Listening to Jenn, my 5-year-old, I hear her uninhibited enthusiasm each afternoon. She always gives a play-by-play and I am taken on a roller coaster of emotions as she tells the story of her day. Her soft blue eyes grow wide as she talks about big emotions, obstacles overcome, and the shocking scandals only kindergarteners…
Our family believes in natural and logical consequences. We also strive for positive guidance through tough situations. But when a child becomes defiant or lies, natural consequences feel a little less “black and white” and a lot more confusing both for caregiver and child. It’s easy to feel like we’re grasping at straws to find a…
The baby was crying. The toddler was beating on pots and pans. The kindergartener was sick. And I had a list a mile long not getting done. And suddenly I realized my family was heading down a spiral of bad moods and bad ‘tudes. I lost all empathy to every little thing that was happening….
“How much do babysitters cost these days?” My husband asked when we were about to go on our first date after my oldest was born. “I don’t know. I was paid $20 an hour, but that was for 2 kids. So…” I trailed off. My husband’s boss had a teenage daughter that came over later…
Emma, my 2nd child likes to stomp, scream, and hit when she is mad. Back when she was a so-called threenager, she could be vicious. Now entering more of the pre-teen stages, she and some of my other children have learned to deal with emotions better, but they’re still learning that using force is not…
As parents, it can be easy to go about our days and not stop and listen to our kids as we should. Life is busy and stopping to listen can sometimes be an afterthought during those chaotic moments in life. I’ve often thought about times where I’ve seen children in the store, acting out in a negative…
I was 7. It was my first sleepover. And it was all Barbie. It should have been a dream but all I remember is the sheer horror of watching my 12 closest friends trample through my brand new poster, unintentionally ripping it to shreds. It was my birthday, and I was the one crying. Fast forward a couple…
I was barely ten feet into the store and I heard a woman earnestly whisper over my shoulder “They’re so beautiful.” “Thank you,” I said as she stopped walking to look over Emma and Rhett sitting in the shopping cart. She started telling me all about how she had 4 kids back to back and that she lived…
Me too. I echoed this phrase in the minute I saw the first post. I have never shied away from my experiences. While they were horrible and painful and I wish they had never happened, they have become a part of who I am. “By random men in public all my life. By a cousin…
I hear her make sweet coos at 7-month-old Rhett and race to his rescue at any cry. I see her look at the world with wonder and awe. I can feel her warmth when she comforts Emma in times of frustration or pain. And I sense her curiosity for everything from cooking to collecting bugs….
The tiny little people I call my children make me feel so alive and yet the experience of raising them in the early years has sucked the life right out of me. Four long years of raising kids without a village and I learned to suffer in relative silence, simply hoping for a bit of…
Think back to your childhood. Slowly sift through your memories and think of the times your own parents felt like they were at the end of their rope with you from being uncooperative, disobedient, and ultimately a defiant child. Does anything stand out? Can you relate to your child better or understand your parent a…