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Husband leaned in close, looked directly into my eyes and said, “You’re the CWO – the Chief Worry Officer.”
I smiled, well, smirked, back. He was right. In fact, my mind these days is consumed with worry.
Is it unhealthy for Daughter to live on Gogurt? Is she getting enough fruits and vegetables? Are three Max and Ruby’s a day too much? Should I have put her in camp instead of hiring a mother’s helper? She’s sunburned under her eyes! Will she have wrinkles at thirty?
Tags: beach, motherhood, preschoolers, summer vacation
My sister-in-law recently commented that she feels she’s made the transition from mothering to parenting. Her three kids are now ages five to ten and she said she finds herself needing less to do things for them (bathing, dressing, wiping butts) and more to guide them. She gets the tough questions at the dinner table and her new challenge is to explain important life lessons.
Tags: motherhood, parenting, teaching kids
Early in the New Year I’ve now started to add parenting goals to my list of personal goals. Top of the list this year is following through on a consistent strategy to help my kids stop whining. Or rather, to teach them better ways of asking for what they want.
What? A strategy? What strategy? You have one?
Tags: discipline, new year's resolutions, tantrums, whining
Last Sunday, we had a special guest at our small country church: One of the bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut.
“Oh, that’s right, the Bishop’s visiting today,” I said as the children and I entered the church.
Son wasn’t quite clear what this meant but insisted we sit in the front row. The Bishop processed in all decked out in a grand purple robe and miter (that’s the funky hat with a point at the top and two tails down the back). He was also carrying a tall, wooden shepherd’s staff.
Tags: bishop, children at holidays, Christmas, church, holidays, lessons, motherhood, sermon, shepherds
For awhile now, I’ve been thinking about how to raise kids in a culture where music, TV, movies, toys, books and…mommy are offered on demand. How do you help your children learn patience, portion control and restraint when they can request any show or movie whenever they want it? When they expect life to be available to them on their terms? Or rather, how do I temper their wants after giving them the option?
Tags: discipline, parenting, tantrums, whining
I met her when she was eighty-five. She was Jewish. I was a Wasp and quickly adopted Husband’s Grandma Sylvia as my own. Well, no adopting was necessary. Grandma Sylvia grandmothered me with no nonsense advice before and after the wedding and once the kids came. Grandma Sylvia always cut to the chase in a conversation and I found it refreshing.
Last week, I was involved in a minor accident. I was returning home from the beach with Daughter in the back of the minivan. Husband was behind me with Son (he’d met us after work). It had gotten completely dark and as I turned into my driveway, I felt that I hit something. It turned out to be a woman on a bicycle. I hadn’t seen her in the dark. I live on a dark country road, no streetlights, no lights on any of the houses, complete blackness.
This month’s Parents magazine features a story on water safety that will shoot fear into mothers of young kids. Most moms I know already harbor extreme fright about water dangers. So it’s helpful to stay on top of everything we can do to protect our little ones around water.
This weekend we went to our second pool party with young kids in tow. It was a huge July 4th bash with many families and children in the four to ten age range. Most of the children knew how to swim. Mine do not.
Tags: children swimming, kids swimming, pool safety, water rules, water safety
Last week, Son “graduated” from preschool. Some kids were moving on to a 5’s program so the school called it a “celebration.” Fine with me. Son received a personalized water bottle (for the beach this summer), a medal (which he covets), and a memorable description of how he will be remembered by the school (something about his curiosity, which I know all too well). Afterwards we ran out to a waiting ice cream truck in the parking lot and then went to the new Crumbs in Westport for monstrous cupcakes.
Tags: early education, five year old, kindergarten, peggy orenstein, play based, preschool
Last week I tried to sneak in a workout before Husband left for work in the morning. I made it through thirty minutes on the treadmill but by the time I hit the weights, my bicep curls were thwarted by an impromptu army battle with Son. What can I say? He pleaded for me to play with him and I opted to sacrifice leg lifts for squatting to peak around corners and race in to save our battalion. I figured these maneuvers counted for something with my thighs. And my son.
Tags: children, mommy, motherhood, play