Perspectives in Parenting

When our daughter was just two years old, we noticed her starting to limp. At first, we thought maybe she had fallen and hurt herself, but when we looked closer, we noticed her toe, ankles, and knees were swollen. After looking at her, our doctor sent us to an orthopedic specialist for more testing and several more rounds of x-rays. During those few months, Makaylah basically stopped walking. When she woke up in the morning, she could not stand or walk. After several months with the Orthopedic Specialist, we were referred to a Pediatric Rheumatologist who immediately diagnosed Makaylah with Polyarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. During this time, we were concerned and overwhelmed. We just wanted Makaylah to feel better. I...

Screen time gets a pretty bad reputation in the millennial parenting world. It seems that from the time we give birth, we’re encouraged to hold out as long as possible to give our kids an iPad to have some downtime to ourselves (how selfish). I’m here to take a stance that screen time is not a lazy parenting hack. In moderation and with heavy content monitoring, it’s a pretty awesome thing. The panic-inducing, finger-wagging statements made about screen time are, generally speaking, not based on a great foundation. Like many other generalizations that have been made regarding parenting, the studies that are used to shout to the skies that screen time leads to obesity, poor development, etc. are all based...

I am sure you have all heard the discussions on the Don't Say Gay bill that has been gaining momentum in Florida and recently Louisiana. As an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community and a mom to a 16-year-old and 11-year-old kid, I wanted to make sure my kids were being loving, accepting, and affirming friends to their classmates. One of my favorite quotes and reminders to my kids (and us adults, too) is "Be careful who you hate, it could be someone you love." I did not find the source of this quote but to me, this speaks to me because we never know how someone is feeling and as good humans, we should be showing love and never...

Am I Lucky? This was a random Google search only because I was curious about what would come up first and be interesting. “Am I lucky?” of course, is an appropriate theme to consider in March. So, taken from my Google search: “Whether you believe you’re lucky or unlucky is a subjective perception of how you see the world around you and interpret the events that happen to you…..One way to identify luck in your life is to appreciate the things that you DO have and be grateful for the experiences that you’ve encountered." This one paragraph leaves a lot of room for thoughtful consideration. It’s a habit for some to begin each day “counting blessings,” or things we are grateful for.  By...

Death is rough! No one is ever prepared and it isn’t easy to deal with or talk about. We lost a significant part of our family this past summer, and as an adult, the feelings that have come with that have been painful and hard to articulate, so for my young children, it must be overwhelming. I have learned that it is important to discuss what happened and to talk about it. I am in no way an expert, but here are some things that are helping me as I walk with my children through this painful process. Being Open Right Away. Telling my children shortly after it happened provided them with an explanation for the red eyes and constant tears. Allowing...