…and we’ll be there! My mom-in-law, operator of “Camp Grandma,” has generously purchased memberships in the Zoological Society of San Diego for us all for the last couple of years. She has also donated – again, very generously – to the Society, and was recently thanked with passes for one of their sleepover events. This weekend, Tall Paul, the Tall Kids, and the Short Stepmom (that’s me) will be spending the night overlooking the Africa […]
Tag: family
The “responsible” child (?) – A parental perspective
I know times have changed, and it’s a lot harder for young adults to get started on their “real” lives these days. The late-night phone calls and long-distance online counseling of my son the insomniac – who actually does seem to be making a decent transition to the post-college, living-on-his-own, working-adult world – have reminded me of this lately. Even so, I have some major disagreements with this post by Penelope Trunk’s recurring guest blogger, […]
Once a parent, twice a parent…
I’ve mentioned this before, but sometimes it seems like there’s a hive mind among the blogs I visit. I’ve been mulling over this post for a few days, and then this question comes up in the daily Q&A over on WIM. I always knew that parenthood was a life experience that I didn’t want to miss. But not considering myself a “natural” at dealing with kids, and being of the opinion that it only requires […]
Want to have it all? Start young…
I had to unsubscribe from the Huffington Post feed, because I just couldn’t keep up, so now I look to other bloggers for the heads-up on posts worth reading over there. Mojo Mom identified this post by Laura Vanderkam as a “must-read,” so I did. Vanderkam suggests that women who have managed to “have it all” – the career, the marriage, and the kids – may have benefited by becoming mothers earlier in life, rather […]
Marriage – a team sport or solo event?
There’s some discussion on the Work It, Mom! blog over the concept of the “single married mom.” From Nataly’s post on Tuesday 7/24: I had an interesting conversation recently with a mom…She is a successful marketing professional and her husband is a high-powered attorney. They have two kids, ages 3 and 7. Very early into our conversation this mom said something that made me stop and think: “I relate really well to single moms. Yes, […]
Family/business…
A few notes on a favorite subject: I was really impressed by Dustin Wax’s recent post on Lifehack.org, “Becoming a Great Step-Dad.”The lessons he’s learned in that role so far are equally applicable to step-moms, and the post is a quick overview of the basics every stepparent should know: The natural parent has more authority over the kids than the stepparent, so take your cues from, and consult with, him or her If the kids […]
Keeping things in balance…
…is much easier said than done …has a different meaning for everyone …is one of the basic principles of my profession (debits=credits, “the balance sheet,” “the accounting equation: assets=liabilities + equity” – accounting vocabulary 101) …is one of the things writing and reading helps me with, after working with numbers all day …is the theme of my most recent article on Work It, Mom!, which concerns the concept as it relates to work and family. […]
Marking the day that everything changed
The day your first child is born, you become someone new. You may have had several months to prepare for it – probably not a full nine, because you probably didn’t know it was coming till at least a few weeks after it was underway – but in a lot of ways, you really can’t be prepared for it. You’re meeting a stranger for the first time, and after awhile that stranger will call you […]
Factors for a successful marriage – the Pew Survey
Having been married twice, and considering divorce something I only want to go through once, I found this interesting for a number of reasons. Part of a new study on generational differences in values by the Pew Research Center ranks a list of factors considered “very important” for a successful/happy marriage, and compares the results to a 1990 survey. Highest to lowest in 2007, with % of responses agreeing in 2007 vs. 1990: faithfulness (93/95) […]
It’s all in the 21st-century family
This item in the Huffington Post definitely struck a chord. A few quotes: The truth is that when people divorce, little thought is given to the fact that it is not only the husband and wife who are enduring loss but also their extended families. (snip) Considering that the number of divorced Americans rose from 4.3 million in 1970 to 18.3 million in 1996 and that very few studies have examined how divorce affects the […]
10-Minute Writers: What I Do…
I’m trying the “10-minute Writers” exercise on Crazedparent this week. It was more of a challenge than I anticipated, but it was fun. I’ll probably do it again the next time the topic grabs me. The question:”How big of a person are you?”The assignment: For 10-minutes, write about everything you do for everyone else. Be big, be bold, and be as blunt as your writing mind wants you to be. The rules, the rules…* Write […]
The first one is the smartest (?)
My sister sent me a link to a story from today’s L.A. Times regarding a Norwegian study investigating the “birth-order effect” which concluded that firstborn children were smarter than their younger siblings by 2-3 IQ points, which might not sound like much but “experts said even a few IQ points could make a big difference over the course of a lifetime — and set firstborns on a trajectory for success.” The study suggests that the […]
