I’m Just Going To Say It: High School Was Better (and Easier) in the 90s.
On my way to my bedroom late one night, I saw the familiar sliver of light coming from my son’s room. Burning the midnight oil again, I thought. When I cracked the door open, I found him hunched over...
View ArticleIf You Don’t Have A Best Friend While Parenting Teens, You Won’t Survive
I looked at the text from my best friend and immediately started laughing. “I’m on a college visit and I just want you to know that we are in over our heads. Did you know dorm rooms have granite...
View ArticleThe Day I Realized My Teen Needed Me to Help Him With His Mental Health
This is a sponsored post. I was compensated by Med-IQ through an educational grant from Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. and Lundbeck to write about depression in college-aged students. All...
View ArticleFive Not So Secret Ways To Convince Your Teen To Communicate
It’s an age old trope: teens, by nature, don’t communicate and it’s impossible to get them to open up once they turn 13. You hear rumors from other moms that raising a teen means accepting that he or...
View ArticleThe “Golden Girls” Taught Me What I Need To Know About Raising Teens
In my house, Saturday night prime time television shows were sacred in our house. My brothers and I would put on our pajamas, make popcorn in the air popper and crowd around on the floor while my...
View Article“Hootie and The Blowfish” Helped Me Grieve The Loss of My Dad
When I was in college, I fell in love with a guy named Hootie. And yes, back then, country music mega star Darius Rucker was known as Hootie, and yes, I realize that I’m showing my age when I call him...
View Article27 Reasons Prom Was Epic And Awesome In the 90s
Recently, I saw a friend’s post about how her son asked his girlfriend to prom and, I’m not going to lie: my husband didn’t go through nearly as much trouble when he asked me to marry him 25 years ago....
View ArticleI Didn’t Expect My Son’s Sixteenth Birthday To Hit Me So Hard
As the waitress slipped the huge piece of chocolate cake across the table, the candle that she’d added illuminated my son’s teenaged face. With a big smile, he listened as we sang “Happy Birthday” to...
View ArticleBeyond Flowers And Food: There’s Only So Much Lasagna You Can Eat In A Crisis
On the day my father died, I drove to work on that crisp October morning with my mind fixated on the pumpkin spice coffee I was going to treat myself to on the way. “Maybe a muffin, too,” I thought....
View ArticleGrandparents Are The Real MVPs When It Comes To Raising Teens
When my husband and I were planning our wedding, our videographer asked us for pictures of us as kids for an opening montage he was planning. As my future mother in law and I combed through photo...
View ArticleDear Publix: Thanks For Making College Parents Ugly Cry At The Holidays
The holidays are upon us and many of us are waiting anxiously for our college kids to barge in the front door yelling, “I’m home!” And, for those of us who sent our first kids off to college this fall,...
View ArticleA Break Up Letter To The Elf On The Shelf: We Are So Over
Dear Herbie the Elf, I feel as though it’s time we had a talk. I’ve been very unhappy for a very long time and I bet that if you were honest with yourself, you’d admit that you have known for a while...
View ArticleWhat Teens Need This Holiday Season: Pumpkin Pie and a “Check Up from The...
I was compensated by Med-IQ through an educational grant from Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. and Lundbeck to write about depression in college-aged students. All opinions are my own. As I stood...
View ArticleEveryone Needs To Be Rescued: My Skiing Adventure From Hell
Seven years ago, I strapped on a set of ski boots and skis and immediately fell down a ski mountain. For real. Did I mention I suck at skiing? A little back information: though I grew up in the...
View ArticleIt Takes A Village To Raise Teens and I’m Grateful For Mine
Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to wade through this motherhood thing with some pretty amazing friends in my parenting village. In the early years, the moms who commiserated with me over potty...
View Article5 Things I’d Forgotten About Being A Teenage Girl
When I was a teenager, I distinctly remember spending an entire afternoon organizing my makeup into a Caboodles case. I spent hours arranging my Cover Girl foundation, blue and green eye shadow...
View ArticleThe Sweet Valley High Books Made Middle School Easier For Me
BONUS CONTENT: Would you like to read a chapter of the Sweet Valley that never made it to print? Spoiler alert: I make a cameo! Yes, really! When I was in fifth grade, my family moved from the...
View ArticleThe Day My Son Got His Driver’s Permit –and an Unexpected Gift
My son’s interest in toy cars has gradually been replaced by an interest in a car of his own and he eagerly awaited the day he could finally get his driver’s permit. When he was a toddler, he was...
View ArticleWhen Should Teens Get a Part-Time Job? Hubby and I Disagree
I can distinctly remember my first job interview. I was fresh out of high school and was hoping to make extra money during the summer to pay for college. I scheduled an interview at a local temp agency...
View ArticleNews Flash: Gifted Kids Are Not Always Valedictorians
From an early age, our son was inquisitive, precocious and speaking full sentences by the time he was two. When I was out in public with him, older women would always comment on his verbal ability. And...
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