A Playdate-Style Birthday Party
by Mari Walker on
Birthday parties for littles can add up fast. For a few Benjamins, you can take them and a few friends to a bounce place or rent a bounce house for your backyard. We didn’t start big parties like that for my older daughter until she was about five.... Read full article
I Smell Crawfish!
by Amy Delaney on
You never realize just how quiet winter is until the birds start chirping and squawking on the first days of spring. Recently, I had a similar experience when I smelled a familiar aroma floating over the fence in my neighborhood. Someone was boiling ... Read full article
Lessons From the Ballpark
by Cheryl Brodnax on
I’m a baseball mom. I live at the ballpark from February through July. For the last seven years, I’ve sacrificed my weekends (and sometimes sanity) to drag an unearthly amount of stuff to every ballpark imaginable so our boys can do what they love.... Read full article
Teaching Children Respect
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As a veteran teacher, I’ve been asked many questions about how to teach children over the years, and only once have I been a bit stumped. The mother asked me, “How do you teach respect?” After a moment’s thought, my response was, “Every single day.”... Read full article
Parenting Through Grief
by Kelly G. Carmena on
Like most parents, 2020 presented my family with change beyond measure. In early March, just one week before COVID hit the United States and shut the entire world down, my mother unexpectedly left our physical world... Read full article
Road Trip: Hot Springs, Arkansas
by Amy Delaney on
This Thanksgiving, we snuck off to Hot Springs, Arkansas for a little vacation. It was a great chance to spend family time together and get back to nature. Here are a few suggestions for family fun.... Read full article
Suit Up, Mama!
by Mari Walker on
You’ll never consider my body bikini-ready or beach-worthy. I’ve never had six-pack abs or been a small person, even in my younger, pre-kid days. I have a soft, squishy tummy; big, strong thighs; big everything.... Read full article
Preventing Suicide is Possible
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“The moment I pulled the trigger I immediately thought, ‘Oh my God, what did I just do?’ The first thing I thought was that I didn’t want to die,” 17-year-old Emma Benoit shares. Last summer, in the depths of hopelessness, Benoit tried to take her ... Read full article
From the Brink of Suicide: Why Society Should Talk About Mental Illness
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When I was a teenager, I was hanging out in my room one night when my mom came home really late. She quietly knocked and entered my bedroom. Her face was tear-stained and her voice cracked as she told me where she’d been. She had been attending the f... Read full article
For the Love of the Arts
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When Jenny Ballard was 11 years old, her parents took her to see a play. It was Shakespeare’s As You Like It–an experience that she’s never forgotten. “I remember the way it transformed the way I thought about the world,” she says. “From the lights g... Read full article