I’m trying here – to raise good kids who grow into good adults. According to my oldest two, I’m the strictest parent they know. They spit these words at me to wound – but I truly wear them as a badge of honour. Nevertheless, no matter how hard I try: to be clear with my…
I had all the signs of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) early on, but I had no idea what I was dealing with. Since I was a kid I worried, felt guilt, was overprotective, had my quirks, over-thunk things, and held on to superstitions. Nothing too bad, I just thought I was a worrier. Once I became…
There’s this tree. I pass under it almost every day on the trek to and from school. Most days, I barely notice it. But come spring time, when its leaves first appear – I am on high alert for the barely noticeable pink blooms poking their way into the world. Each morning, I eagerly check…
Remember the good old days when kids broke their arms because they fell out of trees – NOT because they were glued to their phones and walked into a telephone pole? The good old days I refer to hark back to when kids actually played outside – even if it was drizzling; even if it…
Amid mounting evidence that mothers in the US have among the world’s highest levels of stress due to lack of post-natal and childcare support, the government has decided to step in. “We aren’t actually talking about free childcare, laundry assistance or post-natal counseling like in France,” said HHS official Chad Hunt. “That would be un-American.…
The world’s got some major problems – in case you didn’t know – our polar ice caps are melting. But even worse, so are our little snowflakes. What started off as sweet mini tantrums during the toddler years are turning into not-so-sweet anxiety attacks as teenagers – and I shudder to think about what’s in…
So my kids are lucky enough to have a roof over their heads, they each have a respective closet over-flowing with gorgeous clothing, they get to be guinea pigs to my thrice-weekly cooking concoctions (with leftovers on the other days). They go out to dinner, they go to the movies, they go to judo and…
I am inventor of the night walk – or so I believed. The concept came to me years ago when my daughters were young. It had been a long and cold winter day and since my girls weren’t yet in school, the kids and I had spent most of the day cooped up inside. Making…
Are my kids happy? Honestly – I haven’t a clue — and frankly – who the hell cares? Happiness as a way of life is overrated. And as a relatable concept, happiness is a lot more complex and confusing than we are led to believe. Yet here I am – beating my head against the…
Over the years I have cleaned to pretty much every standard on the spectrum of house cleanliness, from my student days of dust bunnies the size of the Easter Bunny, to having my first child and sterilizing the entire house to laboratory standards. Our last house was for sale for a full year, thanks to…
