Real Talk

Pick up my phone. Open the Facebook app. Scroll. Like a photo. Scroll some more. Add a comment. Scroll and scroll and scroll some more. Open Instagram. Repeat... Sound familiar? Back in March, my husband brought my attention to an app called Digital Wellbeing. At the time, I didn’t fully understand the app but decided to install it and then promptly forgot about it. I would soon find out that the Digital Wellbeing app monitors all the stuff you do on your phone and gives you a breakdown of how much time you spend on each app. It needs some time to collect data, so it was probably best that I forgot about it. A few weeks (months?) later, my husband asked...

As soon as he got in the van, my son confessed that he got a mark at school (a note for having done something wrong). He mentioned that there was "kind of an interesting story" to go with it and proceeded to divulge that when his class was walking to lunch, he saw the teacher's lounge, usually very visible with glass walls, covered with paper from ceiling to floor. Overcome with curiosity about what could possibly hide behind the paper, he tried to pry a piece of the paper away from the wall to sneak a peek. When he did this, the duty teacher, someone otherwise unknown to him, told him not to look. Demonstrating his characteristic genuine, innocent,...

Job loss is scary. Job loss as a parent is terrifying (and a single parent at that). It’s been two months since I received “the call.” The call that attempted to force my resignation and ended with job termination. I’m not going to go into detail around everything mostly because lawyers are still working out details, and I’m in no position to compromise whatever settlement I might receive. But it’s un fun, as my 4.5 year old would say … Practically, though, what comes with job loss?! I mean, the obvious thing is loss of income, BUT that’s the least of my worries. Now, was I in a hugely stable financial place? Not exactly, but I’m not truly scared about...

So, I know it’s been a minute since the movie Moana first came out. But lately, I’ve had one scene playing through my head on the daily. You know the scene. Moana is walking slowly toward a giant, flaming Te Kā. She’s courageously holding the heart of Te Fiti up in the air and singing sweetly to calm the raging fire goddess. It’s a beautiful scene that would leave a lasting impression on anyone who saw it. For me, though, it only appears in my head when one of my kids is losing their shirt (minus the “r”). That’s when I realized that the scene is a master class in the art of dealing with a tantrum. So, let’s...

Multi-tasking. Outside of laundry and cleaning bathrooms, it is the bane of my existence. I hate multi-tasking. So why do I? I do this out of necessity, not out of love for it. I truly wish I had more time in the day – more time to clean, fold clothes, prepare meals, prepare for the next day, cuddle with both of the kids at separate times, play with them, sit down to eat a meal, spend more time building robots and playing pretend with the toddler, exercising ... and the list goes on and on. I wish I could sit down and have a conversation with my husband in the evening, giving him all of my attention and energy...