Last week, I wrote a post over at Babble where I talked about the fact that my kids exclusively drink water. A lot of people replied, saying that they had difficulty getting their kids interested in drinking water. I thought I would share what has worked for us. It's probably too late for the first tip for parents with school-aged kids, but I think what helped the most with this is that I’ve never offered anything but water as a drink at home. When they were small I had some concerns . . .
10-minute photo invitations for under $10
A couple weeks ago we celebrated Kembe and India’s 6th birthday. They were just a few weeks into kindergarten and haven’t really established their friend group yet, so instead of trying to narrow down a few kids for the party, I decided to invite everyone in the class. They are in separate classes so I needed about 50 invitations. I also wanted to make a photo invitation so that the parents could identify which child the party was for, since it’s a bit early in the year that every parent knows . . .
Right Mom/Left Mom Episode 8: who won the last debate?
Elizabeth and I recorded a new episode of Right Mom/Left Mom last night, and this has to be my favorite yet, because we finally hit on our basic ideological differences when it comes to government. It was funny as each of us recounted the highlights from the debate and we found that the very statements we liked best were the ones that the other side found most bothersome. We also address that pesky little Libya issue, and try to determine a victor in the debate. I hope you will click over . . .
from problem to solution: practical ideas for an ethical halloween
I’ve been wanting to do a follow-up post on the connection between child slavery and chocolate. In case you missed it, the low-down is here . . . but in a nutshell a BBC documentary revealed that child labor and even child trafficking is rampant in chocolate production, and that chocolate from most mainstream candy companies can be traced back to farms employing (and even buying) children to work in dangerous conditions. For our family, the response to learning this has been . . .
what is the weirdest job you’ve ever had?
Okay, between the posts about Haiti and orphans and child labor . . . I decided it was time for something lighter. Over at Babble, I’m sharing some of my strange former occupations. I think it’s always interesting to hear what kind of jobs people held on their way to their “grown-up” occupation. Before I became a therapist-turned-writer, I had a long line of jobs . . . some of them typical, and some of them more unusual. Spoiler alert: one of them involved sliding down a . . .
what I want you to know about being on unemployment
What I Want You to Know is a series of reader submissions. It is an attempt to allow people to tell their personal stories, in the hopes of bringing greater compassion to the unique issues each of us face. If you would like to submit a story to this series, click here. Today’s guest posts is by an anonymous reader.. I'm on unemployment. Although I am aware that many people take advantage of The System, I am not one of them. I have had a job since I was 15 years old and have worked . . .
the inconvenient truth about your halloween chocolate and forced child labor
Last year I wrote a ridiculous post about deciding on a new place to buy my coffee . . . a place where the prices were really low because the store relied on children to work for little money. My intention was to point out how selfish it sounds for someone to willingly turn a blind eye to social injustices just because we want to pay less for something we like, and how shallow our justifications sound. I used coffee as an example because it’s one of those indulgences that people . . .
design dilemma: can we make this built-in work?
Alright, all of you armchair designers. I need some design advice on a built-in in one of the bedrooms of our new house. There is this ginormous dresser/desk/bookshelf that I assumed would be moving with the previous owner. However, today she has all of her belongings packed up, and it appears that the built-in remains. So we need to decide if we can keep this thing and make it work, or if we need to scrap it. It takes up an entire wall of the bedroom that will likely be Kembe's room. Mark and I . . .
laughing to keep from crying
This has been an emotionally exhausting trip, and at times the heaviness has been overwhelming. It’s been nice to be on such a big team because they’ve provided quite the comic relief in the midst of some of the difficult things we’ve been seeing. I’ve always used sarcasm as a coping skill, and luckily for me this is a team full of like-minded people on that matter. There has been plenty of humor and laughter to bring some levity (and sanity) to the trip. And in the spirit of comic relief, . . .
right mom/left mom episode 6: the relationship between evangelical christians and conservative politics
Pssst . . . Right Mom/Left Mom is changing channels. Go check out our latest episode (about the marriage between Conservative Christians and the GOP, over at Babble Voices! . . .
- Newer Posts
- 1
- …
- 355
- 356
- 357
- 358
- 359
- …
- 496
- Older Posts
