The Best Question | The Art of Simple via Sarah Markley
“In one of those valleys, a particularly dark one, my husband and I sought out marriage counseling. Over the years we’ve been in and out, both together and by ourselves and it took me a long time to understand that having a third party speak objectively into our lives did not signify weakness. In fact, it signified strength and a willingness to work through things and steward this love well.”
Parents: You’re All Doing It Wrong | Mom 101
“You, who have never ever spent a night away from the children, you are creating an unhealthy co-dependency. You, who travel without your children, you’re creating a traumatic sense of abandonment. You, who are raising your children in your faith, can we talk brainwashing? You, who are raising your children without religion, how will they ever have any moral compass at all?”
Via Antonio Basso And We Begin A New Journey | Jen Loves Kev
“Our end family goal of fostering is adoption. However, I know the goal of foster care is reunification with the birth parents, so we will lovingly take and care for as many children that need temporary homes until one gets to legally become part of our family. I am sure we will continue to foster even after that point. It’s something we really feel strongly about. God has truly laid a desire in our hearts to do something in our community for these children. I’m going to be quite honest and say I am completely terrified and extremely excited all at the same time. Yes, we are excited to adopt thru the foster care system but I am already praying for all of these parents and their children to eventually stay together. Of course we want families to stay together! It will be extremely hard to love unconditionally and then have to say good bye but we are excited to partner along side and co-parent in a supportive and encouraging way.”
“Playing the victim, whether outwardly or just in your head, is no way to live. I promise you. Feeling self-pity due to an illness or being wronged or a shitty childhood or a specific trauma DOES NOT SERVE YOU. At all. Not a bit. Holding onto negativity and stewing in resentment is slowly killing you. It’s not helping you at all. It’s not making things better or right or punishing the person or thing that hurt you. You are just hurting yourself. You are. Yes, you are causing your own pain. Right now. Big time. As Queen Elsa would say, LET IT GO. Let it go, peeps.”
Hank Fortener – AdoptTogether from Technori on Vimeo. Resegregation in the American South | The Atlantic
“High-poverty, segregated black and Latino schools account for the majority of the roughly 1,400 high schools nationwide labeled “dropout factories”—meaning fewer than 60 percent of the students graduate. School officials often blame poor performance on the poverty these kids grow up in. But most studies conclude that it’s the concentration of poor students in the same school that hurts them the most. Low-income students placed in middle-income schools show marked academic progress.”
The Real Losers in #MommyWars: Freaking Everybody Else | Jezebel
“By framing the conversation about motherhood in “choice,” we aren’t talking about any of the very real problems faced by parents and children across this country. We aren’t talking about the number of children in foster care (nearly 400,000) or growing up in poverty (22% of American children). We aren’t talking about lack of education and employment opportunities for women in general and women of color in particular. We aren’t talking about the fact that the United States has the worst parental leave policies in the industrialized world; wouldn’t it be nice if women could chose to go back to work after several months (or years, what’s up Estonia!), instead of just a few scant weeks if they’re lucky enough to get even that? We aren’t talking about the wage gap and how it impacts the choices that couples have to make about who stays home (if anyone). There is no way to quantify the work that mothers do, stay at home or working. They are not CEOs. They are not employees. They are so much more than that, and they deserve a real conversation about how to make motherhood a choice, stay at home motherhood a choice, and working motherhood a choice, instead of what it too often is: a necessity born of a number of variables, and not real choice at all.”
