In The Toilet

Today, while many prepare for the most glamorous event of the year (the Oscars), I’ve got my head in the toilet. The advice I’m reading on the web about potty training makes me want to scream!  Potty training in 3 days? One day? Tips and tricks? People, have a little respect.  Potty training is not something we do to a child, or ask the child to do to please us.  Children are human beings, not puppies to...

Messing With Mother Nature – A Dad’s Personal Post

Meet Mike.  He’s a dashing husband, father, and blog editor extraordinaire. I’ve put him through the wringer since beginning this website, and he’s made many heroic attempts to protect my sanity. His latest is the offer to share his thoughts while I’m working on mine. Mike is responding to a question from Andrea in my Comments section regarding the post Don’t Stand Me Up!, where I encourage allowing...

This May Hurt (Baby’s Doctor Visits)

I have had many surprises since becoming a mom. I found out that children under the age of six never walk down a hallway when they can run; that corn kernels pass through the body whole; and that boys have a testosterone-powered impulse to test the breaking point of everything, especially new toys, with predictable results. But the biggest surprise of all was the discovery that babies and toddlers can actually...

Giving Your Children the Brush-Off

It always jars me when a child is hurt — on the playground, in a soccer game, or just horsing around — and when he tearfully staggers towards his parents, he is immediately directed to “brush it off.”  His natural reaction to pain and injury is perceived as babyish, weak and unappealing, or at least inconvenient for others to see or hear. Rather, he is supposed to be tough, suck it up and ignore his...

Big Bad Mama

I had a conversation with a neighbor today, a mom whom I have not spoken to for more than a few moments in passing for several years. She needed to spill some resentments she’s had towards me.  Her point-of-view did not surprise me, but it helped me connect some dots.  Since becoming a mom, many of my weaknesses have been unveiled, but I have also realized some surprising strengths.  For most of my life I have...

You’ll Be Sorry – Children and Apologies

Parenting can be a humbling and embarrassing experience, especially when we find ourselves at the mercy of our children’s guilelessness. Children say and do what they feel. While this instinct is endearing, even admirable, it can also be a bit awkward in the moment when, for example, our daughter spots a topless man in the market and shouts, “He’s so hairy!” (Of course, he may have deserved that, and we do...

Don’t Stand Me Up

An infant sits stiffly on the floor, unable to move his legs or extend his arms without losing his balance… A toddler steps off a platform and takes a tumble… Another toddler climbs the bars to the top of a wooden structure, then panics and cries out for his mom, who rushes over to rescue him… These are children in my classes who are less physically self-assured than they might be for one simple reason: their...

Free As a Dog (Parenting With Calm Control)

With interest, amusement and head-nodding understanding I read the recent New York Times article “Becoming the Alpha Dog in Your Own Home.” Cesar Millan, TV’s Dog Whisperer, is inspiring armies of parents to use his dog training techniques to bring the security of order and discipline to their children’s lives. Parents are realizing that children, like dogs, need an able pack leader. But if the Alpha dog is...