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Are We Perpetuating a Culture of Fear?

4:42 pm No comments

Is it fear or is it Memorex?

You’ve all seen them, the social media memes and posts comparing how we played as children in the “good ol’ days” to how kids play now. We stayed out until the street lights came on, or played with two tins cans and string as opposed to cell phones, or rode our bikes to our friends’ homes instead of texting, and it goes on and on. I was following the crowd in this thinking as I thought about how I would never let my daughter walk half a mile to my parents’ house alone as I would fear for her safety, yet I walked home from school every day and stayed by myself until my parents got home two hours later. Then I stopped and wondered why. What has changed? (more…)

Why Mothers Make Better Employees

4:26 pm Comments: 5

I’m sure by now you have seen one of those articles listing all the responsibilities a mother has and what her pay would look like. They usually make the rounds around Mother’s Day. For all that work we are rewarded with much appreciated hugs, kisses, and I love yous. But who would have thought that the skills we have garnered with all those responsibilities would mean that mothers make better employees? Those are “mom skills,” not work skills, right?

Wrong.

I’m sure you have heard the tried and true wisdom about mothers’ ability to multi-task and how that is an advantage. Or maybe how moms are very efficient, or great time managers and moms have good people skills. Those are all fine and good, but could apply to a lot of different people, moms and childless alike. There are some skills that are slightly more relevant to mothers but just as applicable to working. (more…)

The two biggest myths about spoiled children

11:07 am Comments: 5

We all want to be good parents. So is it good parenting to spoil your child?

Some people say that spoiling a child is a good thing; that kids deserve to be happy and have all the things they didn’t. But others say if you spare the rod then you spoil the child, implying children need strict discipline, not lovey dovey parenting. So which is it?

Photo by Laura Crowhurst / CC

I consider that being spoiled is NOT a good thing. The “spoiled brat” image of Veruca Salt still comes to mind when I think of being spoiled. Usually when something is spoiled it means it has gone bad. Would you eat spoiled food? Of course not (at least I hope not). Why would you want children that have “gone bad?” I don’t! (more…)

What Baby Registry Items are Really Essential?

4:42 pm Comments: 4

The time leading up to having a baby, especially your first, is an exciting and sometimes scary time. There is a lot of preparation to do and things to buy for the new arrival. Thankfully (maybe) there is no end to the advice you can find for what you need to do, what baby registry items you need, and how much you should buy.

Between friends and family (not to mention perfect strangers who are all too willing to share just because you are pregnant), baby-centric websites, blogs, TV shows, social media, and baby stores, advice abounds, much of it differing. You can find advice on everything from the hotly debated vaccines to which sippy cup to use.

No matter what parenting choices you make, there are a few universal items every parent needs to buy. This list of what a baby “needs” will vary depending on who you ask. (more…)

Building Bigger Houses to Hold More Stuff

3:19 pm Comments: 6

We were driving through an older neighborhood where the houses were a bit smaller. My daughter wanted to know why they ever built houses so small. I tried to explain to her how when those houses were built they didn’t expect children to play inside and kids didn’t own several rooms worth of toys. the concept was totally foreign to her.

Today we build homes with big living rooms to entertain and a separate family room for play. The room needs to be big enough to fit our 60″ TVs and enough space to place the sectional couch an appropriate distance from the TV. Today it is tantamount to torture to have children share a room (probably because there is so little space in the bedrooms thanks to all those toys). (more…)