Growing Up

The average age of first marriage in the United States these days is 28, which is totally insane to me since that is the age I am right now and I've already been married for eight years. I was just 19 years old when I walked down the aisle and committed a lifetime to my partner, Dustin, and while that was undoubtedly one of the best decisions of my life, it's also one I wouldn't necessarily recommend to others. In fact, if our son comes home at 19 and says he's ready to propose to his partner, I'll probably fall out of my chair laughing. Dustin and I had been dating for about a year and a half when he proposed. I knew that I wanted...

I'm a perfectionist. I don't like messes. I like need things to be clean and organized. I pay attention to details. I try to be everything to everyone. Trying to be perfect drives me crazy, but it's just who I am. At least, that's what I tell my therapist. However, I'm also a mom. And if there's one thing that motherhood has taught me, it's that it is messy. And I'm not just talking about sticky fingers and snotty noses. I mean that being a mom gets you into some messy situations. And I was recently reminded of just how messy motherhood can be when my son bullied another little boy at the mall playground. Yep, I just said that. My son was a...

"Mama, can I go to Nanny's house?" It's a simple request from my seven-year-old. Her Nanny, my sister-in-law, lives in our neighborhood only three blocks away. Her cousins are also homeschooled, and a quick text to my sis-in-law confirms that they are finished with lessons for the day, and it'd be okay for her to come play. But today I can't escort her there because her younger sister is napping. I have two options. 1. I could keep her home. 2. I could allow her to ride her bike the three blocks by herself. We live in a safe neighborhood. She knows the way. She knows our safety rules for riding bikes in the neighborhood. Ride on the edge. Get in...

Parenting teens in today's social media age is hard. My stepsons are only 12 and 15, but they've already seen their fair share of teenaged scandal. One of them had a classmate - a girl he had known since kindergarten - who was forced to relocate to another school after she texted a fellow student an inappropriate photo. Another classmate was expelled for threatening to shoot up the middle school (don't worry, my stepsons live out of state so this didn't happen anywhere local). For these, and many other reasons, our family has some pretty serious rules when it comes to cell phones, the Internet, and especially social media. Our main rule is that we have the right to see whatever is on our boys' cell...

We are excited to announce the start of a new series: REAL TALK with Red Stick Moms. In this series, we are hoping to tackle some topics that are on our minds and hearts as we raise our children and navigate the everyday. This is for the day-to-day life stuff... the things we think on a lot but don't always have the space to share about. We are hoping to get the conversation started and then open up the discussion to YOU! So read our thoughts, share your own, and join us on this crazy, uncertain, but amazing road of motherhood. Today's Real Talk topic is on structured activities for kids, especially younger kids under the age of 8. As a society, it...