My husband and I made a self-preservation list to scrap unsolicited parenting advice early on in our parenting journey. Surprisingly, our decision to (literally) throw out most parenting guides has not only preserved our sanity, it’s also benefited our son immensely. We not-so-jokingly refer to our tactics as “Selfish Parenting”, …
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Are you singing the Middle Grades Blues? You’re not alone.
Last month NPR posted the story, Being A Mom To A Middle-Schooler Can Be The Toughest Gig of All. I nodded my head. Finally, the research is in. Finally, the science backs me up: Parenting tweens is the worst. As a mother you’re supposed to be a cheerful Hallmark card bestowing boo-boo healing, kisses and …
Read More »My teenagers have me tongue-tied, tossing and turning
My 14-year-old son had a day off from school. It was rainy and cold outside, and I figured he’d want to sleep in, so I refrained from calling him from my office until late morning, around 11. He answered the phone in his new weird low man voice that I …
Read More »Leave the walls alone
Forget about building walls; can we just leave the walls alone? I am talking about the walls that we as parents work so hard to keep clean and nicely painted in our kids’ rooms. My daughter Grace found a way to cover just about every space on her walls. A …
Read More »Letters from Zibby: Parent-Teacher Conferences
Dear Parents, Across the state, teachers are attending to the individual needs of each of their students in a different way. With parent conferences and report cards taking place, the focus is on how to communicate the flow of each student’s school day to his or her parents or guardians. …
Read More »Letters from Zibby: Reading Aloud
Dear Parents, If you enjoy reading for pleasure, you can probably conjure up images of sitting in the lap of a parent, being encircled by feelings of protectiveness and warmth, intimacy and wonder. That childhood reading time became the springboard for your own journey into the world of books. There …
Read More »Letters from Zibby: Working Backwards
“Letters from Zibby” is a new blog we’re debuting here on BaltimoresChild.com! Zibby, the longtime head of preschool at Garrison Forest, will be sharing the trials and tribulations that come from parenting, grandparenting and working with little ones. I took care of both of my grandchildren for almost two weeks this summer—alone. …
Read More »Growing Pains: Baby Bump Blues
A big surprise with my pregnancy has been how lonely it can feel. I’m lucky to have a great support system in place which includes my husband, family, friends—one of whom is due just two weeks before me—my obstetrician, and even a birth companion. Yet I still get bogged down …
Read More »Growing Pains: To Buy or Not to Buy
The other day I accidentally locked myself inside the room that is now our nursery-to-be. We have those old-fashioned glass doorknobs and the inside knob just fell off as I closed the door behind me. Despite a valiant effort on my part, there was no getting it back on. Luckily, I had a …
Read More »Growing Pains: Answer Me This
In the beginning, I was somewhat shy about disclosing the big news that I was pregnant to anyone outside my family. It didn’t even feel real at first—at least not until the dreadful nausea kicked in. I’m not sure what this “morning sickness” everyone talks about is, because what I …
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