A few weeks ago I witnessed a miracle. My 16-year-old son, Tom, ate two pieces of squash and a string bean. True they were covered in Japanese tempura, but I honestly wouldn’t care if they had been covered in chocolate and served by a super model. He ate a vegetable! Up until this point that child had not eaten anything even remotely derived by the “rainbow” in so long that … [Read more...]
When We Start to Lose Our Mommy Super Powers
Today I had a very hard realization, my mommy super powers, the tools I have used to banish monsters under the bed, thwart toddlers before they painted their whole rooms with diaper cream, or prevent a child’s head from being used as a torpedo, are becoming much less powerful now that my kids are 16, 13, and 10. True, there was the time my powers didn’t alert me that my then … [Read more...]
Dear Mom Who Sent Your Kid to School With No Socks Today
Dear Mom who sent your kid to school with no socks today: Thank you. My morning started with me mentally counting ahead two hours to figure out what time everyone’s bus had been rescheduled because the previous day’s snowstorm had delayed the opening of school. As I was packing snacks and making breakfast, my nine-year-old started to scream in an unGodly pitch because … [Read more...]
Be Your Own Genie
For the last few weeks my nine-year-old, Peter, has been wanting to use a remote control to either make the days go backward so he can relive Christmas or New Year’s, or go forward to his birthday or to when he’ll be 16 like his older brother. Then there are the days when he wants to pause time. Such as Valentine’s Day when we were eating chocolate cake and giving each other … [Read more...]
The Power of Positive Reinforcement and Your Teen
The Following is a sponsored post for Stop Medicine Abuse.Org. The opinions are all mine. In December my first baby turns 16. How is it possible that the baby I brought home from the hospital is about to get his learner’s permit for a driver’s license? When Tom was an infant, the teen years were so far away that I barely thought about them while I was toting him around in … [Read more...]
