Middle School

Property Brothers :: Money, Mercy, and Monopoly Flashback to New Year’s Eve, 2021. That night, we stayed in as Covid cases had spiked and gifted us with the Omicron variant. I would eventually become well-acquainted with Omicron a few weeks later. But on this quiet and cozy evening playing board games, laughing, and enjoying the “Mini Sweet Tooth Buffet” I’d pulled together following a last-minute Target run, I looked around and felt better than I’d felt in months. I could have sworn I tasted a bit of sweet hope intermingled with the sour gummy worms. That night we played Monopoly as a family for the first time. It had been at least a decade since I’d opened the game, and pulling that...

In Defense Of Public Schools Public or private? This seems to be a very hot topic nowadays. It’s easy to see why. We want our kids to have the best of the best, don’t we? We want them afforded every opportunity available to them so they grow into mature, responsible, HAPPY adults, right? That’s the goal! My family and I are very fortunate to live in a great public school district where we know they’ll thrive, but the question of public or private honestly never came up in discussions about education when our kids were babies. After all, my husband and I both went through the public school system and had no solid complaints. So here’s some reasons we LOVE our public...

This Episode Of Bluey Is Called :: Letting My Kids Teach Me To Play I had been begging the kids to get their swimsuits on so we could get out of the house. I felt like Chilli Heeler, gesturing desperately at the open door. "The door. It's right there. We could just – walk through it." But apparently, like Bluey and Bingo, we couldn't get out that door, either. Our younger son (7) was so excited to go he stood like an Easter Island statue glaring at his big brother (10), then started lecturing him in that tone of voice he uses when Someone Has Done Wrong. I felt the same way, and finally snapped at 10, who had shifted from reluctance ("I...

Middle School Drama :: Feeling Left Out As a parent, hearing that someone is being mean to your child crushes your heart. Worse is hearing your child feels left out by their peers. Middle school is a transition; sadly, bullying and exclusion are nothing new. Unfortunately, our children’s interactions with their peers do not just occur in person. Social media adds another way for children to feel excluded and let down. It does not matter how well-adjusted or well-liked they are; they will feel left out eventually. Maybe they have become the third wheel, were left out of the latest social media dance craze video, or were not invited to the group get-together. However, as parents, what can we do to help? When...

Mom, I'm So Sad All The Time: Ending The Stigma Begins At Home In early 2021, both of my beautiful, amazing sons told their father and me that they were struggling with mental health issues. This was during a year that brought with it a cancer diagnosis for our 10 year old, more Covid chaos, the death of their grandfather (whom they loved dearly and saw almost weekly since their births) the death of their great-grandmother (whom they were also very close to), unrelenting anxiety and hopelessness for our 16-year old, plus the day-to-day struggles that life, middle school and high school brought with it.    As divorced co-parents, their father and I have made it clear that we are always open...