by Michelle Eisler
I was walking through an antique store and a lady approached me to say how adorable my daughter was and, that now that I had adopted, I would get pregnant and have a child of my ‘own.’ I had not met her, spoken to her about my road to adoption, or about infertility and if it played a role in my world. But she continued to tell me her friend had finally given up and adopted, and then she got pregnant. […]
by Melissa Lapides
Image courtesy of theeducatorsspinonit.
blogspot.com
Nobody warned you when becoming a parent that there might be times, sometimes more than not, that your child can be unlikeable, maybe even plain excruciating to be around. This could very well be the case if you are parenting a strong-willed child. The whining, relentless demanding and explosive reactions can be downright exhausting for a parent. This is not generally the type of reaction you imagine yourself having toward your child when you are pregnant or planning a family.
Feeling this way toward your child can be an awful feeling for a mother to have or share. The shame around it is horrific and humiliating to even imagine sharing with another mother. You may wonder if you are the only mother who has these feelings toward your children at all. It really does seem like every other mother is adoring and so calm around her children, right? […]
by Jane Samuel
Many times over the past twenty months of caring for my parents I have dwelt on dark thoughts. Thoughts that most my age don’t want to acknowledge, much less linger over, bring out and share around like some bit of news on the latest medical breakthrough for cancer, worn out knees, lost hearing or broken teeth.
Many of my friends, a generation of women who came later in life to motherhood for whatever reasons are too busy running carpool, arranging play-dates or perhaps even changing diapers to probably think like I was. Life is full, life is long, life is good so why peak behind the curtain that separates us from old age, and all that comes with it? […]
by Maggie Lamond Simone
My dog went to Heaven; he went there today.
I’m not quite sure how, but he knew the way.
Every day it was harder to run and to climb,
And I guess in his heart, he knew it was time. […]
by Wendy Sue Noah
Are you a Polar Bear type of mom ~ do you really know what that means as a mothering analogy?
Well, I didn’t for a while, at least fully.
A few years back, my close friend, Sharon, compared me to a Polar bear mom whose main focus was to protect her cubs. It sounded complimentary, and it was something I held in my heart for strength, but not something I fully grasped. […]
by Andrea Lynn
When I picked my 3-year-old from preschool Friday, she greeted me with a happy shout of “It’s the weekend!” And proceeded to pull me over to the school calendar on the wall, point to the Saturday, and repeat: “It’s the weekend.” She was delighted.
I’m a little discouraged that my 3 year old already looks forward to the weekend. God knows I do too – but she’s only started school three weeks ago. Is that how long it takes to resent the day-to-day grind of a Monday-to-Friday schedule? Three weeks? And to think she has just 15 or 20 years of school to go, before she can hopefully find a full-time job. Another 60 some years of looking forward to Friday night. […]
by Sophie Walker
Those early days of training were excruciating and monotonous and humbling. I often felt overwhelmed as I fought to organize time to do it among work and the children and the daily chores. But it was also the best thing that had ever happened to me. I had a sense of purpose and achievement and a project to be proud of that was mine.
Then somewhere in the weeks around Christmas that changed. I stopped running and I stopped writing about it — by now my blog about life with Grace had attracted a decent number of regular readers. It would be easy to say that it was simply due to the busy time of year, but the break was less to do with the busyness of family activities — the tending to clamoring, hyped-up children that makes the Christmas holiday so particularly unrestful — and more to do with a sudden queasiness that descended whenever I contemplated either activity. […]
by Marc Parsont
I never met a sale I didn’t like. The Battle Cry of the Parsont Clan is, “It’s On Sale!” Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble could “Charge It,” all day because they’d be left flapping in my wake. And why, you ask, should you care?
I plan on buying enough school supplies for our kids—for the rest of their natural lives. One time, one trip, and we’re through. […]
by Deborah Adrian
March 28th, 2008, was a day that marked the culmination of a personal infertility journey.
It was not the day you might imagine – when I found out I was pregnant. Past experience had taught me that just a pregnancy test was not enough to be confident I would have a baby. This was the moment I saw the image of a small fetus with a solid heartbeat grace the screen of the ultrasound machine. This was a moment forged by three years of struggle to get pregnant both naturally and with medical intervention. A moment ultimately created out of a commitment and a declaration. […]
Q: What is Attachment Parenting (AP)?
A: Attachment parenting is based on the principles of attachment theory in developmental psychology. According to attachment theory, children are born with the intrinsic expectation of forming a strong emotional bond, secure attachment, with a primary caregiver during childhood.
Without secure attachment there can be lifelong negative consequences from poor behavior and failure in school to violence. Sensitive and emotionally available parenting helps a child to form a secure attachment which fosters a child’s emotional development and well-being. Principles of attachment parenting aim to increase development of a child’s secure attachment and decrease insecure attachment. In many ways it is the practical application of attachment theory. […]