How taking daily mini-hikes helps me deal with The Baby Stuff
One day, after they had been sitting next to the back door for nearly six months without being used, I felt like my hiking boots were… looking at me. With an expression. I looked back at them and thought about all the reasons why not. My boots stayed where they were, and I made heartfelt explanations as to why I felt we couldn’t be together.
Why we’re not planning on cutting our son’s hair anytime soon
My son is newly two-years-old, and has long, blonde, curly hair. Aside from the fact that it’s usually a bit wild, it pretty much looks like the kind you’d find on toddler beauty queens — and we have no intentions of cutting it any time soon. Sure, we’re nearly constantly bombarded with mis-assumptions about his sex due to his hair, and family members are always quick to ask us when we’re going to finally cut it.
The pain that comes with unexpectedly losing your relationship with a child
Any kind of grief is incredibly difficult to write about — putting words to paper makes everything that much more real. My wife and I recently “lost” two little girls — they’re still very much alive, but we’re no longer part of their lives. Victoria, my wife, was their nanny.
Are we protecting our kids from the right things?
Parents don’t want their kids to make unpopular choices out of a feeling of love. And also, mostly, a feeling of fear. We love our kids and we want to protect them. We’re actually required to protect them. It’s part of our job as parents. However, we have the equally important job of deciding what to protect our children from.
How playing a Star Wars video game helped my parenting skills
There is no “reload” button on life, no restarting quests if you screw up a step, no taking back what you said if you’ve said it and realized the outcome was less than desirable. But you do get to do all of that in video games! I admit, I take advantage of the luxury in video game just to satisfy my curiosity on the possible outcomes. Sometimes the answers are really obvious, but there are some situations that require much thought (and system saving) before venturing forth on a decision.
Breastfeeding without the milk (using the Supplemental Nursing System)
I waited for my breasts to change the nine(ish) months I was pregnant — to grow or change in some way. I knew that they didn’t always get larger during pregnancy, but I never really experienced anything at all in the way of breast changes. The only time I remember any breast-related pregnancy symptom was having tender nipples once or twice — it was uncomfortable, but secretly I was cheering on the inside because I was worried about the lack of changes. One more than one occasion I did wonder out loud if I would have milk production issues since my breasts were not showing any indication that they would be up to the task.
Why I mix play dates and politics
Here I am: sitting at a play date. Let’s say this play date is at a park, where the sun is shining and the kids are giggling. No flies on the snacks, no sand has been thrown. The moms are quiet but for all outward appearances, content. In this slice of domestic bliss, it suddenly occurs to me to bring up oil fracking. If you’re in a playgroup, you’ve probably picked up the social cues dictating proper momversations.
Safety concerns on playground apparatus
Children have broken bones and injured themselves since time began. It used to be a sort of rite of passage for children. But, as playground equipment has become more sanitized because of so-called safety (read: liability) issues, I hear about injuries less and less. On the face of it, less injury sounds like a good thing, right? But less injury actually might mean less meaningful play and comprehensive exercise.