Becoming a parent can bring out the inner-wacky in anybody. I’ve got to think that people had their children’s best interests at heart when they came up with some of these ideas – but full disclosure – I definitely doubt it where several of them are concerned! While some of these questionable parenting practices have…
Serving up healthy meals never seemed so complicated until I became a parent. Suddenly my heaping plate became overloaded with worry – not just about the food I was preparing – but the example I was setting, the atmosphere I was creating and the language I was using. And when it comes to kids and…
We are what I refer to in my mind as a God-lite family – balancing precariously somewhere on the spectrum between God-less and God-fearing. When it comes to organized religion and probably our thoughts on God (and I say probably because I don’t think we’ve ever formerly talked about it), this family is not of…
There will be complaints. There will be push back. There may even be tears and tantrums – beginnings are often difficult. But stick to your guns and you will make it out on the other side. I’m talking about taking all electronics away from your kids and then seeing what happens. Not as punishment and…
When it comes to parenthood, there are so many firsts inextricably tied into the whole jumble of raising kids: their first words, first steps, first tooth. And even more lasts – some met with nothing short of unbridled parental glee such as: their last diaper, last bottle, last night-time feeding session. Then there are the…
Each and every morning, my kids and I do our part to ensure a small yet vulnerable population of pupils within their school are kept safe and protected for yet another day. I make certain we don’t have peanut butter on our toast at breakfast and only pack nut-free snacks in their lunch bags. That…
Once bitten, twice shy – this idiom may be true of most things . . . but not when it comes to the siren song of social media and the allure it possesses for my middle child. Ten years ago, she was a toddler sitting on the lawn petting a neighbour’s dog contentedly. When she…
So those who know me also know that I rarely take the time required to “do” my hair other than to wash it and then scrape it back into a semblance of a ponytail. Also – I must note that this messy ponytail of mine is unintentional – not to be confused with the carefully…
As a parent I’m breaking the rules – well a few of them anyway. The rules I’m referring to are the hard and fast statutes created and enforced by my own parents as they raised my brother and me in middle class suburbia during the mid-1970s and 80s. For the record, my parents did an…
When it comes to parenthood, a healthy dose of guilt often comes along for the ride. There’s the deep, dark guilt that threatens to consume us with intense thoughts like: am I doing right by my child; making decisions in their best interest; providing them with all they deserve; spending enough time with them? Then…
