Category Archive

adult parent/child relationships

A tale of unconditional love this Father’s Day

Father’s Day is this weekend and that can always be a complicated time for a lot of us.

But here’s a tale of divergent personalities coming back together to celebrate a birthday (and father’s day!) with love and compassion.

I'm graduating and want to move: but who will care for my ailing parents?

I’m graduating and want to move: but who will care for my ailing parents?

I am a 22-year-old woman graduating from undergrad in a few short weeks. My parents are in their 50s and 60s and both have had a lot of health complications. They’re relatively stable, but because I’m their only child and I went to college locally, they have always relied on me for everything from helping with heavy household chores to emergency hospital visits. I know that I owe it to myself to live the life I want, which isn’t really possible where my parents reside, but at the thought of moving away, all I can think about is who would help them do all those things if I wasn’t there.

How do I make this choice without being selfish?

Growing up southern as a lesbian late bloomer

Growing up Southern as a lesbian late bloomer

When you’re raised in a way that shields you from anything that’s different, it really alters your ability to think outside of the small little box that’s your world. Had I met someone when I was younger who was gay or bisexual, maybe there would have been bells and whistles going off and I wouldn’t have been clueless for so long. Who knows? But I was blind for a very very long time. I met a guy who I married, had a couple of kids, and that’s how the story was supposed to go…

…only it didn’t.

How to explain BDSM to your family without getting embarrassed

How to explain BDSM to your family without getting embarrassed

I’ve been writing about kink online for over a decade. I used to sometimes write under a pseudonym to protect my identity. Now that I’m older and wiser, I’ve realized that there’s nothing to be ashamed of as long as I keep it appropriate for the audience and circumstance. Do I talk about kink out of nowhere, with strangers or acquaintances, using “I” statements and sharing anecdotes? No. Never. Would I talk to my family about it? Would I be embarrassed? Would you? Here’s how to explain BDSM to your family without getting embarrassed…

Mothering without a mom: I worry that my mom abandoning me will negatively affect me as a mom

There seems to be a lack of discussion in the world around women who are disowned or cut off from their mothers. The only literature I can find is surrounding the death of a parent and, this is so so different…

I have a mom. She is alive and well. She doesn’t live far from me. But she considers me to be “dead,” and wishes I could just forget she ever existed.

Now I’m pregnant, and the “mom stuff,” as I call it, comes up frequently…

How do you reconnect with emotionally abusive parents while protecting yourself?

My sister and I have emotionally abusive parents. They say that they want to be there for us now, but don’t know how to change. I don’t know how to explain to them how to start building proper parent-child relationships. I’d really appreciate some ideas on how to do this.

How do you cope when your family thinks you’re not ready to have a kid?

My partner and I have been together six years, and married for two. We are finally both in steady full time (dream) jobs. We have been desperate to start a family for years. We feel that we have the stability, as well as emotional and financial resilience to do so. We are lucky enough to […]

A downtown Seattle family photo session featuring a Dalek, umbrellas, and dancing

I first spied a few of the photos from this fun family session in our Flickr pool a week or so ago, and after seeing a few more I knew it needed to be shared. This family is basically the epitome of SO MUCH FUN — I love that their session took place at EMP in Seattle! This is the stuff of pop culture geekery dreams.