Perspectives in Parenting

Weeks 5 & 6 (or 7, or ... Who knows? Help!): Grocery List: Ingredients for another baking project (Why did I do the first one!?!) SNACKS Trough for snacks Activity List: Nothing is good enough after a week of pony rides and chasing chickens at their grandparents’ house. Chore List: Periodically scan rooms with a disgusted look on my face. Accidentally sit in syrup that was spilled on the couch. Rage clean. Repeat. Summer Goals: Survive.   I can’t believe we are at the midpoint of our summer! As I had hoped, the vacation was a welcome break from the summer doldrums. My in-laws live on a large piece of property and have neighbors with all sorts of animals. My girls loved it, and I...

Weeks 3 & 4: Grocery List: Bulk size boxes of all of the snacks Ingredients for a fun baking project Frozen pizzas & more snacks Activity Schedule: Swim - Monday, Wednesday, Friday Dance - Tuesday and Thursday Soccer - Tuesday Snoballs - all day, everyday Chore List: Start cleaning out my closet Pick up crumbs Prepare to leave for the pool (2 hours minimum) Summer Goals: Get back in shape Burn enough calories to balance out snoball intake Operation: Self-Service Summer (still hopeful!) Get the house ready to sell next spring (See below) Have fun with my kiddos! Watch my kids have fun destroying my house It’s the beginning of the fourth week of summer, and we are all surviving, I mean thriving!...

She whispered “I’m bi,” and then she ran. It was just me. I sat in the family car while my husband walked around to get our other child out of earshot. Our oldest quickly got the words out of her mouth, ran inside, and locked herself in her room. Before she came out, she asked my husband to unlock the door. I wasn’t surprised, but the next words out of her mouth broke me.  I prayed the whole way to her room. “Jesus guide me to show her love and support. Be my voice so I don’t say the wrong things. In this moment Jesus, guide me to be love. This child is on loan to me by you. I want...

The most exhausting thing I do on a daily basis is make decisions. Mundane repetitive, often times insignificant decisions all day, every day. What's for breakfast? What's for lunch? What do we need to do today? Who needs clothes, doctor appointments, shoes? Mostly, these are easy to answer; it's just the relentlessness of them that makes them exhausting. Then, there are times that making a decision seems impossible, paralyzing even. How do you know it's the right choice? Are there repercussions for the wrong choice? How will this single choice affect my circumstances short term, long term? When in doubt and in need of guidance, I often call my dad. He is always up for listening and advising with...

I recently went against my better judgement and had an exchange of words in the comment section of a friend’s Facebook post. Some (most likely) well-intentioned men decided to offer up their explanation about why something happened in order to downplay my friend’s fear of a potentially dangerous situation. One even suggested that she take down the post so as not to spark widespread panic throughout an entire city of women. As I witnessed my friend begin to doubt herself throughout the day, I knew I couldn’t hold it in any longer. So, I joined the discussion. I *might* have used the word “mansplain,” which apparently has become a bit of a trigger word for men. And seeing as it...