Parenting and the Superhero Standard
Often, parents are expected to be superheroes. They aren’t supposed to make mistakes. They are supposed to be perfect, solid role models, and predictors of the future. There is no room for error.
Raising Kids with the Ghosts of Christmases Past
My mom handles Christmas like a boss. From the gifts to the food to the music selection, we all know to just shut up, stand back, and enjoy the fruits of her labor. Christmas is Mom’s special holiday because hers kind of sucked as a kid. She has dedicated her adulthood to ensuring no one in her life experiences anything like them.
I have memories of glittering Christmases and not being able to pay my field trip fee or cobbling together dinners from the back of the pantry until Dad got paid. We rarely travelled or went anywhere that cost money. My childhood was filled with small experiences and many things. It was also tinged with the worry familiar to anyone who stretches the dollars in the bank a little too far, too often.
The ghosts of Christmases past haunt my mother and me in very different ways.
Pet Ownership Revealed Our Child’s Determination
The novice teacher had originally thought that Brownie was a wonderful idea: teach responsibility, kindness, and what else? She couldn’t quite recall anymore, because making sure that the little thing was fed and watered over the weekends was starting to get old. It was time to allow some lucky child the opportunity to acquire a pet. Let their parents handle the smell.
Becoming a Mother Twenty-Seven Days After Giving Birth
When will I actually feel maternal, I silently wonder. I am certain I felt it for the ten minutes when he was placed on me. I’m almost sure of it. I remember thinking I created this. Look he’s so perfect. Blue, but so very perfect. This is my baby. Look at his eyes. Those toes, fingers. And after that everything is a blur.
The Christmas Lesson I learned from a Four-Year Old
As I sat at the stoplight thinking of the profound wisdom resonating from the backseat, it made me wonder exactly who is the teacher and who is the student