When my ex-husband and I divorced my economic situation took an abrupt downturn. My son and I moved from a luxurious home in an affluent suburb to a small apartment in a blue-collar neighborhood. Our new home had none of the frills and extra amenities like the home we left…
I heard a comment that made me wince while driving my daughter (who is adopted from China) and her friend to an afterschool activity the other day: "Chinese people are always smart and good at math." This is a compliment, right? The words usually come out before the person thinks…
Craigslist is a horrible place. You can buy anything, which is what makes it a nightmare. Case in point: Check out this listing for "The Tiger Couch." No, it isn't a couch made out of tigers or a couch made for tigers; it's just a really cheesy-looking couch with tiger stripe prints…
For many women (yours truly included) your life plan includes eventually getting pregnant and rearing some kids who will surely give you ulcers and gray hair (in addition to all that unconditional love and joy and stuff). However, while we all know how to get pregnant, sometimes it isn't as…
No, I'm not going to give my toddler a Bacardi Breeze in his sippy cup or let my 4-year-old run around in his Superhero cape with a fifth of Jack. I'm talking about the precarious age when alcohol curiosity hits. Right now, my kids are perfectly satisfied with "mommy juice" or "grown-up…
Every parent knows the familiar cadence and tone of a child begging for something, even after a parent says "no" because every parent has had to deal with whining and pleading that becomes a tantrum in their lives. But not every parent realizes that you can stop your child's whining —…
“MOM! She hit me!” “Well, she called me a meanie!” “I did NOT!” “AND she told me she wished a coyote would bite my hand off!” I open my mouth for a reprimand, or a threat, but think better of it. Instead, I pick up my cell phone, turning my…
I've lived in the United States for 30 years and in the past 20, as a Gen Xer myself, I have heard a lot of complaints from Baby Boomers about Millennials. Each time I hear Millennials being trashed by Baby Boomers, I remember all the talk back from my youth that cultivated a "generation gap." Growing…
Thanks to standardized tests, it's somewhat easy to tell whether a grade-schooler has above-average aptitude. But curious parents of preschoolers may have a more difficult time determining whether their children are "gifted," having fewer benchmarks against which to measure them. "Although I suspect my daughter is gifted, I am still waiting [until]…
I stand expectantly over my daughter as she beams with excitement. She sits at the “seat of honor,” a large wooden chair covered with a thick coat of pink paint. A wrapped box is balanced on her lap. A handful of other six-year-olds crowd around at a suffocating distance, each…