Perspectives in Parenting

Mom guilt, noun, the feeling of having done wrong or failed as a mom. I imagine that is how Merriam-Webster would define it. I don't need a definition to know that I experience it regularly in ways big and small. Thanks, Lady... In preparation for full-time daycare, I dropped my five-month-old son off at the daycare center for a two-hour "trial run."  I stayed in the area of daycare and visited a local boutique for distraction while I anxiously counted down the minutes. While there, I decided to buy a necklace with my son's birthstone as something to keep with me while I was at work and he was at daycare. I went to the register and chatted with the sales...

How do you grieve, cry, get through personal challenges while ‘the show must go on’… being a mom? Mom is supposed to be the fearless emotional backbone of the family, the one our babies come to when they fall down and the one they want a hug from when their heart gets broken, but what happens when mom ‘breaks’? Mom will physically keep going even when she is emotionally falling apart. As a mother of three boys who has been through harder days than easier, childhood trauma and situational instability, the one thing I have learned through it all is just that… ‘the show must go.’ The important thing I have learned is emotionally sharing that journey with my children and being open....

There’s a Facebook post going around right now. Bryce Brewer, a youth pastor in Washington, wrote an apology to all the girls that have been a part of his youth group through the years for requiring them to wear one-piece swimsuits to youth camps. It’s a great post. Through my grade school years, I went to many youth group pool parties with friends and never had a one-piece swimsuit. Why in the world would I? Keep in mind, the cute one pieces that currently exist now, were nonexistent during this time. Non-grandma one pieces took a break between Baywatch and Beyonce’s bodysuit rise. So, I always had to wear a huge t-shirt over my two-piece because that was the alternative....

I took a snapshot of my kids this morning. I intend to keep it close by, so it can serve as a benchmark. We have reached a turning point in our family. We have finally arrived at the point in life that most parents of small kids look to with anticipation for what feels like forever. Diapers have all been thrown away. Bottoms are being independently wiped. Mouths are being fed by utensils independently held the correct way (Well, mostly). As parents, we spend so many years training our children up to get to this point. Every time my kid runs her own bathwater, ties his own shoes, or fixes his own bowl of cereal, I almost want to run around the house with...

I feel like there are three distinct ways people generally go about the decision to have children. In the first way, couples painstakingly plan and wait for what feels like the perfect time. They ensure finances are in order, they live in an appropriate neighborhood, they’re at a point in their careers to take the time away, etc. This process takes years. Others go the route of “let’s just see what happens.” They discontinue birth control and leave it up to chance. For some, it happens purely by accident and they embrace it. This is obviously an oversimplification and doesn’t take into account those who struggle to conceive, but for the purposes of this post, it works. Bear with me… It dawned on me...