They urgently run in the door looking for cousins. No formal greetings made, there are games waiting to be played and stories to share. Some gather in the T.V. room and get sidetracked with a show while others rush outside to the swings. Two wait impatiently for a game of Risk, two go upstairs to …
Rushing, always rushing. I grab a bag of snacks and wait impatiently the three minutes it takes the corn to pop. My oldest daughter opens the side door of our house and hollers that one child is pulling another’s hair inside the van. It will be an all-out brawl if I don’t get out there. …
I was cleaning up after supper, when he suggested that we sit out on the veranda for coffee. I turned around and saw the box of chocolate truffles waiting as an invitation for something more, a date with my husband on the porch swing. I could feel the excuses surfacing…remnants from supper lay hardening on …
She is finally asleep, that little ball of energy, my spitfire. A half-dozen times, I have lost count now, my baby girl calls for me to do one thing or the other, always stalling for time. It is a battle, sleep does not come easy for her. I hear nothing for a glorious stretch of …
It is a wet, cold rainy evening. April showers to bring May flowers, if we are so blessed. My husband sits in the entry way to our house with a wet dog at his feet that keeps passing gas and trying to escape the confines of her clearly defined boundaries. I come downstairs after stories …
I am standing at the back of Coles book shop, my head buried in an interesting new read I have found tucked in between a few other books on discipline. The book happens to be Bringing Up Bebe, by Pamela Druckerman, her controversial book on how the French parent differently than their American counterparts. I …
Funny stuff kids said to me today (at school and at home): Me: “Little girl, I love your long hair. Did you ever cut it before? Little girl: “yeah, my mom cuts it with a knife (illustrates with a whiplash effect with her hand) And another… Me: “What does your Dad do?” Little Boy: …
A while back, I had a chat with a mother friend of mine who is a bit older and wiser than I am. She shared with me that when her kids were growing up, she always had felt she was a bad mother. She had a daughter that she would constantly butt heads with and …
While eating lunch with a friend the other day, the topic of spring cleaning and yard work came up in conversation. I listened as she told me all the chores she had accomplished outside over the weekend, silently creating for myself a to-do list that might start to scratch the surface of jobs badly needing …
My mother and I were talking on the phone last night, and I moved from room to room doing my “end-of-the-evening” tidy up. As it was time for my son’s bedtime, I went in to his room to say goodnight and tuck him in, all while I had the phone neatly perched in between my …
I am sitting in a meeting, and the presenters have begun to speak. The topic, one chosen for its pertinence to all in attendance, should be enough to captivate the audience and compel the listening group to lend an ear attentively. We are being financially paid, by the way, to pay attention. One quick glance …
I am sitting on the blue rug in my classroom with three little boys. Guilty, they wait for the final verdict from me and if they are lucky, a pardon. I look at one, and ask the question, “Why did you push Little Girl on the playground?” Pause. I can see the wheels turning in …