Cinderella story

Getting your child to school every morning is one of the top tasks of being a parent. It's part of the gig. You either have to do it yourself or rely on someone else in your community (a neighbor, a friend, a bus driver) to do it for you. That's why when they get to the age of being independent enough to do it on their own, it's a huge blessing. But what age is the right age, especially if the school is within walking distance? There's a Japanese show called "Old Enough!” that follows the journ…

Back to that parenting grind.

Harry and Marv never stood a chance

Favoritism is not something you want to get accused of as a parent. If you have more than one kid, you should do your best to love them and support them equally, since they're all your kids. And it's just a good example to set for them. But it's also incredibly common that parenting styles change from kid to kid. When you're on your first kid, everything is new and untested, and you have basically no idea what you're doing. By the time the second kid rolls around you're more of an expert, you'v…

What's the magic word?

The self-esteem of a 14-year-old girl is always in flux , and usually in a bad way. It's around the age when you start developing insecurities about what you look like since your body is changing and the attention you get is changing along with it. You become more aware of your clothing choices, the way you wear your hair, and how others perceive you. And those insecurities can be very hard to shake, even into adulthood. What happens to us as children can shape who we become as adults, and if t…

Grocery shopping is easy, until you have to bring the kids along...

Baby see, baby meme!

Time to clean up your own messes

Step-parents have a difficult job to do . They have to strike a balance between being supportive of the kids and keeping their distance. Every relationship is different, of course, but it's usually better to meet the kid where they're at instead of forcing a certain dynamic onto them. This is especially true when their biological parent is deceased. Any gesture that makes it seem like you're trying to ‘replace’ them will not be met well, and you'll probably lose them forever. This is true when…

It's ok to laugh when things get hard as a parent.

Gatekeep, gaslight, girlboss? Not exactly.

Too scary

Just imagine all the roses getting mercilessly stomped

Hard to be both a beggar and a chooser