5 kid’s books that are probably out of print that you should try to find anyway
OUT-OF-PRINT BOOKS: why do they tease book lovers so? They’re always out there, calling out to you from awesome lists (ahem), just making you wish you could scoop them up and bring them home forever. To me the only thing worse than your everyday out-of-print book is a CHILDREN’s out-of-print book. I’ve experienced what can only be likened to anguish after discovering an incredible children’s book is no longer available.
Ignore the “Mommy Wars” and stand up for one another
Wendy Atterberry, author of Dear Wendy, recently addressed the firestorm of debate surrounding Representative Todd Akin’s comments about rape. In this piece Atterberry also makes several pointed references to the so-called “Mommy Wars.” It’s worth noting that we vowed to never even type the phrase “Mommy Wars” on Offbeat Mama, but this is good.
Blended families and how the shapes of family trees are changing
Families are magnificently complicated. They bend and shift to include new members based on shared lineage, marriage, and choice. These days family trees take on odd shapes. Limbs poke out of nowhere and tangle around one another. Red Oaks mix with Longleaf Pines to create something entirely new and utterly perfect.
What are secular baby blessing ceremonies like?
I have heard about secular baby blessings a long time ago, and have always wanted to do one. as anyone had any experience with baby blessing ceremonies?
Releasing feelings of guilt and blame when your child is born with an illness
I’ll never forget the moment I realized I didn’t get to hold my baby right after his birth like I was “supposed” to. It wasn’t when you would think, but instead it happened several hours later when I sat alone in my half of a shared hospital room and listened to the woman next to me coo at her baby. All of a sudden it hit me: I didn’t get to do that, and I didn’t know when I would.
My prenatal expectations of parenthood caused me to lose track of my marriage
I thought I would immediately know how to do “do it all,” even after a gargantuan life change. And I also expected a lot from my husband. Because, for some reason, I thought that he would just know what I needed from him, especially when I didn’t know what I needed from him, and how to help me once the baby was home with us.
Mommy, why do the girl superhero costumes have skirts?
Avital, author of the blog The Mamafesto (among many other things!), had a conversation with her five-year-old son yesterday without even meaning to. They had just arrived back home after a family trip and had a stack of Halloween costume catalogs waiting for them. Her son started flipping through the pages and then made a surprising discovery that he had a lot of questions about.
Family planning is personal: I’m learning to stop asking questions about what other people are doing
“When ya gonna start makin’ babies?” Almost all of us in our late twenties and thirties are used to being asked this regularly. Yet I’ve been amazed at how intrusive the questions and comments can be, and how often something as personal as parenthood is treated like small talk.