Tag Archives: raising children
The Reviews Are In
In school, progress is communicated through report cards and children are often rewarded for their success in the form of praise from their parents. At work, advancement is conveyed in the form of job reviews and to acknowledge accomplishment, employees may be given monetary bonuses. However, in our role as parents, we receive little gratitude [...]
Tuesdays With Nana: You Get What You Get
“You get what you get and you don’t get upset.” This quote is heard daily in the preschool where I teach. It’s a mantra all teachers use to keep order when chaos erupts at crisis time for preschoolers. “Richard has the blue pillow and I want the blue pillow.” Or when popsicles of various flavors [...]
Tuesdays With Nana: Kids Will Be Kids
My Aussie grandsons refer to me as “Ga Ga.” In Kiwi Land, my grandson and granddaughter call me “Grandma”. And my domestic granddaughters on Cape Cod describe me as “Nana”. I have learned to answer to all and love every name that identifies me. My children, their parents, have turned out to be amazing parents [...]
Snooping Smoker
If anyone reading this happens to be the type of person who doles out unsolicited advice, stop reading now because I’m about to insult you. With kids, the advice never seems to stop and while I truly appreciate little old ladies’ concerns about my daughters’ sunscreen applications, I’d like to raise my own kids thank [...]
Mama on Speed
Last year for Christmas, I got, what I thought at the time was the best stocking stuffer – a giant daily calendar “to do” list. What I’m about to say next is going to border on obsessive compulsive, but being a type A personality, checklists are the backbone of my life. And while I generally [...]
Mama Meltdown
If you happened to be at Sears in the Hyannis Mall at approximately 12:15 this afternoon, you would have witnessed my mama meltdown. Actually, if you were anywhere within a ½ mile radius of said location, you would have heard Abigail’s meltdown which preceded and caused my own. I’ve observed other moms in similar situations, [...]
Car Tunes
I remember in second or third grade, my teacher attempted to instruct the class how to write, what she described as, “a slice of life.” I’m not sure any of us quite grasped the concept at the time, but the phrase always stuck with me – a slice of life – it sounded so tidy [...]
Coming up Short – and Laughing Anyway
Here is a list of things I am terrible at: 1. Cooking. Funny, since I own a bed and breakfast.2. Carrying a tune. My elementary school music teacher actually suggested I mouth the words to songs so as not to through my peers off key. 3. Navigation. I recently asked James what I’m worse at [...]
