Screen addiction snuck into my life like a cat through an open door. Having been a corporate go-getter for nearly 20 years before having my baby, I suddenly realized the culture shock of being home alone with a newborn. I turned to my phone to fill a void of busy-ness and all-day connection---not only to […]

Social distancing isn't anything anyone really wants to do, particularly those of us who have kids in the house. We're all used to being active and out places. For right now, though, the centers for disease control are advising that we steer clear of public activities until the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) runs its course (here's […]

Bodily autonomy (the concept of being in charge of one's own body), related to consent (choosing to say yes or no to any activity), can be a tricky topic for parents. We want our children to have healthy boundaries for their physical, emotional, and sexual safety. At the same time, we're their parents, and we […]

It’s fairly easy to be down these days. We wake up to news of the coronavirus and wonder if that’s going to get us, or perhaps it’ll be another mass shooting. We might also be trying to raise a family and keep our proverbial chin up, despite not knowing where the cap of the toothpaste […]

Fostering healthy sibling love and a strong relationship among your children is an important part of their development. Allowing them to develop a camaraderie and appreciation for each other can help them forge familial bonds that last into their adulthood. Kids who had a lot of conflict and parental favoritism growing up are more prone […]

Coronavirus is a serious illness that's affecting many people globally. It's newsworthy because it's a so-called "novel coronavirus," meaning it's different from others that international centers for disease control have encountered previously. It presents with symptoms similar to Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and understandably, the World Health Organization is taking it seriously. For many, […]

We all make mistakes as parents. And while we know that’s true, it feels absolutely awful when we make them—especially when we see the effects linger in the hearts of our little ones after the initial storm has passed. A mistake that causes an emotional hurt, in attachment theory terms, is called a rupture. Ruptures […]

A couple of weeks ago, a friend challenged me to a screen free parenting day. We agreed that for a single Sunday, we'd focus on our young kids and have dedicated family time all day long---without a single screen to entertain any of us. Nothing to "pass the time" while someone else was unavailable for […]

Although I'd always been too uncomfortable to do it, the moment I let go of my anxiety about breastfeeding in public happened shortly after I moved to a new city. I was taking a long walk with my child who was then a bit past her first birthday. We got pretty far from home and […]

On an unusually warm and sunny day for February, my child and I enjoyed swinging together at the playground. She wore her most whimsical dress; I wished I’d warn anything cooler than what I’d chosen. Swinging high, she inquired, “Mama, I’ve never swung in a dress like this one before--I feel something new!” I assumed […]