by Douglas C.
You might think it unusual that I read parenting magazines; that I know women by their children’s names; and that most women who speak with me are grandmothers – around my own age! However, what you don’t know is that at age 52, I’m actually the mom (The Baby-Daddy) of the household – not what I expected to be at my age, but one that clearly enhances and supports my family unit. […]
by Valerie Gillies
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf” – Jon Kabat-Zin
In the last few weeks, the why question has come up every day. It really is a foolish question. Honestly, outside of a scientific topic there is rarely a good answer for “Why?” If I could say why a vibrant, kind, friend succumbed to multiple myeloma last week, don’t I also need to know why the shell of a nasty ancient relative remains alive in a nursing home? This is complicated, and our hearts yearn for simple answers that we can wrap in tidy packages, secure with twine, and pack away, so that we can go on with our daily tasks without interruption. […]
by Ann Sheybani
When did we women decide that everyone else should come first? Who proclaimed it our job to guarantee the pleasure of others and settle for whatever crumbs fell off their plates?
I like to call this the Chicken Back Syndrome. Preparing a chicken dinner, encouraging our husbands and children to take the best pieces—the breast, thighs and legs—and insisting that we actually like the chicken back best. And somehow, without question, everyone believes we’re just loopy enough to crave bone and gristle. After awhile, we even convince ourselves that those tiny scraps of meat buried between the ribs are worth the effort. […]
by Jane Samuel
Done: This mother of babies has retired.
The email surprised me. Apparently the Chinese orphan we had sponsored for the last five years had been adopted. Not three days earlier I had finally shipped off a package of specially selected Christmas presents: a doll, a few Chinese picture books, a cheongsam (Chinese dress), and some craft items. […]
by Jenilyn Gilbert
Are you feeling exhausted, grumpy or spacey lately? Do you lack energy? As midlife mothers and mothers to be, our energy levels can sometimes be compromised. As our hormones shift so does our energy. Some of us need to slow down and others need to speed things up. Perhaps you need more hours of sleep, or you may find yourself feeling tired around 3 or 4 PM (in the afternoon) or maybe you don’t have the same overall zest you used to have. […]
by Rosemary Lichtman Ph.D. and Phyllis Goldberg, Ph.D.
By now you’ve likely made your New Year’s resolutions or aligned your energy with your deepest intentions. Want to know the best way to stay on track? Keep a journal. This process can help you create a personal plan and develop the tools to actualize it. […]
by Casey Kochmer
The term Midlife Crisis brings up many images. In America, it brings up deriding images of a person buying a red sports car, daydreams of flings, broken marriages and people acting as a child again.
In reality, a Midlife Crisis represents a deeper possibility for a person to become their dreams. However, those dreams are hard to realize within an un-supportive society and without clear personal understanding of the actual experience. People often end up hurting themselves in the process of trying to change. A person’s life carries a lot of momentum from the past that tumbles them about heedlessly upon trying to change to be something new. […]
by Cyma Shapiro
Dear Reader: Please read a portion of the Huffington Post article on Putin’s barring of U.S. Adoptions and my Huffington Post commentary:
MOSCOW — Defying a storm of domestic and international criticism, Russia moved toward finalizing a ban on Americans adopting Russian children, as Parliament’s upper house voted unanimously in favor of a measure that President Vladimir Putin has indicated he will sign into law.
The bill is widely seen as the Kremlin’s retaliation against an American law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators. Dozens of Russian children close to being adopted by American families now will almost certainly be blocked from leaving the country. The law also cuts off the main international adoption route for Russian children stuck in often dismal orphanages…There are about 740,000 children without parental care in Russia, according to UNICEF.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/26/russia-adoption-ban-against-us_n_2364481.html 
For those of us fortunate to have adopted internationally, especially from Russia – my ancestors’ homeland – today’s headlines are maddening and saddening. I am especially struck as I think back to the adoption of my two youngest, from Russia, and the undeniable obstacles, roadblocks, and sheer exploitation we endured, just to have what we so fervently and passionately desired – our children and a family. With multiple and repeated unnecessary trips to Russia, countless dollars, tears, and humiliating experiences and circumstances to endure, to have held our children in our arms and touched down on American soil (thus, cementing their citizenship) began the healing of it all. Until now. […]
by Karen Maezen Millier
To begin, understand this: you are never going to teach your child a life skill that you don’t already have.
But I know. You’re not here for yourself. You’re here because you’re worried about your child.
How do you teach children to meditate?
I’m asked about this all the time. Please know that I speak only from my own perspective as a mother and a practitioner. Everyone has his or her own view. Here is mine. […]
by Valerie Gillies
I am very opinionated about Christmas tree lights. Flashing is not permitted in our house. Period. I wish I could also stop the flashing going on with the kids I work with at this time of year. Parties, treats, memories, disrupted schedules, past trauma, all combine to make the human equivalents of having left a bucket of kerosene soaked rags in the basement. One little spark and—boom! It’s a tangled mess of emotion, exhausted parents, and zipped up kids. […]