A walk to my mailbox yesterday revealed a rose about to bloom. A clematis vine winds its way up the porch, hanging with purple blossoms. Even the fungus on the stump has gone from espresso cup to soup bowl size in a matter of days. If growth is the symphony of springtime, our children take center stage. It’s time for mommies everywhere to set aside their ironing baskets, resist spring cleaning, and turn off technology in favor of embracing this season of growth with our children. Including these 7 essential ingredients in your spring will help you make the …
Packing a Young Person’s Heart
Last Friday we took our daughter on a college visit. Serene lawns and still hallways echoed the time year: Spring Break. As we toured the campus, thoughts about our sweet girl’s future exploded in my mind like kernels in an air popper. I longed to see some students as evidence that when kids grow up they’re okay. But they were on Spring Break. Inside the dorms, our guide was kind (bold? crazy?) enough to show us several rooms where it looked like the Rapture had taken place. Books, guitars, clothes, pizza pans, and shoes littered the floors and beds. There …
Parenting Teens thru Spring Break
What will your teen do over Spring Break? Maybe you’re in the sippy cup years, looking ahead with fear and trembling to the Facebook years. How can we watch out for our teens in today’s world? Last night I feel asleep to the sound of laughter drifting upstairs from young women in our basement. Two are on the threshold of college; two others are are signed up for the ACT. All are counting the days ’til spring break. If the teen years are such a vibrant time of life, why do we dread parenting through it? You can prepare yourself …
Expecting Stretch Marks
During the 40 weeks of pregnancy, a woman’s body does things she never imagined it could do. It begs for us to use the word “miracle” to describe the whole, amazing process. When our skin stretches more than it’s happy to, reddish or purplish marks develop that remind me of childhood poison ivy moments, minus the scratching. Primarily due to heredity, stretch marks may appear on your stomach, chest, or behind, anywhere the body is doing the miraculous work of growing to accommodate carrying and bearing new life. They appear gradually, so you may not even notice them at first …
40 Weeks of Growing Trust
The test stick turns pink, and suddenly your whole world changes. Within days you may start to feel your body change, and new thoughts cross your mind that you never considered before. How will life change professionally, intimately, financially, and physically? With the passing of each day on the calendar, you may feel like time is running out to get a firm hold on the coming addition to your family and the changes to your world. Forty weeks will pass faster than you think, and the urge to be in control may grow right along with the size of your …
Parenting out of the Pit of Addiction
It hadn’t been long since she arrived at the shelter, this young mother of four whose face showed years of experience beyond her age. With her eyes down, we worked on a felt scarf and ate cookies. Sorting colored beads, we picked through the bowl together. She began to share pieces of her story with every bead she chose. Spousal abuse led to despondence, to single substance abuse, to more substances, to corrupt companions, to more violence, to total loss in the pit of addiction. As she whispered the names of separated children through quivering lips she said, “I’ve done …