When Your Teen Is Testing Your Patience, It Makes You Miss “Time Out”
Everyone tells you toddlers are a lot of work. The minute you announce you are pregnant, in fact, people start warning you that the toddler years are fraught with tantrums and noisy outbursts over...
View ArticleI Hope My Teenagers Realize How Important Siblings Really Are
One of my favorite photos of my kids was taken when my son was four and my daughter was two. They are sitting side by side, with their backs to the camera, playing in the sand on the beach. She’s...
View ArticleSorry, Not Sorry, Kids: I’m Not Paying For You To “Find Yourself” In College
Hubby and I started saving for the Fruit Loops’ college educations within months of their births. We researched the best ways to invest college funds, started 529accounts for both children and we...
View ArticleI’ll Never Be A Broadway Actress And I’m Okay With That (I’m Lying)
When I was six, I landed the acting role of a lifetime: I was cast as the lead in the critically acclaimed The Little White Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings. From what I’m told (read: according to my...
View ArticleI Wasn’t Prepared For My Son’s Grown Up Smile
We paused outside of the orthodontist’s office for one last picture of my son with his braces. Today was two and a half years in the making: his braces were finally coming off. Though he’s used to me...
View ArticleTeens Can’t Limit Screen Time And It’s Your Fault, Parents (Yes, Really)
It starts before the sun has even broken on the horizon. The sleep barely gone from my eyes, I reach for my phone to see what time it is, I tell myself, even though I have a clock on my nightstand....
View ArticleLetting My Kids Go On A Ski Mountain Will Make It Easier Later (I Hope)
As I stand at the top of the mountain, I can barely see my teens in the distance. In fact, as I watch their brightly colored coats zig zag along the crisp white snow, I take a deep breath and pull down...
View ArticleListen Up, Parents: Success Looks Different On Every Kid, Okay?
As I sipped hot coffee in a café, I listened to my friend detail the latest in her son’s journey towards college admission. Because her son is interested in attending the same university my son wants...
View ArticleThis Is What I’d Tell My High School Self (Spoiler: Chin Hair Is Coming)
A friend tagged me in a post on Facebook and my face stared in disbelief as I read her comments. “Hi everyone! It’s that time! That’s right: it’s been 25 years since we graduated from high school and...
View ArticleDid You Move The Elf On The Shelf? 11 Last Minute Ideas To Save Your Ass
Let’s just get something clear: I hate The Elf on The Shelf. There, I said it. And yes, we all know that I love channeling Martha Stewart at the holidays and I’ve been known to bake thousands of...
View ArticleMy Husband And I Went To Marriage Counseling and I’m Not Embarrassed
Two years ago, Hubby and I went through a transformation in our marriage. Some would call it a “rough patch.” Others would call it “marital growing pains.” I call it the scariest time I’ve ever lived...
View ArticlePneumococcal Pneumonia Will Take Your Breath Way, Literally
I was were compensated by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases through an unrestricted educational grant from Merck & Co., Inc. to write about pneumococcal disease but all opinions are...
View ArticleNews Flash: Our Teens Are Over Scheduled And Parents Are To Blame
When my son announced last week that he wanted to apply for his first summer job, I was dubious. Though he’s fifteen years old and quite responsible, I wasn’t sure I was ready for him to take on the...
View ArticleMotherhood Is A Circus: 10 Truths That Only Mom Runners Understand
Being a mother is stressful. Some days, you feel like a lion tamer in charge of monkeys while juggling fire batons. Blindfolded. And those are the good days. On the rough days, the ones where I can’t...
View ArticleThat Time Hubby Bought Me My 80s Dream Car
We all have that one object that tethers us to another place and time. Whether it’s a favorite college sweatshirt or a cherished book, the object helps us remember a time when afternoons were long and...
View ArticleHubby Took Me On A Birthday Trip From Hell (There Was Puking)
My father turned forty when I was thirteen. I can remember my mother secretly planning a surprise party for him and wondering what all of the fuss was about. She stashed party decorations and cases of...
View ArticleNo One Told Me The Age of Fifteen Is So Smelly (and Also Wonderful)
Fifteen. A milestone, they say. In fact, companies give employees gold watches after 15 years of service. Even the word “fifteen” sounds official. And yet, fifteen is still young. Fifteen is “Hey, Mah,...
View ArticleI Can’t Remember A Time When My Teen Didn’t Wear A Hoodie
To live with a teenager means you are familiar with the esteem in which they hold their hooded sweatshirts. Just take a walk down any crowded high school hallway and you’ll find that pretty much every...
View ArticleParents, We Need To Talk About The Word “Commitment”
Parents, we need to have a chat. *pauses to allow parents to grab coffee and gather ’round* Can we please talk about the word, “commitment”? Or, shall I say, the overuse of the word “commitment” when...
View ArticleThe Day I Realized My Teen Daughter Had a Voice (and A Mind) of Her Own
She was the baby who almost wasn’t. When I was seventeen weeks pregnant with her, I was in a devastating head on car accident. The relief my husband and I felt when we saw her heartbeat, wild and...
View Article