I am so excited to introduce the Extremely Good Parenting Podcast! Happy Leap day. I always wanted to have a baby on February 29th because it would be the world most awesome birthday, but since that’s hard to predict and make happen, my podcast baby is born today.
My grandmother died of breast cancer. She passed away before she even turned 50 and the same year my dad graduated high school. When they found the mass, it was the size of a walnut when even today the size of a pea is critical. The story goes that she knew. She knew something was…
Having multiple children can mean having to learn and understand how to cater to each child’s unique personality and needs. Rather than have children who all live under the shadow of the oldest or older child, there are ways to help younger siblings shine. This is so important in validating who they are and their…
I am all for intentional parenting. In fact, I advocate for it. But when does well meaning and calculated child-rearing cross the line and become helicopter parenting? I admit that it has taken me three years to realize that my worst fear of being the helicopter parent I saw all the time while teaching was…
We live in a scary world. I am not sure if it’s really darker than the days of the Holocaust, the days of the Mongol conquests, or any time the world has been at war. We just live in an age when news happens instantaneously and what is a world away seems like it’s in…
Malcom X and Mother Theresa. That’s how I describe my two wonderfully vivacious daughters. They are both world changers, but one is a spit-fire while the other is a mellow, gentle soul. Neither do I know how to handle appropriately. The introvert in me needs my space and the “feeling” side of me absorbs too…
I think it’s hard wired for kids to go through a bossy toddler phase. They have grown out of the baby days where everything is new and novel and have moved into the years of understanding their world to a degree of they know what they want and they want it now. Whether it’s how we…
Parenting is a hard gig and one that is constantly posing new challenges. There are those days of frustration and feeling like a failure that somehow we allow to start defining who we are and who our children are without seeing the larger picture. In the trenches of parenthood it’s so easy to not be able to…
Motherhood is hard, especially in those early days with a baby that needs constant attention and sucks every last ounce of energy out of you. And especially in the moments of not know what the heck you’re doing as a mom or how you wound up with a kid that and scared of how in…
I am not perfect. I strive to be, but I am not. In fact, I am a recovering perfectionist if we’re going to be really honest. It’s a hard thing to admit as a blogger and in these social media driven days of facebook, instagram, and pinterest. So I encourage you to start sharing your…
After weeks of living in a hotel and trying to explain that screaming was even less acceptable there than in our other homes, I had reached my breaking point. Granted, the changes of moving across the country and being in a state of limbo and flux were hard on my children as much as they…
Spanking. The one word probably elicits a lot of emotions for many. Whether you are an advocate or against the idea, it was something I didn’t think much about. I was spanked as a child and I had seen spanking within my family. And though I have been one to do as much peaceful parenting…