Throw them away. All of your white dreams for perfect parenting.
It will save you in the end.
Continue reading “Throw Away Your White Dreams of Parenthood”
Category: Parenthood
Parenthood is feast or famine.
To the outsider, it looks like a job: Be a parent. But, from the inside, the highs and lows are epic.
Parenthood, at its core, is feast or famine. I have come to deeply appreciate – and suffer through – this truth in recent days.
What If We Were Honest?
“How are you?”
It’s a question I’m asked constantly as a parent. Most often I respond with “Good” or a similar sentiment. But, let’s be honest, there are at least three crises going on in each of my children’s lives.
Tired Parent vs. Good Friend
Excuses. Those of us who parent young children are good at making them.
Perhaps too good.
What I Wish I’d Known
It’s an overused motif, really. But every mother has some secret locked away – a confession waiting to be read.
And, after two years of blogging, I suppose it’s my turn.
Of all my life’s choices, I wish I had mastered something so simple – so vital to parenthood.
Before children, I never learned to savor the moment right in front of me.
Keeping Lollipops Special
My daughter danced gleefully on her seat. Then the table.
It was her first lollipop high.
Counting Fingers
The Gratitude Gospel: Day 5
“Mommy, two plus two equals…1, 2, 3, 4!”
I shot my husband the look. You know, the “Wait, what just happened?!” variety.
Our three-year-old son has been curious about numbers for years, but the light bulb moment has never been within reach.
Until yesterday.
Big Girl Bed
The Gratitude Gospel: Day 4
It was one of those bittersweet moments in parenthood – a sign that your child is growing more independent by the day.
This weekend our almost two-year-old daughter transitioned from a crib to a full bed. The déjà vu was hard to resist.
When the Verdict Is “Girl”
When I found out my second child would be a little girl, I panicked. I may be a woman, but I only had experience parenting a son.
Why You’ll Become That Parent
You know, the parent who annoys you before you have children…or before you have as many kids as they do. In your eyes, they get it all wrong.
How could they do that?
Why don’t they just do this?
I’ll never…
For myself, I can chase personal guilt back to an observation of “failed” discipline at a nice restaurant early in my first pregnancy. The scene was Silicon Valley, and the parents were older (a cultural norm in the Bay Area). They have no control, I remember thinking to myself. Their unwillingness to face the little giant in the high chair really got under my skin. Before you have children, you can really believe you have all the answers.
But if you are a parent long enough, a realization will stop you in your tracks. In my case, I had to accept an uncomfortable reality: my kids are their own people. They won’t always behave at dinner – no matter how much money or effort you expend.
And, in due time, I did that thing I said I never would.
I learned to let little things go.
Unlearning 