Claire & Bobby: From puppet wedding to living an improvised life
Hello everyone! Thanks for asking for a follow up. It’s been a packed five years. We’ve both found jobs that we love. I competed in an Iron Girl triathlon. Bobby still makes puppets. I even became a regular improviser (I make up songs!) at ImprovBoston with my husband and Dana Jay Bein, our male flower girl.
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.
The Good Mother Myth: redefining motherhood to fit reality
Her kids have always slept through the night, and even if they don’t, she still manages to look like she has had eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. There is always a well-balanced, home-cooked meal on her dinner table. She either happily stays at home or holds down a fulfilling job while still finding time to join the PTA, run the school’s book sale, and makes it to every single soccer game. She is usually white, middle to upper class, heterosexual, and neither too young nor too old. But above all… she’s a myth. And it’s this myth that divides women and pits mothers against each other while fueling the flames of the manufactured “mommy wars.”
I gave birth in the home I was raised in: a Southern home birth tale
Surrounded by my husband, my daughter, my mother and a dear sweet friend we welcomed our last puzzle piece into our home. Born at the home his mother grew up in, the home he was made in and the place where we will let love grow for the rest of our lives. Jasper was born in our very own bathroom back here in North Carolina. It was right for us and I would’t have it any other way. Go figure, my body’s not a lemon.
We’re adopting a teenager: help?
I have loved how Offbeat Families has covered and supported all kinds of families. My husband and I recently and totally unexpectedly became parents to a 17-year-old boy. I have been blown away by the depth of emotions I have felt after only knowing him for a short time.
My partner just found out he’s infertile. How do we begin to cope?
Now that we know my partner is infertile, for the first time I realize that there’s a good chance that I’ll never get pregnant, that we’ll never make a child together. When we thought the problem was me he would always know the right thing to say or do to make me feel better, but now that the situation is reversed I don’t know what to say to him, “I love you” doesn’t really seem like enough.
Sometimes I fear the closeness between mother and child
It’s been an uncomfortable adjustment to motherhood, this reality that not even if I wanted to, and don’t we all want to, sometimes, I can’t hide myself from him. Growing a person inside you, birthing them out into the world, it was heavy stuff for me. I wanted it, without a doubt, but I had no idea how much I’d crave being alone.
What non-candy Halloween stuff would you want your kids to get?
Halloween is less than two months away, so it’s time to start stocking up on Halloween candy! (At least in my head, it is.) I’ve bought a few bags of mini candies already, and those will satisfy the vast majority of the kids who come by my house. But can I get anything for the rest of them — what do kids who don’t like (or can’t eat) candy want to find in a Halloween candy bowl?