By Beck Last night we went to the library at 7 p.m. and I found something disconcerting the whole way – which was, I realized, that it was still not dark out. Spring! There is that moment when you realize all at once that winter is ending and that spring is rushing noisily into sight…
Category Archives: 5 Minutes For Parenting
Pregnancy Journal: The Ultrasound Conundrum
From 5 Minutes for Parenting By Kelly Can you help me with a scenario? See, I have this really good friend who’s pregnant with her fourth baby. For all her other babies, she’s paid to have a second ultrasound, in addition to the ultrasound in the hospital paid for by her insurance. It was a…
If Only I Could Go Back in Time…
By Michael I had some time on my hands last week, so I stopped in at the library, pulled a book off the shelf and read it. The book was written by a man with regrets, who wished his life had been different as he was growing up. He made arrangements to go back to…
His First Model for Intimacy and Love
By Megan “If a mother is the main caregiver, a boy will see her as his first model for intimacy and love. From toddlerhood on, if she sets limits with her son firmly, but without hitting or shaming him, he will take this in stride. He will want to please her, and he will be…
The Plumber’s Crack
By Dee Dee My morning began as I stood bunion deep in overflowing toilet water. Flannel pajama clad, plunger in hand, I watched as the water kept rising, then crested, and finally came cascading over the rim onto the cheap linoleum.I had two choices to make in a hurry. (Well, three if you count crying…
Segues
Guest post by Jenna My kids are the king and queen of effortless and seemingly random segues in conversations. [No, not the things you ride around on. It would seem I’m pretty good with dictionary.com – “segues”: any smooth, uninterrupted transition from one thing to another.] This morning: My 2 year-old daughter K: What’s that…
Trees
By Beck Last week’s post here was a doozy. And yes, it IS sad that our children’s childhoods are so fleeting from our perspective, that our pretty children do not stay. But it is also not sad. Children grow up like young plants, taking the knees out of their jeans and sprouting up out of…
Pregnancy Journal: What Not To Say
From 5 Minutes for Parenting By Kelly My husband is a rock during childbirth. Not only is he great in stressful situations – particularly useful when I started bleeding profusely after the birth of our first daughter; he held the gauze and the light for the midwife while she stitched me back together – but…
Money Matters
By Michael During the Depression, as my dad explained it, your uncle or grandfather might reach into his pocket, pull out a few coins and tell you to take one. If there was a quarter and a penny in his outstretched palm, dad said, you took the penny. If you took the quarter, you might…
The New Generation of Secure Parents. Day One.
By Megan As I’ve struggled lately with my sense of value and worthiness and significance, it’s come fully and forcefully to my attention that the time has well and truly come to face these issues in myself head on. What once were a flock of annoying crows that’d swoop down to land on my tiny…