Let’s face it: who’s got time to do the research? So this single mother is going to do it for you.  Where do you go to check if that PG movie is safe for your ten year old?
There are several resources on the Net to get you going. I’ll point out my favorite five…

I’m of the mind that anyone can find a statistic to support their point of view, so I always take these studies with a grain of salt. But if you’re a mother who wonders sometimes if you’ve done your child wrong by not having a father in his or her life, breathe easy.
Apparently, a new study out, ”Do children need both a mother and a father?” published in the Journal of Marriage and Family (February issue), confirms a fact that we’ve known all along: It’s not the quantitiy, but the quality of parenting that makes the difference. And, aside from the physical …read more

You know those inspirational cards you can buy at fancy card shops? The ones in odd sizes with messages like, “Follow your dream” and obscure, uplifting quotes from famous dead people?
The King of Everything was in the Whole Foods with his grammy the other day when one of those cards caught his eye. Aside from hounding me about those foods of death like SpongebobSquarepants man ‘n’ cheese and Dinosaur Eggs oatmeal (note, we shop at Whole Foods now), the Kid doesn’t ask for much. So when my mom saw him just standing there, holding a card gently and reading it …read more

There were plans this past weekend to Go Here, Do This. Then we looked at the thermometer and looked up the wind chill. No. Last time I stepped out in weather like this I got severe wind burn across my face.
We never set foot out the door on Sunday.
We played to all available space. We built cities out of colorful blocks and then Godzilla’ed them. We found all the Hot Wheels cars and ran them on the Hot Wheels Trick Track. Only seven of our Hot Wheels actually work on the track–here were a lot of casualties on the …read more

Every once in a while, my soapbox comes around to corporal punishment. Spankings, slaps, yanks, and other physical, painful means to discipline and control kids.
Bad idea.
What does the word ‘discipline’ mean, and why do we beat our kids in the name of the word that shares a root with ‘disciple’? They both refer to teaching by instruction and the subsequent exercise of that lesson.
What does beating teach your kid about his or her bad behavior? Not much, except that if they are going to do something against the rules, then they damned well better not get caught. If you spank …read more

Good relationships need boundaries.
At my house, ‘Because I’m your mother’ is kind of a joke, my answer to silly questions like, “How did you know that??” It’s an answer that goes along with eyes in the back of my head sort of responses. Funny, not effective.
Because you see, the King of Everything is smart. And he knows that ‘just because’ is  not a good enough argument for a lot of situations out there. He’s also six, so he doesn’t really understand why I sometimes do what I do.  He gets ‘no,” pretty clearly but when it’s just for my own …read more

The King of Everything wasn’t even two when my mom and I innocently took him to Toys R Us.
Big mistake.
He stayed in the shopping cart all of ten minutes, until his brain overloaded with WANT! HAVE! MINE! LOOKATALLTHETOYSOMG!!!
The poor kid just lost his mind all over the place. We hustled out of there in seconds flat and all the way home, my mother and I took turns apologizing to the traumatized toddler for ever having put him through such an experience.
He got better. Sort of. I don’t like taking him to ‘normal’ supermarkets because I don’t enjoy saying no to …read more

OK, single moms (and parents everywhere)… this is it. Family boot camp begins with you. Know why? Because, quite simply, you’re the adult. You’re the one who should be in control of the situation, right? It’s when that balance gets out of whack that things get… out of whack.

Consider a toddler tantrum. Do they make you nuts? Do they make you want to throw a tantrum, too?  It’s okay to admit that, really. But you won’t do anyone any good by throwing a wobbly of your own.  What you do when your child starts a meltdowqn is critical to establishing …read more

Since when did pouring gasoline in your mom’s bedroom while she slept–then lighting it on fire–become ‘typical teen angst’???
An 11 year old girl and her 15 year old boyfriend (already there is something wrong with that) are accused of doing just that to the girl’s mother. The police say it was “probably typical teenage angst”, and goes on to mention that the girl and her mother had recently argued over stealing mom’s smokes.
The mind boggles. It really does. How on earth is trying to set your mother on fire in any way TYPICAL???
That being said, how do we establish a …read more

Sometimes, Twitter is more than just an addiction for my ADD mind… sometimes, it brings in really cool blogs to follow, like Parenting4HappyKids.com. Anneli Asplund has taken it upon herself to post her list, 10 ideas at a time, for how to have happy kids.

Her first ten are here: Parenting tips for happy kids #1
Second ten: Parenting tips for happy kids #2
I have to work on being more patient with my child, more present. Listening more and not jumping to the conclusion that I know everything about what he’s saying. I get caught up sometimes in that arbitrary, “I’m …read more