Honor Roll Mom :: Keep Your Expectations Reasonable
My oldest child is smart. Like mind-blowingly smart. At 14, I don’t remember a single time he ever had to study for a test. He’s able to remember vast amounts of knowledge and the adults in his life regularly look to him for guidance whenever they have a question about history or geography. He’s been on the honor roll ever since he was old enough to be on it and I’ve been the proud mom, sitting in the front row cheering him on every step of the way.
With a child like this, you get used to seeing the A’s and as much as you don’t want to be “that parent," any time...
Barbie, Made For Mothers And Daughters
"We girls can do anything, Right Barbie?" That was the slogan I would proudly sing aloud as a little girl playing with my Barbie dolls back in the mid-80’s. If you’re a young Gen X / elder Millennial Mom (a Xennial, if you will), you were probably singing along too.Barbie was not without controversy, but for many of us she symbolized what we hoped to be; beautiful, independent, successful, and happy. Luckily, for little Black girls at that time, Barbie could also be Black! Thanks to Mattel’s Chief Designer of Fashions and Doll Concepts, Louvenia (Kitty) Black Perkins, the first Black Barbie was created in 1979. Barbie was living her best life and she...
In my house, I'm the glue that holds the family together. I do not mean this in a prideful way because I would love to give someone else this title, at times, just so I can breathe.
I have to remember, I am used to this role. I'm built for this role with almost all of my working career being in a management role, but some days I want to scream.
After my 12-year stint in management in radio, I went back to work the newsroom briefly, taking on the role of an assignments manager. This manager is the brain of a newsroom and gets pulled in many directions, daily. Assignment editors work in a newspaper office, or radio and TV...
Please Don't Runaway, Little One
It’s happened twice now. Once when she was four, and most recently when she was six. I’ll be completely honest with you, I took it very personally. It hurt my feelings and I felt a sadness in the core of my heart. In both instances, as I tried to understand her logic and point of view, I failed to remind my face that I was a strong person, and tears laced my cheeks like a warm, inviting blanket.
She was so serious, too. She carefully, but messily packed her clothes into a suitcase. While she packed her favorite stuffy, she not-so-quietly whispered to Baabaa, her stuffed cow that she thought was a lamb half her life,...
That's Enough Screen Time, Little One
I am a middle child, through and through. Mischievous, attention-seeking, too smart for my own good, and always in trouble. I was a poster child for talking back, rolling eyes, and plotting everyone’s evil demise. In second grade, my family went to Disney World for a week, and I never saw the fireworks display because I was grounded every evening. That’s pretty much how most of my childhood went, punished and forced to entertain myself.
But during all the time spent alone while punished, I developed an insatiable love for reading. I began to read like it was as essential as food and air.
When I was seven, I remember sitting down with The Three Musketeers,...
Around Baton Rouge
Oni225 :: Baton Rouge’s New Japanese Street Food Pop-Up is Worth...
Oni225 :: Baton Rouge's New Japanese Street Food Pop-Up is Worth Visiting
Oni225 came to fruition in February at the Asian Night Market when two...
