Yesterday I made a proclamation. I was done yelling. For good. It’s been 24 hours. For 24 hours, I have been extremely mindful of every single word that has come out of my mouth. That was all the time I needed to really assess and determine my 5 W’s. The who, what, when, where and whys related […]
Archives for July 2014
I’m done yelling. For good.
The other day I taught swim lessons to a brother and sister, and once their lessons were finished, they had a little free swim time in the pool with my kids. About twenty minutes into the free swim, the sister did something to annoy the brother, and he sort of whacked her in the head […]
Comfortable and Inviting
The next time a friend is coming to your house with her kids (or even without) and you are about to apologize repeatedly for the condition of your home, I want you to stop. And I want you to think about this. While I understand that complete and total chaos in your home can create some […]
The best moment you will ever have as a parent.
When you are preparing to become a parent, you are warned about many things. If you are the expectant mother, every single woman who has ever given birth will tell you every detail of every minute of her labor and delivery. For every kid she’s given birth to. You will be told about the sleepless […]
What percentage of parenting sucks? On a good day, 70% sounds about right.
Yesterday I coached a swim meet with three other coaches from my team. One was Cool College Babysitter (CCB), and one was a father of three (FOT) who is about my age. As I was standing on deck with the two of them, CCB, who is 22, asked both of us, “What percentage, would you […]
With ease and confidence and authority.
It is not easy being Number 4’s brother or sister. She is fearless and talented and creative and proactive and innovative and beautiful and intelligent. She’s one of those kids who pretty much has it all. Number 3 is struggling with this a little bit. He’s no slouch himself. But he doesn’t have the confidence […]