The questions that defined my daughter’s birth
Paloma’s due date came and went. Nine days later I got my bloody show, and within 30 minutes, full-on labor had begun. I got in the pool. I was biting on a towel, begging for ice cubes and asking for as little other stimulation as possible. I couldn’t be touched. I didn’t want to be talked to. My poor boyfriend was trying to keep it together but was beside himself.
How can we explain his brother’s autism to our four-year-old son?
My stepson, A, is 11 and autistic, and my younger son, M, is four. M has just started to question why A isn’t “like his friend’s big brother.” When M asked “Why won’t A play with me? Does he not like me?” it struck us that we really didn’t know how to explain autism in a way that a four-year-old would understand.
A mother and son celebrate 10 years of Harry Potter love
My friend Kim and her son, E, have been long-time Harry Potter fans — as the photo above will attest. They went to the only place in town who still has a cloud backdrop and recreated a photo to mark the beginning, and end, of their HP madness.
Respectful parenting begets respectful teens
There seems to be the almost universal belief among North American parents. I’m sure this is a phenomena found elsewhere as well, but I’m just talking about what I’ve personally seen. Kids, whether these are theoretical future children or actual kids, will hate, or, at the very least, dislike their parents. Teenagers hate their parents: everyone knows that.
I’m finally dating after my divorce — and my six-year-old loves it
A few productive, insightful, sadly celibate years rolled by after my divorce, and then it happened: I meet a fella. I couldn’t even believe it was happening… until my now six-year-old asked me if I have a boyfriend. When I said yes, she asked to meet him.
A doula’s advice: the dos and don’ts of visiting friends after they have a baby
I know how exciting new babies are. I know how much people want to see and smell them when they are brand new. I also know that being a good friend to new parents means taking the utmost care with a new and very delicate situation. As a postpartum doula, I’m here to tell you how you can be a good friend while you visit new babies and their parents.
Stop letting your kid’s freedom of speech be taken away
As parents, I think we should teach our kids all due caution, but there should be outrage here, too. Outrage that their childhoods — their ability to make bad choices and act stupid and be young — is actively being taken from them. Our kids have to live in constant fear and under a constant scrutiny that no other generation has suffered beneath (and no generation should) to the point that, even in their youth they must act with either the constant maturity of adults, or at least under a constant curtain of paranoia.
My education at a cooperative pre-school
Then I discovered my dream come true: a cooperative pre-school. A co-op cuts costs by hiring only the teachers; parents perform all other work and take turns as teacher aide. This innovative solution would give the boys the benefits of school and allow me to be involved in my children’s education while also having personal time.