It took me 17 years but the longer I parent the more I have come to the conclusion that Parents Need to Be a United Front When it Comes to Raising Kids. I'll admit it- I want to be the fun one. I want to be that parent I think my kids crave. Unfortunately when it comes to raising and disciplining my kids I am hungry for their approval, as my husband who could not be more my polar opposite, … [Read more...]
Watching my husband give our son a hug-makes me fall in love with him all over again
I'll be honest when my kids ask me to pinpoint the first time they crawled, the first word they said, or any of their firsts I struggle to try and remember and I have *been known* to fudge the truth about my memory of their early years because well to be blunt...IT SUCKED. I remember nothing. I feel like their infancies are these huge periods of time where everything felt fuzzy. I was a miserable … [Read more...]
The secret behind the Daddy Fun Factor
If you ask my kids, I'm sure they'd enthusiastically espouse the merits of hanging with their dad, as opposed to me. Of course, my husband wholeheartedly would echo their sentiments and insist that staying home with dad is infinitely more fun for kids than with mom because dads care less about the small stuff. My husband asserts the daddy fun factor can be attributed to the fact that men … [Read more...]
After a spouse dies the grieving process for the surviving one becomes a way of life
My father, the man who shared his every waking moment with my mother since she was the tender age of fifteen has been gone five months now and for my mother the grieving process becomes more difficult each and every day. Truthfully, my siblings and I haven't had much time to grieve; because as soon as my dad passed, we were thrust into this all encompassing role of caring for our mother … [Read more...]
I’m a member of a club I never wanted to join
We're currently sitting Shiva for my dad, the Jewish ritual week-long period of grief and mourning, and while it's been a therapeutic way to deal with the grieving process it's also brought home the fact that I've unwittingly become a member of a club I never wished or even conceived I'd have to join; those who lose a parent. And, it SUCKS. It literally sucks the oxygen out of your body. It … [Read more...]