“This hurts me more than it hurts you.” I never once believed this to be true when I would use a spanking or a hand slap to discipline my young children. I believe that dealing with the reality and implications of being hit is way more difficult and painful than the feelings associated with hitting…
Category: parenting
Why We Should Model Respect for our Children
A few nights ago I dreamt that I was back in High School, which really isn’t correct, because I grew up in France and this was clearly an American high school. So I was “back” in high school in the athletics department with a bunch of really ripped and intimidating guys. And they were bullying…
Mommy, what’s a dildo?
Yesterday one of our children walked into the kitchen and casually asked “mommy, what’s a dildo?” I paused in what I was doing and looked at her, my eye brows raised. This was unexpected just a few minutes before company was expected. She hastened to add “is it bad? You don’t have to tell me…
9 Selfish Reasons I Love it When My Kids Are Sick
Some things in life are bad They can really make you sad Other things just make you swear and curse When you’re chewing on life’s gristle Don’t grumble, give a whistle And this’ll help things turn out for the best… And… …always look on the bright side of life… (Whistle) ~The Life of Brian, Monty…
The REAL mommy wars- exchanging the pretend war to take on the real battles
In our Western context, where we have access to more information than we could possibly process, parenting can be an overwhelming journey. The pressure to do it just right is intense but opinions and even professionals disagree on what constitutes right in the first place. Supposed experts can’t even agree on what equals healthy but…
Mommy, why are you crying- empathy and kidnapped girls
On April 15, 2014, 234 female students were kidnapped by terrorists from a school in Nigeria. Most of them have not escaped, none of them have been rescued. It is believed most have been married off. Their government has done nothing. This is not ok. If these were our daughters how would we want the world…
Jeremy’s Thought du Jour – A Riddle
People at different ages just see the world differently. When it comes to peeing, our little Smunchie really didn’t understand why it wasn’t ok to let loose in the closet. When I told her she shouldn’t do her business in there, the look I received from her when she replied “Why?” made it very clear…
Stop telling me our relationship with our teens should suck
“Mommy, I feel weird and embarrassed sometimes about our relationship.” My heart sank at my 15 year old’s words. I loved our relationship and thought she did too. In fact, parenting teens had, to this point, proved to be my favorite stage. I told myself not to take it personally, “Oh, ok. Want to tell…
Jeremy’s thought du jour.
I’ve known both of these this week alone. ~ Jeremy
Clothing-optional Home
This is a post I made on Facebook yesterday while it was making changes to its algorithm; I thought I had lost it. But many of our followers found it and a few of them went ahead and messaged it to me (thank you Luci, Charlotte, and Amity!). Thank you all for your support. When…