Tag archives for parenting

Going Urban: Family Life in the Tower District

Where should we live? My husband, Jimmy, and I needed to find a place to rent. “I’m done with the idea of white-picket fences and the exact-right school district,” I said while scrolling through ads on Craigslist. “We should live somewhere for the experience of it.” Jimmy agreed. An old dream wiggled, jiggled and then [...]

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You can sling your baby and co-sleep safely. Yes, you can.

Oh man, it’s hard to feel confident choosing products for my children while being barraged with fear-marketing and dramatic it-will-harm-them headlines. Do we really need a hands-free soap dispenser because the push-top on typical dispensers can collect germs? Lysol seems to think so. And what’s up with organizations parenting my parenting? It was a real [...]

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What’s so great about happy?

Happy. What is up with this one emotion that is valued above and beyond all others? And when did we get suckered into using it as a benchmark of success in our lives? Even more boggling, nowadays, moms and dads are responsible for their kid’s maintained level of euphoria. Why else would so many parenting [...]

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It’s not what you say. It’s how you say it

My voice is my power. It’s the timbre and alto that keep my household running smoothly. Without it, well … I’m merely an object to be mocked. Winters in Central California don’t bring snowstorms, just the occasional rainstorm and Tule fog. The only white flurries I see are tissues flung after a cold virus has [...]

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There’s a whole lot of cussing going on

Language around our house can be salty. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like we’re the Osbournes and the f-bomb is dropped every other word, but there is the occasional curse-word muttering or exclamation. I’ll admit, in my younger years, I wasn’t so careful to guard my language around my oldest son Jay. He was [...]

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Surviving the help monster

The help monster invaded our house about six months ago. At first I didn’t realize it had body snatched my four-year-old child. It started off so innocent, so sweet. “Mommy, I helpa you.” “What?” Craig reached his arm out and pointed to the laundry I was stuffing into the washing machine. “Oh, sure.” I handed [...]

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