One day I was riding in the car with my mother in law. She is lovely! I mean it—she kind of floats along in this happy, Pollyannaish bubble that my more intense, analytical nature can only keep afloat for about three minutes. We picked up the kids from school, and the curve balls started coming towards me at 95 miles per hour from every direction. All I heard was a cacophony of “Mom, can I…” None of the requests were…
When I say, “I would do anything for my kids,” I envision the ultimate sacrifice. I picture an attacker approaching one of my children with a crazed look in his eye. Resolved to defend them, I fearlessly step in between their life and a loaded gun. I save them. I’ll admit—it’s a little dramatic. The real problem is, I often think in terms of physical risk to my children’s safety, and forget it’s their emotional and spiritual wholeness that is…
“Mommy, why are you crying?” “I am not crying.” “Mommy, why is daddy so mad about the new couch?” “Daddy has a lot on his mind.” Simple questions, simple evasions. But kids are not that simple – they have incredible imaginations. It’s like this: Have you ever read a best-seller and then watched the movie version? No matter how big the film budget is, the movie is never as good as what you envisioned while reading the book. In your…
Dear Matt, Meredith, Ann and Al, What a great question you ask about Katy Perry’s Sesame Street video with Elmo—What is and isn’t appropriate for children? (see Today show ) This is my “mom” take. What a simple fix this could have been. The video with Elmo was entertaining and appropriate in content. All Katy needed was a mere two extra inches of fabric across the top of her otherwise adorable costume. That is the good news. The deeper, more…
Children have “icky” borders and that is a good thing. Not sure who told me about this concept, but it helped me shift my thinking about my kids. Icky borders are natural lines that children instinctively don’t feel comfortable crossing. This natural caution would be the reason most little girls hate getting their hands dirty, why smoking doesn’t make sense to most eight year olds, and why the idea of sex is disgusting to an eleven year old—at least it…