My daughter’s aunt and I have different values — how do I teach my daughter the difference without being rude?
My sister-in-law is planning to undergo elective plastic surgery after her second child is born. I love and support her in whatever she chooses to do but we have different values in regards to this topic. How do I explain that to my little girl in a way that can be used as a teaching moment and not offend someone we love so dearly?
Should you allow your daughter’s boyfriend to sleep over?
What a concept — approaching self esteem by telling a child their darker selves are loved. Only in our culture is the primitive drive to propagate a species seen as dark and dirty. We MUST change that. Sex is not dirty or disgusting, it’s amazing and should not be relegated to something we do in the dead of night when the house is asleep and the lights are off. Turn on the lights and make love at noon. Sex and pleasure are not desires that should be hidden, but valid feelings that when expressed appropriately, bring immense joy into your life.
How do we prepare a toddler for moving?
Our 2 1/2 year old is VERY attached to our home. It’s the apartment he has lived in his whole life. Because of the nature of the move, we have to go in mid-May. So, I’m wondering: with a month and a half, how can we get our toddler ready for the biggest change in his life so far?
Will I resent my partner if we never have kids?
My feeling has always been that I love my partner and I want to be with him, and that that trumps any hypothetical kids I might have with some hypothetical other partner that I could hypothetically find if my partner and I weren’t together any more. But now I’m starting to worry that I’ll resent him if we never have kids. I certainly wouldn’t want to pressure him, though — having kids with a partner who didn’t want them would be worse than not having kids at all.
Contractions and deep thoughts: a midwife-assisted hospital birth story
The memories are fleeting. They sink like photographs thrown into a deep lake. Lulling back and forth, the water blurs their edges until they fade entirely from view. It’s only been a week since I gave birth, and yet, perhaps as some evolutionary protective instinct, my recollection is already hazy. The experience feels more like a montage of images viewed through frosted glass, than a movie to re-play at will.
Dealing with death: how I told my daughter her grandfather had passed away
Almost a year ago now, my father passed away. I received the news in slow motion; anyone who has heard this kind of news knows exactly what I mean by that. Of course I felt the initial pain of my own loss, but my attention immediately turned to my daughter. How was I going to tell my little girl, who at that time was two months shy of turning three and so in love with her “Umpaw,” that she would never see him again?
How we used silly string to reveal our baby’s sex
If you’ve heard of gender reveal parties, you probably know how they go — people usually use colored cake or balloons to reveal the sex of their baby to family and friends. When it came to our own baby, I wasn’t as interested in having an actual party as much as I wanted a fun way to find out the news. That’s right — we had our party without even knowing ahead of time if we were having a boy or a girl!
I’m pregnant and my partner and I just split up: where do I go from here?
I am very, very lucky to have an extraordinary group of family and friends-made-family who are loving and supportive, but I’m struggling with feelings of profound sadness that I am now going to be a single parent. I’m hoping to reach out to people who have had similar experiences: how did you build a community while expecting, and how did/do you maintain a dialog with your partner about the pregnancy, birthing plans, and vision for the child’s future?