I was asked today how I handled makeup with my girls. Here are my thoughts: 1. Talk about it way before they want it. 2. Play together with makeup (emphasis on together). Girls like makeup. When you play, use soft pretty colors so they will start to see the beauty in a more natural look. Put the dark stuff away so it is not even a choice. 3. Praise their natural beauty so they develop confidence in themselves without makeup.…
Tackling tough subjects really starts at age two. Let me explain, because I see this all the time. It’s cold and a two-year-old doesn’t want to wear a sweater. She pitches a fit and her mom gives in. Ten years later, the two-year-old is now twelve and doesn’t want to wear more than six inches of clothes. Mom wants her to wear more but the daughter pitches a fit. Chances are the daughter will win. “It’s just clothes,” you might…
We have the strangest of birth orders in my family. It has made life interesting. My husband and I started with an oldest (girl), middle (girl) and baby (boy) for nine years. Then we adopted a firstborn (girl) the same age as my middle—literally two weeks apart in age, and a first born boy, but middle child, the same age as my biological first born male baby! Are you confused? So were my kids. Looking back it was a comical…
Sometimes, moms just have this nagging sense that something is not ringing true, but they can’t act on it because they don’t know what it is. Three of my children were/are prone to lying. One child lied out of pride. If she did something wrong she would be so ashamed she would rather lie than admit it. Her lying was fairly easy to address. When she was little, if she lied to cover up something we would sit down with…
But I would follow my kids anywhere. Thank goodness they haven’t asked me to go sky diving. So, when you’ve washed the last dish this Thanksgiving and finally plopped yourself on the couch and propped your feet up, think of me. I will be on my feet – following my crazy girls in their favorite sport – shopping. My girls took their sport to a new level last year, taking advantage of a weakened economy and reduced budget. Their strategy…
We discovered our daughter’s illness the summer of her 16th year. Looking back, the warning signs had been there for probably three or four months; I just didn’t put it all together. She was tired so much of that last quarter of school, but I thought it was just too much going on. She was moody, but I rationalized that she was just being a girl. The symptom that did it was the tan. Emily, in princess terms, was our…