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Is My Child Being Bullied? How Do I Help?
When I walked in to my daughter attempting suicide due to extreme bullying, I was horrified and heartbroken. Most of all, I was surprised and felt guilty that I had missed that anything of this magnitude was happening in her life. Bullying has been around forever, heck, I was bullied as a kid, but bullying has changed so much. Social Media has made escaping bullying nearly …[Read More...]
How to Save Your Kid from Drowning
I Want To Tell You How It Feels To Be The Mom Of Bullied Kids
I want to tell you how it feels when your heart breaks as your beautiful child looks up at you and asks, “Mom, what’s wrong with me? Why doesn’t anyone like me?” I want to tell you how it feels when your daughter looks at at you with tears in her eyes and says, “He only asked me to dance to make fun of me.” I want to let you know how many excuses you can …[Read More...]
10 Things to Know Before Bringing Home a New Baby
I remember those last few weeks of first-time pregnancy like yesterday -- mostly, I was just freaked out. What the heck am I going to DO with a new baby?! I was the first of my friends to start a family and the internet hadn't quite yet exploded with never-ending pregnancy and parenting insight and instructions back then (in the old fashioned days of 2010), so I was pretty …[Read More...]
6 Ways For Dads To Help Kids Establish Healthy Cooking Habits
It's a sobering fact of modern life that most young couples with children are under a lot of time pressure. More often than not, both mother and father have to juggle their stressful jobs with finding enough time and energy for some home life and, particularly, time with their children. This can put a lot of strain on the family unit. One of the biggest casualties is …[Read More...]
You Are NOT A Loser
“Mom, can I ask you something?” my son asked me this as he put away his backpack after coming home from school. “Of course”, I answer, slicing apples and spooning out peanut butter for a snack. “What’s up?” “Why does everyone think I am such a loser? How come no one likes me?” I put down the knife, look my son in the eye and tell him in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS: “You …[Read More...]
Dealing with Two Year Olds: How To Make Your Life Suck Less
From my experience with 2 year olds, you can expect a lot of “No” and “I don’t want to.” This is developmentally appropriate, although it makes your life suck. However, there are some things you can do to make your life suck less. Pick your battles. So she doesn’t get dressed, who cares. It’s not winter. So she doesn’t eat dinner, who cares. If she was hungry, she …[Read More...]
The Little Boy On First Base
To all the coaches, parents, and fans of little league, The season is upon us. Fields all over are filled with parents, fans, coaches, players, and umpires. It's an exciting time of year for boys and girls, the cold is finally turning warmer, the days are slowly becoming longer, school is almost out for summer, and their dreams of home runs are about to become …[Read More...]
Tips For Raising Your Son Into A Kind, Compassionate Man
As a mom of two, my daughter 24 and my son 18, I have experienced the journey of raising both a boy and a girl in an ever changing, more chaotic world where digital media reigns supreme and kids, whose calendars are as busy as their parents’, are being pushed to reach a rising bar of success. Kids are measuring their self-worth more and more by their test scores, …[Read More...]
Three Things To Consider As Fathers in the Digital Age
It would be no exaggeration to say that the Internet has totally changed the way we communicate and connect with one another. This is true of friends, business associates and families. When used well, the Internet allows us to communicate and connect more meaningfully with those around us. However, if we are not careful, the widening array of digital across our kids’ lives …[Read More...]
Detect Sleep Disturbances and What Causes Them in Your Children with Knit
This post was written by Jen Rattie in partnership with Knit Health. All opinions are her own. As far back as I can remember I have had insomnia. I am from a long line of insomniacs. I was hoping when I had children that the issue would skip them, but we weren’t that lucky. It started off the bat when they were babies. They were night owls and needed a lot of …[Read More...]
Letting Go: Redefining The Mother-Daughter Relationship
It is the eve of the night before my first baby girl Neriah becomes an adult. How did this day come so soon? This natural rite of passage I imagined gently greeting me hit me like a bold question mark at the end of a sentence. Despite the lack of emotional preparation, the day unfolds, and with it a boatload of emotions. Senior year, 18th birthday, and college acceptance …[Read More...]
A Sneak Peek Into The Mind Of A Four-Year-Old
Ever wondered what's it like inside the mind of a four-year-old? Here's a typical day: 4:30 a.m. Hmm…I’m half awake. It would be so much cozier in Mommy and Daddy’s bed - right smack between them where I can make my body seem almost twice as big, and Mommy and Daddy canpretty much kiss the rest of their sleep goodbye. 4:35 a.m. OH NO! NO NO NO. How …[Read More...]
Should You Ever Discipline Another Parent’s Child?
Last Sunday, I sat with a group of parents watching our nine-year-old daughters play the first basketball game of the season. Next to us, a young boy, maybe five years old, sat playing on an iPod. No headphones. It was very loud. It was very annoying. His mom sat on his other side, oblivious, cheering for her daughter. One of the dads leaned over …[Read More...]
7 Reasons Parenting a Toddler is an Exercise in Insanity
Jerry Seinfeld once said that “a two-year-old is kind of like having a blender, but you don’t have a top for it.” And that phrase is permanently etched into my mind. Have truer words ever been spoken about toddlers? Because he’s right, of course. We all have to be slightly mad to get through the phase of parenting a toddler. Sure, we become accustomed …[Read More...]