To live with a teenager means you are familiar with the esteem in which they hold their hooded sweatshirts. Just take a walk down any crowded high school hallway and you’ll find that pretty much every teen is wearing some version of a hoodie. In fact, they wear them all day, every day. The fires […]
No One Told Me The Age of Fifteen Is So Smelly (and Also Wonderful)
Fifteen. A milestone, they say. In fact, companies give employees gold watches after 15 years of service. Even the word “fifteen” sounds official. And yet, fifteen is still young. Fifteen is “Hey, Mah, can you take me to the store, I need a poster board for school?” because you can’t drive yet. Fifteen is dipping […]
Hubby Took Me On A Birthday Trip From Hell (There Was Puking)
My father turned forty when I was thirteen. I can remember my mother secretly planning a surprise party for him and wondering what all of the fuss was about. She stashed party decorations and cases of beer and soda at a friend’s house. She wrote out invitations when he was at work and intercepted phone […]
That Time Hubby Bought Me My 80s Dream Car
We all have that one object that tethers us to another place and time. Whether it’s a favorite college sweatshirt or a cherished book, the object helps us remember a time when afternoons were long and carefree and adult responsibilities were minimal. For some, the object or item may even represent at time when they […]
Motherhood Is A Circus: 10 Truths That Only Mom Runners Understand
Being a mother is stressful. Some days, you feel like a lion tamer in charge of monkeys while juggling fire batons. Blindfolded. And those are the good days. On the rough days, the ones where I can’t take it one more minute, I run away from home. No, really, I actually lace up my running […]
News Flash: Our Teens Are Over Scheduled And Parents Are To Blame
When my son announced last week that he wanted to apply for his first summer job, I was dubious. Though he’s fifteen years old and quite responsible, I wasn’t sure I was ready for him to take on the commitment of a part time job over the summer. Frankly, the thought of having to drive […]
Pneumococcal Pneumonia Will Take Your Breath Away, Literally
I was compensated by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases through an unrestricted educational grant from Merck & Co., Inc. to write about pneumococcal disease but all opinions are my own. It was during a game of dodge ball when I was 12 that my life changed forever. Along with my classmates, I was running […]
My Husband And I Went To Marriage Counseling and I’m Not Embarrassed
Two years ago, Hubby and I went through a transformation in our marriage. Some would call it a “rough patch.” Others would call it “marital growing pains.” I call it the scariest time I’ve ever lived through and, until about a year ago, I wasn’t able to write about our marital stress because it made […]
Did You Move The Elf On The Shelf? 11 Last Minute Ideas To Save Your Ass
Let’s just get something clear: I hate The Elf on The Shelf. There, I said it. And yes, we all know that I love channeling Martha Stewart at the holidays and I’ve been known to bake thousands of Christmas cookies from November to December but that doesn’t mean I have willingly participated in this Elf […]
This Is What I’d Tell My High School Self (Spoiler: Chin Hair Is Coming)
A friend tagged me in a post on Facebook and my face stared in disbelief as I read her comments. “Hi everyone! It’s that time! That’s right: it’s been 25 years since we graduated from high school and we are planning a reunion this summer!” That can’t possibly be correct. Twenty-five years? Has it really […]
Listen Up, Parents: Success Looks Different On Every Kid, Okay?
As I sipped hot coffee in a café, I listened to my friend detail the latest in her son’s journey towards college admission. Because her son is interested in attending the same university my son wants to attend in a few years, I was curious to learn the ins and outs of the application process. […]
Letting My Kids Go On A Ski Mountain Will Make It Easier Later (I Hope)
As I stand at the top of the mountain, I can barely see my teens in the distance. In fact, as I watch their brightly colored coats zig zag along the crisp white snow, I take a deep breath and pull down my snow goggles. Tentatively, I inch myself forward and feel gravity start to […]
Teens Can’t Limit Screen Time And It’s Your Fault, Parents (Yes, Really)
It starts before the sun has even broken on the horizon. The sleep barely gone from my eyes, I reach for my phone to see what time it is, I tell myself, even though I have a clock on my nightstand. Emails. Texts. Facebook. Instagram. It’s been a mere 8 hours since I last visited my […]
I Wasn’t Prepared For My Son’s Grown Up Smile
We paused outside of the orthodontist’s office for one last picture of my son with his braces. Today was two and a half years in the making: his braces were finally coming off. Though he’s used to me documenting his childhood milestones with silly selfies and pictures of him with his friends, my son still […]
I’ll Never Be A Broadway Actress And I’m Okay With That (I’m Lying)
When I was six, I landed the acting role of a lifetime: I was cast as the lead in the critically acclaimed The Little White Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings. From what I’m told (read: according to my mother), I not only knew my lines inside out and backwards but also the rest of the […]
Sorry, Not Sorry, Kids: I’m Not Paying For You To “Find Yourself” In College
Hubby and I started saving for the Fruit Loops’ college educations within months of their births. We researched the best ways to invest college funds, started 529accounts for both children and we crunched numbers. We realized pretty early on that it was going to cost some serious cash for our kids to attend a state school, […]
I Hope My Teenagers Realize How Important Siblings Really Are
One of my favorite photos of my kids was taken when my son was four and my daughter was two. They are sitting side by side, with their backs to the camera, playing in the sand on the beach. She’s wearing a pink sun hat and he’s wearing an orange fisherman’s hat. While you can’t […]
When Your Teen Is Testing Your Patience, It Makes You Miss “Time Out”
Everyone tells you toddlers are a lot of work. The minute you announce you are pregnant, in fact, people start warning you that the toddler years are fraught with tantrums and noisy outbursts over unpeeled apples and socks that feel funny. Three year olds have just enough vocabulary to make it very clear that they […]
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