Blended families don't always blend

2 years too late

Not in the mood, sis

Babysitting is no simple task, that's why we pay babysitters and nannies the big bucks. Children, especially toddlers, can be notoriously difficult to wrangle. You need the right amount of patience, level-headedness, and willingness to tire yourself out. Not to mention it's a huge amount of responsibility. If something goes wrong, you need to be ready to snap into action. This is why it's no fun to ask someone to babysit at the last minute. Unless you're a seasoned pro or a parent yourself (eve…

Set boundaries

To paraphrase Virginia Woolf, everyone needs a room of one's own. If at all possible, we all need spaces that are fully ours, where we can decompress, be creative, and not have to worry about someone barging in and demanding something of us . This is especially true as a new parent. It might not always be possible to have a sanctuary as a new mom, but you can get creative with it. Maybe you take extra long “showers," and when you're family thinks you're shampooing, you're actually knee-deep in…

Hey mom and dad, time for a meme break.

Taking family time to another level

Sometimes a grudge comes up for seemingly no reason . Someone just starts to treat you differently and you have no idea what happened. You rack your brain for reasons you might have spited them and you come up empty. Did you fail to wave back at them on the street one day? Did you accidentally say something off-color at a party? Did you just happen to look at them the wrong way and now everything is different? You may never know. It's especially hard when this happens in your own family because…

Is he just free-spirited or plain ole irresponsible?

Drop everything, I guess

As any parent can tell you, parenting is a full-time job . It may not pay the bills, but it sure takes a lot out of you. It doesn't stop when you go to sleep, or when you're watching TV, or even when you're on vacation. You're a parent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You don't get to choose whether or not you're ‘on duty’ if you're a parent, you just always are. And for couples parenting together, it's important that you both understand that. Otherwise, conflicts are bound to arise. That's what…

Bedtime means meme time for mommy and daddy.

Why is it that the 'family first' crowd doesn't think that rule applies to them?

Allergies are no joke. People who suffer from them know how serious they can be, and take every precaution to keep themselves safe. It's a whole skill you have to develop, not only knowing what foods might secretly contain your allergen but also informing everyone around you how to keep you safe. You have to constantly educate the people around you. And when you're having dinner at someone else's house, you can't be sure what they did or didn't put in the meal. So you develop failsafes, like br…

There's no perfect age to move out of the house . Lots of people do it when they're 18, as soon as they get the chance. But a good amount of people take a little longer while they save money, go to school, or work on their mental health. There's no right answer, as long as everyone is cool with it. Problems arise, however, when someone is preventing someone else from moving out. Everyone should have the freedom and autonomy to do what they please after they're 18 years old. Even if that means h…