Perspectives in Parenting

Surely, you have all had this moment. You have been juggling this and that for the most part of the week. You’ve either been up with a newborn, chasing a toddler, doing a school project that is due the next day, or stayed up way too late consoling your college student with an issue at hand. You wake up the next morning and repeat. Maybe it’s a different lineup of tasks for the day and throw in a trip to the vet, a “quick” Walmart run or doctor’s appointment or you get that unexpected and dreaded phone call from the school nurse that your child either has or has been exposed to COVID and they have to quarantine! Now, it...

Work from home they said. It will be easy they said.  Some days are blissfully perfect and filled with Teams calls, work emails, and a couple of loads of laundry washing.  Other days, I can barely take a moment to run to the bathroom and get a cup of coffee because I am being pulled in eighteen different directions.  Working from home has its advantages and disadvantages, if you are wanting to switch to fully working from home, here are some of my pros and cons. Pros: Casual Work Attire I am not even sure I should call it work attire. I live in athleisure clothes 90% of the time. My office slacks have been donated and replaced with at least...

Think what you will about pageants, but I learned a lot competing for Miss Louisiana. One of the skills that continues to hold on is the power of silence. In the Miss USA and Miss America pageant systems, there is a portion of competition called On Stage Question. This is when you see the girls in evening gowns being asked a question by the emcee. I’m sure most people think of this old clip when they hear this term: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww In defense of the teenager in this video answering a question most teenagers wouldn’t have an immediate answer to, that portion of the competition was pretty freaking hard. Think about it: You’re in front of a huge crowd or on live television and...

Loss is inevitable, but it’s crushing when it happens to you. Loss hurts, it will trigger many complicated emotions. You may feel sad, infuriated, devastated, confused, frustrated, alone, regretful … all normal feelings to feel, all exhausting to feel. Especially when you throw a couple of kids into the mix. Parenting is an around-the-clock gig, as you well know. When you lose someone, there are still bottles to be made, early morning trips to school, and homework assignments to micromanage. The kids still need to eat, and the white school shoes still need to be unearthed. Kids are still busy fighting over the fairy catcher toy, unbothered by the eleventh condolences phone call of that day. Kids may or may not...

It sometimes happens very unexpectedly. You wake up, begin your normal morning routine, and then you feel it. A very slight, hardly noticeable, ever so subtle “something,” call it a feeling, in your stomach. It’s not a pain, just a small ache. It could appear after some long weeks of parenting or working or both … or long nights of waking up with an infant. Sometimes it is not even a feeling that is desired … but it is still there, present enough to, for a brief moment, take your thoughts away from the tasks of the day ahead. Then this thought or feeling, given the slightest opportunity to be entertained, makes itself more present, but still whispers to...