Just to prove that perfectly moderately sane women sometimes go a little insane, I submit today’s to-do list– the part that actually got completed (with major help from kids). –Went to the bank, post office and Home Depot with 5 kids. Returned one item and picked up 15 other items that were all in...
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Parenting a strong-willed child is challenging work, even more so when a child comes into your family later in life. Parents have to be the boundary, the wall, showing children clearly what is right and wrong. But within the wall there must be a heart. Eventually, as maturity comes, our children will do right...
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(Breaking news: Look what’s IN STOCK on amazon.com!!) ———– My youngest daughter turned 4 in November. She’s a sweet little girl, but she isn’t above using her status as ‘baby’ (and my related softheartedness towards her) to conveniently ‘forget’ work, or to do small disobedient things. I’ve had the nagging realization for awhile that...
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The other day several children were in limit-testing moods, relentlessly so. By the end of the day I was in a less than cordial mood. One of the limit-testers, unhappy over lost privileges, accused me of being mean. She seemed oblivious that her behavior was directly responsible for my current lack of good humor....
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Sending Amanda off with her new husband last month made the speed of the parenting journey very obvious to me.  Granted, there are sleepless nights that seem to last forever.   But the years…they roar by.  Then suddenly you’re left watching them drive away, and all you can do is hope you’ve taught them all...
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I bustle around this evening, feeling overwhelmed by clutter, putting wedding decorations away, and consolidating roses into fewer vases, and trying to heap wedding gifts a little more neatly in the foyer. Clutter everywhere. But not for long. There’s a u-haul trailer in the driveway. Amanda and Ben will be here in the morning...
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As a mom of four boys, I’ve spent a fair bit of time over the years telling my sons to settle down, look where you’re going, be careful, take it easy, and watch out. Certainly there are girls who also require such cautions. But in my experience with four of one kind and half...
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This afternoon my 3 year old came inside, whimpering over a hurt toe. “I need a bandaid!” she wailed dramatically. She is currently at the stage where every owie warrants a bandaid request. But as a mom of ten kids I am hard-nosed — the rule around here is, no blood, no bandaid. I...
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While preparing to bring Second Daughter to college bright and early tomorrow morning, I have been scurrying around making her a couple of ‘dorm essentials’ kits. I’m sure there are tons of different things you could include. But here’s what I came up with. HEALTHY SNACK KIT First is the dorm snack kit. The...
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I wrote a week or two ago about the side effects my daughter was having with her seizure meds. The first med was Keppra, for those of you who are interested in such things. It took care of the seizures but did terrible things for her mood, which in a 12 year old girl...
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