […]

First, let me say that the early teen years with my kids are inherently awkward. The boys are becoming “guys”, and are now too old for “play-dates” and asking to have a friend sleep over feels weird too-the language we use to master our kid’s social calendar changes radically during this transition from […]

There comes moments in life, moments when you feel utterly helpless. Moments when someone close to you is breaking, fragmented, shattered. Moments when all you want is to desperately reach out to that person and hold them. Try to make everything go away, just give them peace. Comfort and peace and a safe place to […]

People often ask me what it’s like to have teenagers. Unfortunately, for them, my answer is a very bland: “Everything’s great, I couldn’t ask for better kids.” Now, I’m not one to fall under the hypnosis of my own rose-colored glasses, and I often spend time looking for anything typical that my teens may get […]

Stu Mark wrote a great article about a Dad trying to understand the mysteries of being a girl and connecting with a daughter who shares itnerests so different from his.  I feel similarly mystified about men, and the mysteries of boyhood I confront every day as the mom of two boys, ten and thirteen.
Being a […]

       
In real life you get to change jobs. In parenting your job changes you. (You thought I was going to say, “you get to change diapers”, didn’t you?)
In real life you get a salary. In parenting you try to serve celery.
In real life you wonder whether anyone likes you. In parenting you know […]

Our younger child starts her senior year of high school next week. It starts the last year of a tradition for me, a rather touching tradition.
In 1992, when our son started school, I started putting my hand on his head and praying for him before he walked out of the house. It was a simple […]

My son is now a practicing driver, having recently passed the written test for his learner’s permit. He’s behind the wheel of a vehicle, a hunk of moving metal (weighing about four thousand pounds) that is traveling rapidly amongst other heavy, and moving, metal objects, which are all maneuvering around immovable objects. Pretty scare stuff.
Except […]

With apologies to Robert Frost, I find myself at a crossroads - My daughter is slowly turning into a teenager and I wrestle with this eternal question: Do I do my best to turn situations and experiences into learning sessions, or do I let her do what she wants and fully support it? Where’s the […]