“You know more than you think you know, Mom.” How many times had I said these exact same words to my son? It’s a rhetorical question, really, but the answer is probably countless: Standing in the kitchen as he recites a poem for English or practices a speech for history class. Reviewing flashcards for a vocabulary quiz on Thursday nights. Asking questions in preparation for finals after studying over a long Memorial Day weekend when the rest of the country …
Category: Raising Boys
https://grownandflown.com/move-new-york-city-internship/ Once again, I am thrilled and excited to be published on the parenting site www.grownandflown.com, this time featuring my article on 'launching' my son into NYC for his summer internship. In this repost, the article appears here as it does on the Grown and Flown site. If you haven't had the opportunity to read it yet, please take a moment as we can all relate to the struggle of preparing for the launch.
Launch is my new buzz word. If I whisper the word launch once a day, I’ve announced it at least ten times. As in: I’m getting ready to launch this, or that is about to launch, or have you seen the new launch of such and such? It’s a hot word, and I’m going to overuse it until it’s no longer in vogue. Plus, launch sounds sophisticated, announcing that something exciting is going to happen, the word just rolling off …
I’ve given this notion some thought for the past few months, although clearly the answer was simple all along and always right in front of me, every single day, whether hosting a house full of boys or even a room full of boys, but more often it occurred on a daily basis when sitting down to a family meal. I didn’t need a list of “Ten Commandments for Teenage Boys” or “21 Things I Want Teenage Boys to Know Before …
It is a privilege to be published on the parenting site www.grownandflown.com. I am an avid follower of their site and am thrilled to be included with other talented contributing authors. If you haven’t read this essay on my Facebook page, I hope you will take a moment to peruse it now. The subject is near and dear to my heart.
We must have done something right. Somewhere between bringing the babies home from the hospital and sending pre-adults off to college, we did at least one thing right. That’s an expansive amount of time – eighteen years to be exact – in which to make mistakes, to try to correct the mistakes, and then to make mistakes all over again. In fact, it is too much time NOT to make mistakes and to hopefully be forgiven for parenting mishaps made …
We all have it. We all see it. Everyday. That one out-of-place item lingering in our home. But suddenly, it becomes such a fixture in our life, in our living space, that we no- longer notice it anymore. Almost as if we ‘un-see’ it, if that is even possible. It could be a sock sagging helplessly in the middle of the floor. A napkin or tissue or food wrapper carelessly left behind. Possibly it’s the subscription magazine that has been …
I’m an excitable, anxious person. My calm exterior fools many, but inside, I’m a bundle of nerves, my metabolism churning at the speed of light as I breath through the daily stress called life. This relaxed façade is something I taught myself over the years: how to control my anxiety, be patient, stay calm. I’ve had years of practice and am pleased to say my hyper-self is somewhat under control. Which is why it should come as no surprise when …
This was both a difficult and awkward piece to write simply because it is challenging to express just how conflicted, as a mother, it is to experience our children dropping back into our lives briefly only to leave again. I accept this as the natural progression, but the raw feelings still linger. I often reflect on my own mother and how she quietly dealt with this issue for years without ever making us think twice about packing our bags and …
On the eve of my son’s birthday, I am reminded of the quiet that came before his birth. It was a calm, peaceful summer. I had nothing but time on my hands to prepare for the arrival of my first born, folding and refolding the tiny clothes I received at my showers, lining the drawers in the nursery with these itty-bitty clothes, selecting a beach-themed linen set as a nod to my favorite vacation spot, and waiting in anticipation for …
