From the category archives:

no manual for parenting

If only patience could be bought

May 1, 2010 no manual for parenting

I suspect that some of you are tired of me criticizing myself for not being a good mother. Self-deprecating humor can only go this far when you are not a stand-up comedian. I admit that it does sound like I am fishing for compliments. Or at least, some sort of desperate reach for affirmation. If [...]

Tagged as: guilt is the trip mothers take often, is it me, my youngest, things kids say

22 comments

Teaching Kids Simple Words: Egg

April 29, 2010 no manual for parenting

7 Year Old: Mom, what’s the yoky part of the egg? Me: You mean the Yolk? 7 Year Old: No, I mean, which part does the baby chick come from? Me: Ok, honey, the eggs you are eating? These are not the kind that baby chicks come from. 7 Year Old: Why? Me: These are [...]

Tagged as: bad mommy alert, food, my youngest, things kids say

38 comments

Interview with my child: “Why I don’t like blogs”

April 17, 2010 no manual for parenting

Mom: How do you like blogs? Child: I hate them. Mom: Why? Child: It is very annoying to me because my mom is being spoiled and wasting time instead of doing something useful like reading a book. Mom: Why do you think it’s a waste of time? Child: Because it is like a computer or [...]

Tagged as: guilt is the trip mothers take often, metablogging, my youngest, things kids say, Watch out for Kanye West!

35 comments

Teaching Kids Simple Words: Part 1

April 14, 2010 no manual for parenting

I have learned in my parenting career that the fewer letters there are in a word, the more the potential of it being an extremely difficult concept to explain to your child. Some small words are deceptively simple. Small words with big, heavy baggages. Mr. Monk used the word “gay” in the bad way the [...]

Tagged as: guilt is the trip mothers take often, how much is too much, my youngest, things kids say

26 comments

Athletes

April 4, 2010 no manual for parenting

I don’t know where my oldest gets his athletic prowess. I guess we lucked out. He started gymnastics at our park district when he was three years old because I did not like the idea of sitting in the sun, the rain, or the cold for ball games. When he was seven, he was asked [...]

Tagged as: lessons from the field, my oldest, things kids say, what do you know?

14 comments

If you have mastered one-hand typing

March 12, 2010 no manual for parenting

If you have mastered one-hand typing. If you have mastered doing household chores with only one hand. If you have managed to teach yourself to use the non-dominant hand because your dominant hand is now dominated by a baby that prefers your arm more than anything else. If you curse at the mailman for dropping [...]

Tagged as: cartoon, funny haha

21 comments

A glimpse of the future…

March 11, 2010 no manual for parenting

This one will be short. It just happened, and I want to make sure that I capture this moment… I worked from home today as I have been able to do when my co-worker travels since there would be nobody else in the office but me. As I was lamenting internally how much my job [...]

Tagged as: moments, my oldest, working while female

31 comments

Twelveteen Going on Thirty

March 10, 2010 no manual for parenting

The best description of what it is like to be a parent is a comment left by suesue on Merrilymarylee’s Weblog: Having a child was deciding to have your heart walking around outside your body forever . My oldest turned 12 this week. 12. That is a full Zodiac Cycle. I am sure it means [...]

Tagged as: bad mommy alert, facebook, happy birthday, my oldest, say what

32 comments

What I learned from the Olympics… Not what you think

February 27, 2010 no manual for parenting

We have been watching the Winter Olympics. I didn’t plan to. But what’s not to love really? Finally something on prime time that does not involve dead bodies, sexual predators, or its own mythologies. Naturally I gravitated towards Ice Dancing and Figure Skating. (No, I don’t really want to engage in a debate about how [...]

Tagged as: my oldest, say what, things kids say, things you don't think about until you are a parent, Winter Olympics

16 comments

Do you know what you are reading to your children?

February 26, 2010 no manual for parenting

Do you really know? I mean, really really? Do you know what you are reading them and how they are hearing what you are reading them?… I was browsing through the Costco “magazine” (what sadly passes as reading material for me nowadays) in bed when my oldest came to snuggle with sit by me. Not [...]

Tagged as: book, my oldest, my son the lawyer, things kids say

48 comments

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