I’m okay and you’re okay. We’re all doing okay and that’s what matters.
Why I Am Okay with My Daughter Being Heartbroken Over a Girl Named Ruby
A little girl named Ruby is breaking my daughter’s heart, and I’m okay with that. Her third grade class is watching the movie Ruby Bridges, the true story of a little African-American girl who integrated an all-white school in New Orleans by herself in 1960, per court order. My daughter and her peers view it […]
The Two Words I Say to My Kids Every Day
It was a cranky morning. I hustled my kids out of bed, into breakfast, into clean clothes, into backpacks, into the car, the whole while on a diatribe of epic proportions about not listening, being late, how they’re old enough to understand what’s expected of them. Blah blah blah. Nag nag nag. I was sick […]
The Treasures They Hold
Most parents spend their days collecting moments. Like multi-tasking beach combers, we keep an eye on the waves crashing towards us as we reach down to grab big, rippled clam shells in perfect form; bits of bleached coral; rare folds of smooth green sea glass; tiny delicate pink shells the size of our fingernails. We […]
The Hard Conversations with Our Kids: Sandy Hook
Last week was humming along smoothly, and then–out of the blue–my 8yo son started asking about the school shooting in Newtown, CT last year. This is how parenting works: you have to talk about the hard stuff, eventually. Usually with no notice that the conversation is about to happen. You don’t want to, but it’s […]
A Letter to Another Mother
After my 5yo’s teacher called me this morning, I had to write an email to a mom at my kids’ school today. Something happened between our kids, and I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. I wasn’t sure what to say, exactly. I didn’t know if I’d express myself as I wanted to. But I knew […]
Hold the Door: Lessons for My Kids
I write a lot of notes to myself: story ideas, grocery lists, wines to try, blog post ideas… But the most important things I haven’t been writing down, are the things I want my kids to learn from me by example. The problem is this: Not only am I not always the most stellar example-maker […]
Her Future Fat Thighs
I was sitting on a toilet, feeling surprised and kind of insulted, when I realized I had an opportunity before me like no other. It began with the need to pee: first my five-year-old daughter, then me. As I was sitting on the toilet and she was washing her hands, still without pants, she declared, […]
The Gift I Found
Many, many days you’ll find me at the kitchen island, a cup of coffee before me as I rub my temples to stave off the headache that two way-too-loud kids are trying to give me. Every day is an internal battle of my trying to raise them right, keep them in line, not being too […]