My daughter and I baked gingerbread cookies today. She’d really been looking forward to this. And I kept kind of ruining it! Some of the things that popped out of my mouth: “That’s too much sugar to lick off your hands. No–hey– Don’t ask if you can’t handle the answer.” “Another cookie?” “OK, what greens […]
My daughter’s friend is turning 4. “We need to get a birthday present,” I told her, and started figuring out when we could go to a toy store. My daughter’s excitement was off the charts. “Oooh, oooh, oooh!” she squealed. “I want to take a paper plate! And I want to make her a silver cat! I […]
Dog poop on the sidewalk: my 4-year-old spotted it. “Someone left that mess there. That’s not cool!” I said. “That’s not cool!” she agreed. “It’s our responsibility to clean up our own messes,” I said. “Yeah!” she said. “I always try to clean up my own messes,” she said. “That’s wonderful,” I said. And I […]
Q. I grew up in a home where I was never allowed to be messy. My grandmother or mother always quickly cleaned up everything in anger. I don’t want to be that kind of parent! I don’t want my child constantly caught up in my anxiety. My daughter is 14 months. She loves to rearrange things […]
“Oh, so this for you, then?” That’s what my neighbor said when I told him a) I was thinking about a Lorax themed birthday party for my almost-3-year-old, and b) she’d probably be happy if the only decor were the three big, white balloons she’d chosen herself that morning. His words replayed in my head. I wanted the party to feel special. […]
A playground near my house has a zipline-style swing. You (um, I mean, the kids) sit or stand on a little disc-shaped seat dangling from a rope, grab ahold of the rope, and have someone swing you down the zipline. One day, a boy, maybe 3 years old, perched on the swing at one end of the line. His dad gripped the […]
Around the house, some women want things done a certain way. You know who you are. Ahem: We know who we are. And when things aren’t done a certain way, we get critical. My husband puts the dishes in the dishwasher (“a mountain of dishes,” he suggests editing that to say), and all I see […]