Children’s birthday parties typically offer a bird’s-eye view of the broad spectrum of human temperaments. You’ll likely see socially bold kids, vying to be first in line for the piñata; socially comfortable yet milder-mannered kids, who prefer to exuberantly observe the piñata mayhem; and socially reticent children, who hang way back and mutely shake their […]
There’s an old saying: “A sweater is what you put on when your mother is cold.” I’d like to add that it’s also what you put on when your mother fears judgment from fellow parents at the bus stop for possibly allowing her child to go slightly underdressed. My own mother forced me to wear […]
With one child still in preschool and one in grade school, I’ve already fallen into the typical yo-yo family routine phenomenon: By the last month of the regular school year, I’m just done. Done with daily lunch packing. Done with backpack checking and bake sales. Done with incessant clock watching, brush-your-teeth demanding, shoelace tying, and […]
I vividly recall a major blowup my parents had when I was about 6 years old. I was in our basement family room, watching Saturday morning cartoons. They were upstairs shouting and throwing dishes. I’d witnessed harsh words and muffled arguments between them before, but this sounded like bedlam. Once the noise finally subsided, I […]
We’ve all heard the extreme parenting stereotypes: on the one hand, the “helicopter” parents who hover and smother, and on the other hand, the “free-rangers,” who set their young’uns loose on New York City subways. If you’re like me, you’re in the middle and very confused about how to raise a confident, resilient kid who […]
The issue of personal space comes up in my household a lot. Both my 5-year-old daughter and husband have a high tolerance for physical proximity—they tend to sit close, speak close, and don’t even seem to notice when they accidentally, but quite frequently, elbow me in the ribs. Conversely, my 2-and-a-half-year-old and I have what, […]
My older brother was bit by Grandma’s dog at the age of 2 and nearly lost his eye, so the story goes. Possibly even more exaggerated in family lore is the fact that the doctor had my mother physically barred from the hospital room while he sewed my brother’s eyelid back together. Dad was allowed […]
Here’s a familiar scenario: Preschool-aged girl walks into a room sporting a pink tutu, butterfly wings, and a plastic tiara. She’s wielding a fairy wand and spinning on child-sized high heels emblazoned with the cameo of a Disney princess. She seems delighted with both herself and her appearance, and you can’t help but notice she […]
Among my parenting “I’ll never dos” (pronounced before actually becoming a parent), was this list of inanities I swore I’d never say. I call these the “BISSOs” after that pinnacle of parenting parlance: Because. I. Said. So. Unfortunately, like most of my pre-parenting parenting pronouncements, I have violated this one early and often. Deep down […]
Whenever my mom friends and I get together, even if it’s under the pretext of “book club,” we end up yapping about the kids—the good, the bad and the ugly. Mostly it’s the ugly, as it can be comforting to share your childrearing blunders—like that time you forgot to latch your daughter’s car seat after […]