Category: Parenting
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First Day of School
I have yet to actually manage to take and then post any of those cute photos with kids holding signs, saying things like, “My organized mother made this sign so that we’ll always know this was my first day of first grade. And also, I am much tidier than any of you and am smiling…
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Gamblin’ Man
On Wednesday, Noah had his first soccer practice. He’s not quite four, so my expectations were not high. When the other kids were four, if memory serves, I basically watched their whole teams spontaneously, simultaneously fall down over and over, throughout the entire game, every game. There was very little ball kicking, and quite a…
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It’s Complicated
I know things are better now. I know it’s not like the old days, when women would shun divorcées, assuming they were out to steal their husbands, or keep their children from playing with the children of divorced parents. Blended families, gay couples with kids, it’s all the new normal, right? But where I am,…
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Grace: It’s Good for You
Have a little grace. Today I was wounded by an online implication that human beings in poverty are animals (thanks, Facebook). I almost immediately stumbled on an article about nine women who have dedicated hundreds of thousands of hours and dollars to anonymously helping people in need and random strangers, reminding them that they are…
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Budding Scientist
Warning: This is gross. My daughter is a scientist. I think I first began to realize this when she was about five, and her younger brother broke his head open. I was trying to shield her from the medical procedures and all the blood, but I gradually noticed that she wasn’t scared, and was, in…
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One Euthanasia Bag, Please
So, we did it. My partner and I took three kids under 10 on a plane. For lots of hours. The flight there was pretty good. There was a brief period of three-year-old Noah yelling, “I want orange juice!” because I had told him about the beverage service before it actually appeared (such a rookie mistake!)…
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As We Prepare for Our Trip
Dear Children, As we prepare for our upcoming trip, I would like to explain some things to you. This is a vacation. It is our first vacation in quite a while that doesn’t involve relatives, sleeping bags, or our imaginations. Mommy spent all of our money on this vacation, and some we don’t have. I am…
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Bad Little Girls Get Stung by Bees
I have already written about my daughter’s room. Basically it’s a mess. It’s a real mess. It’s kind of embarrassing how messy it is, and yet I have no idea how to clean it, so I don’t really know how to tell her to clean it. But periodically I issue various threats and edicts, and…
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Practically Five
At the zoo, I quickly realized that my family was not going to fit into one car of the train. (File this under “big-family problems.”) After some scrambling, we sorted ourselves into two: Asher and my significant other and I sat in the front car, and Selah took Noah to the second car, where there…