While 2016 wasn’t without some challenges, we are looking forward to a bright future in 2017 with Red Stick Moms Blog! We truly appreciate each and every one of you and the community we’ve built together. Over the course of 2016, in addition to launching our community neighborhood groups, Red Stick Moms Blog had over 760,000page views, reached 470,000+ unique readers and hosted six successful events.
To cap off 2016, we wanted to share our 10 most popular blog posts from the past year. They are stories of faith, humor, loss, marriage, motherhood and so much more. We hope you enjoy re-visiting them as much as we did.
“Rarely can a response or comment make a situation better, but we can expess our empathy so that those affected know we are here to support them. We want to connect, rather than disconnect. We want to try and put ourselves in their shoes, take their perspective, be free of judgment, and ultimately, we want to feel with them.
Sometimes when we are speaking to those affected by the horrific floods, we say things that are well meaning in nature but do not help in our desire to be empathetic. And sometimes these comments are anything but supportive.”
“As a mom, I know how easily it is to forget things. I am a mother, I was born with a maternal instinct and I too know that mistakes can be made. I have found myself too often with a car full of kids, an infant too quiet to be noticed and thought for a split second that I may have left him at home. Just to realize he is in his car seat sleeping so peacefully that I too didn’t even realize it.”
“The parenting philosophy that is in danger of raising a rapist is one that teaches children that they can have anything they want. It teaches that when someone tells them no, they can continue pressing the issue. It reinforces the idea that pushing past the personal boundaries of others is how you gain success. It makes them believe that they are special and that because of this, people will overlook their anti-social behaviors and attitudes.“
“Having my daughter brought out a side of me I didn’t know was still there. The need for fashion! For accessories! For hair bows and jewelry and shoes — GOOD LORD the shoes!! I started when I was pregnant. Ralph Lauren, Gap, Gymboree. And then one day a friend invited me to a Matilda Jane Trunk show. It was then and there that I officially moved from the gateway drug of Gap and on to the hard stuff. I. WAS. HOOKED.”
“I’m a proud parent. I *love* taking pictures of my children, documenting our every day, acting as our little family’s historian in a way that was never this convenient when I was growing up. I can keep up with family that isn’t so near and friends that would have sadly otherwise lost touch. I PARTICIPATE. But I want to do it in a way that will not cause any harm, however slight.”
“Here we are, almost eight years later, and honestly, it’s not any easier for me. I can go days without thinking about it all. Then out of nowhere, it’s like a freight train to my body. I look at him playing from across the room and my heart just breaks. Will I have to bury him one day? Will he leave this earth early? How would I continue on without him?“
“I sit here feeling more emotions than my mind can comprehend, one of those feelings being guilt. Guilt for being one of the very few who were spared through this unthinkable disaster. I am watching my friends, family, and even complete strangers go through something that I cannot fully grasp. I even wondered if it was because God knew that it was something that I couldn’t handle.“
“My daughter’s sixth birthday party was a few weekends ago. We (I) like to celebrate usually with an at-home party, a meal’s-worth of food, homemade birthday cake, balloons, tablecloths, opening presents and some sort of entertainment for the kids/guests. It takes a lot of time and energy to execute. A lot of that time and energy is spent making it look like it didn’t take a lot of time and energy to execute. After it’s over, I’m usually exhausted.“
“I can see you now sitting there in the doctor’s office waiting for your monthly checkup while reading and commenting on that story. I can see the pregnancy glow you emit, but behind that glow I can see a fear. A fear that women before our generation never had to experience. A fear of the Zika virus–a virus spread by infected mosquitoes throughout South America and southern parts of the USA. A virus that can be spread from a pregnant woman to her fetus which could cause a brain defect. A brain defect that would impact your precious baby in a way that is life changing.”
“Rules that create independent children seem like an oxymoron. Rules are usually seen as a way to constrict or limit what a child can and cannot do, but when used correctly rules can be a tool to develop independence in children. I want my children to grow up and not have to rely on Mama and Daddy, so we’ve implemented a few rules in our household to give them a start on that long road to self-reliance. And a little perk is that most of these rules make my life easier NOW. Yes please!“
“As a mom, I know how easily it is to forget things. I am a mother, I was born with a maternal instinct and I too know that mistakes can be made. I have found myself too often with a car full of kids, an infant too quiet to be noticed and thought for a split second that I may have left him at home. Just to realize he is in his car seat sleeping so peacefully that I too didn’t even realize it.”
“Having my daughter brought out a side of me I didn’t know was still there. The need for fashion! For accessories! For hair bows and jewelry and shoes — GOOD LORD the shoes!! I started when I was pregnant. Ralph Lauren, Gap, Gymboree. And then one day a friend invited me to a Matilda Jane Trunk show. It was then and there that I officially moved from the gateway drug of Gap and on to the hard stuff. I. WAS. HOOKED.”
