I don’t smoke, so I don’t feel the personal assault that the many, many smokers in Tennessee are going to feel about the proposal to make it illegal to smoke in a car if children are in the car with you. It seems like a basic common sense choice not to smoke around children and […]
Tommy’s first semester away at school we learned exactly how much he has changed and just how much things remain the same. The biggest surprise was that Tommy made friends. Real, honest-to-goodness, not orchestrated by parents, friends. Tommy and his friends played games, watched movies and went shopping. You know what they didn’t do? Study. […]
Teenage romances are practices for adult relationships. They are almost always temporary. Knowing this, how are we supposed to feel about our children’s dates? I know we can’t have the special person join along on all the family outings. Are we allowed to like the boyfriend/girlfriend of the moment? Is it truly terrible if I […]
Doug strayed from his usual tech chat and tin-foil hattery long enough to describe Tuesday night’s basement flood. He left out a few details. Tuesday was a school night, so I was in the middle of getting all the children bathed and tucked in their beds as Doug went outside to play in a ditch […]
teen: “Can I spend the day at the park with my boyfriend?” me: “The park? That sounds like fun. We’ll bring your little brothers and sister and make a day of it.” tip-tap sounds of texting on phone teen: “We changed our minds. We’re just gonna hang out at the mall.” me: “The mall? We […]
Instead of the “eat healthy, exercise daily, lose weight” lie, I have a “to do” list for 2009. In no particular order, my year is beginning with me: learning a new skill – which is scary, because I’m an old dog who may not be able to learn a new trick, especially with the whole […]
One of the children who is old enough to know better went to bed at 8:30 tonight. Earlier than his school night bedtime, during his winter break, without prompting, he tucked himself in bed. Doug and I quizzed him to find out if anything physical or emotional was causing him pain. Eventually, his words revealed […]
$2 tree + bugs and dinos from the toybox = one happy 3-y-o
We frequently have people tell us, “We can certainly tell that Amy has older siblings.” Doug hears: “Amy is so bright.” I hear: “Amy has a teenager’s mouth.”
The children have written letters to Santa. The youngest two want rides on his sleigh. The middle child wants a little bit of everything. The teenage girl is asking for things that she shouldn’t have to ask for as a gift. The teenage boy whose first semester at school suffered because of excessive electronic gaming […]