Why You Need to Stop Focusing on Your Boys’ Bickering
“What you focus on, you create more of, and if you keep expecting people to annoy you they will not let you down.” — Jen Sincero, in You Are a Badass: How to Stop Starting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life I’ve been thinking about boys and bickering a lot lately. It’s a constant […]
Buying For Boys: Stress-Free Gift Shopping Tips
For some reason, there’s an assumption that buying a gift for a boy is harder than shopping for girls. If you have sons or you’re buying for your godson or nephew, shopping doesn’t have to be stressful. Here are some tips to help you buy brilliant gifts for the boys in your life. Active adventures […]
Parenting Teen Boys Is…
…Finding deodorant in your freezer, and finding out that there’s a perfectly logical explanation. (“It was melting from being in my car, so I had to firm it up.”) ….Couch cushions on the floor two rooms away from their home couch, because….? … Finding hot chocolate mix & ice cream toppings on your counter at […]
Real Life is Messy & Chaotic — & That’s OK
So many parenting books, blogs & magazines make it sound as if, if you just do this or do that, all will be right with the world. Your children will listen and behave perfectly. They’ll pick up after themselves (consistently!), and your home will be a haven. Your kids will support one another, rather than […]
You Know You Have Boys When… (Shower Edition)
…your shower is filled with manly bath products such as: and and sweet surprises Sometimes, you also find some not-so-pleasant surprises. That splotch, down there in the corner? That’s goop/goo/algae/nastiness from when Boy #2 cleaned out the fish tank this weekend. What’s the funniest/nastiest/most surprising thing you’ve found in your shower?
Putting Boys to Bed
If you have boys, you already know that bedtime is not always a peaceful process. If you’re American, you probably also know that “Is he a good baby?” is code for “Is he sleeping through the night yet?” (I, for one, always hated the connection between good baby and sleeping through the night. Is a baby […]
Best Response Ever to “You Have Boys?!?”
As a mom of four boys (and only 4 boys), I’m accustomed to rude and inconsiderate comments. Comments range from, “Wow! You must be busy” to “Bet you wish you had a girl” to “What’s wrong with your husband’s sperm?” I kid you not. So imagine how pleasantly surprised I was yesterday when our new […]
Raising Boys: Reality vs. Internet Reality
This is what raising boys looks like, at least some of the time. Note the blue teeth on my youngest, there in the background. You may have your own policy about candy and artificially-colored food, but in my family, the policy is Do What You Need To Do to Get Through the Tourney. For this […]
Work-Life Balance: Time for Solutions!
Work on one side, kids on the other? Illustration by winnifred xoxo via Flickr The issue of balance is in the news again. Anne-Marie Slaughter’s Atlantic article, Why Women Still Can’t Have It All, jump-started the conversation. Other moms, bloggers and commentators have been adding on since. (I particularly love Joanna Weiss’s column, Work-Life Balance: […]
Real Life With Boys
I was attempting to hurry my 6-yr-old through his bedtime routine when he started scrawling something on the steamy bathroom mirror. “Stop th–,” I said, my voice trailing off as I suddenly realized what he might be writing. His finger continued through the condensation, then he pulled back and smiled at me. “I LUV MOM,” […]