Whew. That’s me wiping my brow now that the fall sports season is over in our house. My son, 16, played water polo for his high school while my daughter, 12, played volleyball for her middle school. Both of them also played ice hockey a bit, too, as that is a sport that seems to [Read More]
10 Easy Way to Help the New Kid in School
I adjusted my off-the-shoulder sweatshirt covered in splatter paint. Inspired by the movie Flashdance, my sweatshirt did little to distract from the fact that I was a 5’8″ tall twelve-year-old standing alone outside a 7th grade classroom. It was the first day of school and I knew no one. My family had just relocated from [Read More]
Middle School Made Me Resilient and Other Life Lessons from Those Awkward Years
Phew. That’s me wiping my brow because my daughter survived her first year of middle school. Yet, she’s got two more years to endure, so fingers crossed that they treat her kindly. I wrote the post I’m sharing below last year before she started 6th grade. It originally appeared on Your Teen and I’m grateful [Read More]
10 Things I Won’t Miss From My Kids’ Childhood
I saw an elaborate Valentine on Pinterest today. I sighed with relief that I wouldn’t be making any of those. Then I stopped to wonder why that was my gut reaction. I guess it’s not rocket science. I always found it tedious doing those class valentines with my kids. When they were littler, they always lost [Read More]
Thrifty Back-to-School Shopping Tips
Ack! It’s Back-to-School shopping season! How much is this going to cost me? Will I ever find everything I need? I think I’m stressed already. Which got me thinking. What if I could laugh about it instead? Yes, what if I could poke fun at all the craziness of back to school in a little [Read More]
You Know You Are The Parent of a Tween When
“Mom, I love you,” said my twelve-year-old son matter-of-factly. “I just wanted to tell you that before I hit puberty and I don’t want to hang out with you anymore.” I chuckled and smiled as he hugged me. He smiled back, his eyes crinkling in an infectious way that I love because I’m his mother. [Read More]
Five Fun Family Flicks to Watch with Tweens
“How about Shrek?” I asked my eleven-year-old son. I held up the DVD case splashed with the picture of the lovable green ogre. “Mom,” he replied. “NO.” “What’s wrong with Shrek?” I queried. We were going through our DVDs, trying to pick G- or PG-rated movies that his class could watch on the bus during [Read More]