Archive for the ‘Mom Stuff’ Category
Feb
03
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Marla Jo Fisher, The Orange County Register
I have decided to form a new group to protect the legal rights of oppressed parents everywhere, because it’s very easy to forget you do have rights when you’re in a heated dispute with your kids.
As the founding member of Parents Are Not Too Stupid (PANTS), I am providing this handy reference guide, similar to the ACLU wallet card describing a citizen’s civil rights.
You have the right to:
- Remain silent the fifth time your child asks you why he can’t do something.
- Make unreasonable searches and seizures of your child’s backpack.
- Stop the car and make everyone get out and sit on the curb until they agree to shut up and stop aggravating...
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Feb
01
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Georgea Kovanis, The Detroit Free Press
The Wachs family had just moved from Utah to Traverse City, Mich., when, suddenly, 3-year-old Eden began talking about a new friend named Kelly.
“She said, ‘Kelly brings me cookies; Kelly gets in trouble,’ ” said Eden’s mother, Rachel Wachs, 29, who first heard about Kelly 8 or 9 months ago. “I didn’t know who Kelly was. I asked her, ‘Is Kelly a friend from church? Is Kelly a friend from the play group?’ ”
It turns out Kelly is Eden’s imaginary friend.
“We haven’t squashed it,” said Wachs. “There’s really not much harm in it. She has real friends outside of our home. I think it may have been just a way for her to cope and deal with moving and uprooting from Utah...
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Jan
30
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Traci Arbios, herdingsquirrels.com
I’ve been a working mom for almost 20 years. I’ve been an obsessive mom for about the same length of time.
I find it ironic that, as a single person without kids, I was the perfect parent. I knew everything there was to know about raising children and my parenting vocabulary was peppered with the words “never” and “always.” Example: “I will never let my child eat in front of the television,” and “My kid will always behave in stores,” and “I will never work once I have kids and I will always be there for them when they come home after school.”
I also find it ironic that, as a working mom, I was both impressed by a woman’s ability to become a stay-at-home mom (as it drove me crazy)...
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Jan
28
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Marla Jo Fisher, The Orange County Register
My 13-year-old daughter recently began asking some of the big cosmic questions that the philosophers have pondered forever, such as: If God is all-powerful, how come he didn’t make her hair straighter?
I explain that life is an eternal mystery that we will only decipher after we’ve left it behind. But, meanwhile, I have a few more prosaic questions that I ponder regularly myself, especially late at night when I can’t sleep:
How is it that my son, Cheetah Boy, is doing better this year in his Spanish class than in English — his native tongue?
Why do adolescent children sit in the same room and text each other?
Why do my kids only want to talk to me when I pick up the phone and...
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Jan
27
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Priscilla J. Dunstan, McClatchy-Tribune
Last week we looked at bad dreams and night time monsters, so this week I thought we would look at the common fear of creepy crawlies.
Mild phobias can start to slow at a very early age, and can grow into larger issues, if not dealt with effectively. The link between a child’s dominant sense and the child’s not only affects the way the child expresses the phobia, but also the way the fear is best addressed for that child.
As a first step to helping your child deal with their nervousness is to desensitize them to it. This does not mean by having them hold what they fear in their hands, but rather, by changing the focus, from something scary and unknown to something that is odd and funny...
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Jan
16
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Julia Cook, McClatchy-Tribune
Teaching children to listen and follow instructions effectively has been a human problem since the beginning of time. For parents, when trying to improve a child’s ability to listen and follow instructions, it is not enough to just put a stop to the child’s current behavior, you need to teach the child what to do and how to do it.
Instead of waving your magic wand and solving your child’s problem, give your child the wand and teach him/her how to use it.
This is what the young R.J. learns in my book “The WORST Day of My Life EVER” (2011, Boys Town Press):
“When you need to listen to someone, this is what you need to do:
Look right at the person who is talking to...
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Jan
15
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Robert Nickell, McClatchy-Tribune
Take a few tips from me, an expert on all things “dad, father and daddy.” I have been through it all, with six kids ranging in age from 6 months to 25; I have learned the ins and outs of bonding with children at each stage in their development including infancy, toddlers, tweens, teens and even adulthood. Here are some “tips and tricks” for building bonds with the little ones you love.
First things first, I knows how tough parenting in today’s world is. The amount of time a new daddy or mommy spends with their children can sometimes feel limited due to work, travel, etc. Nevertheless, there are steps you can take to create a bond with your child.
- Attention, soldier: The best way to truly bond with an...
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Jan
14
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Marla Jo Fisher, The Orange County Register
Recently, I had a minor nervous breakdown, during which I decided I was completely over my kids. The thrill was gone. I wanted a divorce.
I’m sure you’ve never felt that way, but I decided that being the mom of teenagers wasn’t nearly as much fun as everyone promised me it would be.
It all started innocently, when I took Curly Girl and three of her adolescent girlfriends overnight to San Diego for her 13th birthday. She had begged to do this, and in a fit of dementia, I thought it would be a great idea.
Next time, I’m just going to bash a brick into my skull for 28 hours. It will be cheaper and more fun.
During the trip, the four girls treated me like the maid — or...
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Jan
12
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Traci Arbios, herdingsquirrels.com
As a web designer of old I was once familiar with things like analogous color schemes and the importance of balance and the necessity of snarkiness and all black clothing. But being a web girl, I wasn’t really hip to the whole Pantone thing. I confused it with that Italian bread, which frankly is apparently so fat and calorie laden that I refused to try it. Also becuse it had raisins.
Did you ever notice how every year there seemed to be some color that was uber popular with EVERYONE on the planet? From clothes to makeup to flippin’ little plastic cups to toasters to Truck Nutz, it seemed like everything would suddenly be following some similar color pattern. And I, in my uninformed brain, would be like HOW DID THEY...
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Dec
28
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Priscilla J. Dunstan, McClatchy-Tribune
The New Year is a time when we start new habits, review old and also aim to help our children do the same. Often in young children it is moving from comfort behaviors and items and into more socially acceptable ones. Moving away from these items and behaviors is something that often causes stress between a child and their family. Using a transitional approach rather than an all-or-nothing approach can help to make the process easier, quicker and less traumatic.
Tactile children tend to have comfort habits focused around touch and can be very firm about what they will and won’t do, so it’s best to approach them in a compromising way, under the guise of growing up. Rather than simply taking away their blanky,...
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