8 WAYS TO BE A GOOD MOTHER INSTEAD OF A PERFECT ONE | postpartumprogress.com
The importance of being good enough…“I think it’s fair to say that each one of us enters motherhood with a set of beliefs or expectations about what it means to be a good mother. We develop these beliefs from the pressure of our communities and society as a whole, the experiences with our own parents, and through the expectations of friends, family, and media. These outside influences can have so much power and influence over us that when we finally do become mothers ourselves, it is unbearably difficult to listen to our own ideas of what this “good mom” thing is all about. So difficult, in fact, that anxiety, depression, and overwhelming emotion can latch on like crazy to our new identity.”
IF 70s MOMS HAD BLOGS | victoriafedden.com
A lot of cigarettes and baby oil and ignoring the children…“This morning I got up and Jennifer and Kimberly were eating Pop Rocks in front of the TV set watching Captain Kangaroo while Matt was already out in the back yard with a glass of Tang. I sat down and had a cigarette. I really wanted to watch my programs but I didn’t want to have to get up and change the channel or mess with the antenna to get it to come in clear, so I let the girls continue until I was done my cigarette. I made sure to tell them not to drink any Pepsi for a couple hours so the Pop Rocks wouldn’t explode in their stomachs. That happened to some kid on TV, you know.”
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| Found on goodvibe.co |
I’VE TUNED OUT MY KIDS FIGHTING | scarymommy.com
After a mother gives birth to her third daughter she knows the days of policing her girls’ fights are coming to an end as she recalls her own sibling rivalry with her sister…“When my third daughter was born, I knew I was in for it. I flashed back to my own childhood—the sibling rivalry, the fighting, the plotting, the nonstop guerrilla warfare. If one has it, the other wants it. If one sees it, the other grabs it. It doesn’t matter what “it” is. I could toss a squirrel turd into the playroom and suddenly it’s full-throttle Hunger Games. I used to really make an effort to police my kids’ fights. I wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on and be as fair as possible in my punishment. “OK, so you honked her nose because she took the pink My Little Pony out of your hands?” I asked, brow furrowed, scribbling notes into my mini-notebook. “So how did the goldfish get in the toilet?” But over the years, something happened. I’ve given up. I completely ignore the bickering for the same reason I don’t watch the political debates. Because it is the same fight over and over until I die.”
THE FAMILIES THAT CAN’T AFFORD SUMMER | nytimes.com
A blunt truth about summer break being a “break” only for the privileged…“Most American schools take a 10- to 11-week break during the summer. The assumption that underlies summer vacation — that there is one parent waiting at home for the kids — is true for just over a quarter of American families. For the rest of us, the children are off, the parents are not. We can indulge our annual illusion of children filling joyful hours with sprinkler romps and robotics camp or we can admit the reality: Summer’s supposed freedom is expensive.”
TRUMP: MEXICANS SWARMING ACROSS BORDER, ENROLLING IN LAW SCHOOL, AND BECOMING BIASED JUDGES | newyorker.com
The Borowitz Report takes on Trump’s latest allegations…“At a rally in San Jose, the presumptive Republican nominee said that “making America great again” meant preventing the nation from becoming “overrun by Mexican judges.” “We don’t win anymore,” he told the crowd. “We don’t win at judges.” While Trump offered no specific facts to support his latest allegations, he said that he had heard about the threat of incoming Mexican judges firsthand from border-patrol agents. “They see hundreds of these Mexicans, and they’re coming across the border with LSAT-prep books,” he said. “It’s a disgrace.”
MOMS, PUT ON THAT SWIMSUIT | huffingtonpost.com
A little body positivity for your Sunday morning…“You’ve got two choices every summer — to put on a swimsuit or to skip it. I have a lot of friends who do the latter. They go to the pool with their kids, but they only put their feet in the pool. They sit on the sidelines, too concerned about what they look like and what others will think to embrace the joy of swimming with their kids. Or they go to the beach, but stay under the umbrella instead of running into the ocean. And it makes me incredibly sad. Because when women stay on the sidelines because of insecurity, we are modeling unhealthy behavior to our children and we are missing out.”
24 THINGS WOMEN OVER 30 SHOULD WEAR | warningcurvesahead.com
Choice words but an appropriate response…This morning, as I was perusing my Facebook timeline, I happened upon an article that a lovely friend shared. It was entitled “24 Things Women Should Stop Wearing After Age 30”, and it triggered Maximum Eye-Rolling from everyone who took the time out to read it. Written by Kallie Provencher for RantChic.com, this “article” (I use the term loosely) highlighted things such as “leopard print”, “graphic tees”, and “short dresses” (because “By this age, women should know it’s always better to leave something to the imagination”).
