Toddlers

This article was written for mamas with a toddler boy as their oldest child. If you have a girl, feel free to read this article. But know you will probably finish this article and thank your lucky stars that...

Learning to listen is not an easy task. I still find it challenging at times, and I can't just blame it on my enneagram type. I'm not talking about powering through Transformers tangent #84 for the day when it's wine o'clock and the kids should be in bed. What I'm talking about is really listening to the things they're saying to you. I'm talking about not asking the question until you're ready to receive the answer.

No one says parenting is easy, but we make it harder on ourselves when we choose discipline that brings the whole family down. So… Next time you’re fuming, stop and think, “Will this punishment be a bigger headache for me than for my child?”

Work to remember what they’ve told you about certain school friends, certain likes and dislikes and their ideas for the future. These important things will come up again. When we recall previous conversations, our kids know we are listening and care about them.

I'd love to say we found some kind of magical formula that helps him snap out of this, but we haven't. Occasionally we'll find that blowing one strong burst of air into his mouth helps, but it doesn't always. His pediatrician assures us he's totally healthy and will eventually outgrow this terrifying but harmless habit. But in the meantime, I wonder how I will set the same firm limits for him on a day to day basis as I have for my other two children? How do you parent well when you're terrified of your child getting angry?

I love to sing opera. *Whew* I said it. My biggest dream growing up was to travel around the nation as a famous opera singer. I started taking voice lessons when I was 14 and fell in love with the skill of...

Day 865: The cunning toddler is a master manipulator. She refuses to interact with her mother, and instead only cooperates with her father. Perhaps because the father allows greater latitude with snacking before breakfast. Mother relieved to not spend the morning wrestling toddler.

The struggle to find child care is a constant battle and can cause major stress. It's a challenge to balance a convenient location, the number of facilities you have to pick up and drop off from (why do so few facilities take infants?!?) and the cost of care for multiple children.

As the employer, you actually need to budget for quite a bit more than the hourly rate. When you hire a nanny as a household employee, you have to pay Social Security and Medicare for that person, as well as unemployment insurance and often payroll services

Out of everything I do during a single day, there’s one thing that is my absolute favorite: reading. I’ve been reading since age five and have read thousands of books by now. I was so excited to begin reading to my...