Because natural isn't always possible — or easy.
Posted in parenting on Oct 29th, 2010
This morning was not my finest as a parent. Not by a long shot. Big Girl had her first public school costume parade. Little Girl had her first nursery school Halloween party. It should have been a fun morning. Instead, there was yelling and panic and angst. Big Girl is dressing up like the storybook [...]
Posted in Safety on Oct 27th, 2010
Lenore Skenazy, the author of Free Range Kids, wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal today. In the story — ‘Stranger Danger’ and the Decline of Halloween — she laments parental fear. How we all worry too much. In fact, she says that Halloween has become a testing ground for new parental fears. [...]
Posted in energy, Environment, Going Green, Health on Oct 26th, 2010
I’m thrilled to have a guest blogger today! Meet Kathy Morelli, who pens the blog, Motherhood, Marriage, & Mental Health. I just read an article in the September issue of Oprah Magazine, by editor-in-chief Susan Casey. Ms. Casey wrote about she recently witnessed the devastation caused by the BP oil leak (uh, how about super [...]
Posted in Consumer Packaged Goods, Eating Healthy, Food, Health, Organic on Oct 23rd, 2010
Next weekend we will don our costumes (Big Girl will be a unicorn and Little Girl will be a dragonfly) and hit the streets for Trick or Treat. And at the end of the night I will be what many people out there might call a mean mommy. Again. The type of mom who, in [...]
Posted in Health, Illness, Safety, Vaccines on Oct 21st, 2010
I was at a mommy and me class today when a woman cornered me. “I know you’re so into this stuff. I have to ask you. Did you know that this year’s flu shot contains the H1N1 virus? I asked if there was a version without it and there isn’t!” This girl, who gave her [...]
Posted in Friendship, Safety, School and education on Oct 20th, 2010
The notebook lay open on the counter. I didn’t recognize Big Girl’s scrawl so I picked it up for a closer look. There, on the page, was the following: “Bring it tomorrow and you said if you don’t I could punch you thank you good night.” WTF?!? I called Big Girl into the kitchen. What [...]
Posted in School and education on Oct 18th, 2010
I became Stalker Mommy today, taking the long way home from picking up Little Girl from school so I could pass by Big Girl’s school. I knew it was recess time, and I wanted to see if I could catch a glimpse of her playing outside. (Like you’ve never done the same — or wished [...]
Posted in Food, Going Green, Organic on Oct 13th, 2010
We’re in Week 20 of our community supported agriculture (CSA) share. We’re a drop off location, so I am always the first and last in the garage after the veggies are dropped off. This is my fourth year as a CSA member, but only my first as a drop off location. I have three main [...]
Posted in Consumer Packaged Goods, Play, Shopping, Siblings on Oct 11th, 2010
This weekend was Big Girl’s birthday. To celebrate, we went into New York City and visited American Girl Place. We had dinner in the cafe, and shopped afterward for Big Girl’s very first real American Girl doll — number 35, a red-head with straight hair and green eyes. While we were there we made a [...]
Posted in Emotional development, parenting on Oct 8th, 2010
The news is filled with stories of bullied kids committing suicide. Just this morning I read a story about an Ohio school that buried four kids who killed themselves after being mercilessly taunted for being gay, foreign, or just plain different. The most chilling part? When the reporter explained how some of those bullies had [...]