by Wilson Diehl When I imagined having kids, I always and not-at-all-secretly wanted to have a girl. I emotionally prepared myself for sons well before I started having babies—before I’d started having sex, come to think of it (late (nerdy) bloomer!)—because I’d minored in Women’s Studies in college and figured I was destined for sons, [...]
By Kristina Lakes I am the mother you shun in Wal-Mart. Your disapproving eyes flit from my unbrushed hair to focus upon my four-year-old son, who is dressed in a long-sleeved, fatigue shirt and tight, black-wool leggings, even though it’s August. He’s also wearing a cowboy holster and sheriff’s badge. Any minute now, he’ll begin [...]
by Wilson Diehl We just returned from a mini-vacation with friends who have a daughter the same age as ours wherein we drank some wine, played in the sand, ate tons of berries, sang many rounds of “Take me out to the ballgame,” polished off an entire marionberry pie, and saw a bunch of animals [...]
I am so sick of charts. If I draw up, Google, copy, fill out or even see another chart, I may just hop on the next AATA bus that conveniently goes by my house every 20 minutes, and go to the nearest martini bar. Confession: There is one chart on the side of our fridge. [...]
Less is more. Tell that to any American kid and see what kind of a response you get. If for some reason, you are having a hard time picturing entitled kids (which I doubt), think of the book/film Willy Wonka with the lovely Miss Varuca Salt. Remember her? Her entitled demands for an Oompah-Loompah (or [...]
This isn’t the first time it crossed my mind to write about parenting, but the first time I embraced the opportunity seriously. Whenever I would read about parents who blogged, I had one thought: You people are writing about what you’re doing instead of actually doing it. I always pictured a harried parent-blogger, intently pecking [...]
I told one of my readers that I would try my best to not be preachy, but I might cross the line this time. So if you think (grudgingly) that this title may apply to you and you have no desire to fix a possible problem, or you don’t want to admit that we all [...]
“The Parent Trap”… I didn’t choose this title for my A2Politico column on parenting, and at first I wasn’t sure of it, as I definitely don’t feel trapped in my role as parent, a.k.a. “Mumma.” But then I realized it does fit, not so much in the “oh my gosh, I am trapped in a [...]
