Perspectives in Parenting

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...

The Journey Of Parenting The Exceptional Being pregnant with my daughter Magnolia was a breeze. They say girls take all of their mom’s beauty, but I glowed with her. She was my first baby, the long awaited first grandchild for my parents. You see, I was 31 when she was born. Magnolia commands attention wherever she goes so her birth was no different. She decided that Easter Sunday would be the best day for her grand entrance. 27 hours of natural labor, with no progress past 5 1/2 cm, and an emergency c-section later. Little Magnolia Rose finally arrived at 4:13am weighing 8lbs 9oz, and 21in long. I gave the background of her birth, because the next 18 months went smooth...

Strong As A Mother: Embracing The Journey With A Medically Complex Child We’ve all had the conversation at some point in our pregnancy. You know the one I'm referring to. A stranger, or maybe even a friend or coworker, will come up to you and congratulate you on your pregnancy. They'll gush over your belly and ask you if you would prefer a boy or girl. You'll say it doesn't matter. As long as baby is healthy and happy. Those words come out so effortlessly; it’s the generic response to this question and it’s true isn’t it? As long as the baby’s healthy, we couldn't care less about the gender. We never stop to think, what if my baby is not...

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...

Summer Is Almost Over, Are You Ready? Heading back to school means new chaos, new schedules, earlier bedtimes, new homework, new friends, new beginnings. Back to school shopping and uniform purchases, completing summer reading, and keeping your fingers crossed that your kiddos didn’t spend so much time having fun and unexpectedly mushed their academic brains. While this next chapter can be exciting, it is certainly a time of transitions, and you’re probably hyper focused on prepping your little ones with encouragement, expectations, and enthusiasm. But inside of your head, if you’re anything like me, you’re also in need of your own affirmations, strength, and serenity. It's easy to fall into this next school year and, like other years before, unintentionally lose...