Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /home/customer/www/momwithanasterisk.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/mariana-handmade/includes/lists.php on line 422
parenting Archives - Mom*

parenting

Epilepsy, parenting, PCDH19, Travel

The Things That Scare Me

At some point in the demo, he asked me about the fear of parenting a child you could lose at any moment.  I told him that it’s always there, and then, without thinking, I said “that’s why we travel.”  When the stress and emotions get to be too much, my husband and I load our kids up in the truck and haul our 5th wheel somewhere.  I think it is something of a carpe diem thing for us.  We embrace the days we have because we don’t know how many more there will be.

continue reading

Counseling, Epilepsy, parenting, PCDH19, Special Needs

7 tips for parenting special needs siblings

I am writing this post from the Starbucks in our children’s hospital. For once, I’m not here with Alyssa. She is spending this rainy, Saturday afternoon at a family birthday party while I’m in the city with one of her brothers.  He is here to spend a few hours with kids like him, boys and girls who have siblings with…

continue reading

adoption, foster care, motherhood, parenting

Real Mom Speaking

Earlier this week, Al Trautwig made headlines with a tweet insisting that Simone Biles’ adoptive parents are not her parents.  Just in case you haven’t been obsessively following this amazing young gymnast as she dominates the Olympics, you should know that she was in and out of foster care until she was adopted at six years old by her biological…

continue reading

parenting, Travel

Five (more) tips for your best family road trip ever

If your family is like mine, you are over-scheduled and overtired. We try to have family dinners or connect between appointments but maintaining a connection can be hard no matter how much you love the people around you. The best thing about a family road trip is that you are given hours of uninterrupted time to talk and just be together. Do what you can to set your kids up for success and then embrace the adventure. You may actually find that you enjoyed the journey as much if not more than the destination. This week I have five more time tested tricks to having your best family road trip ever. Remember that every family is different but these really do work with my kids. Try them out and keep the ones that work for you.

continue reading

Advocacy, parenting

You can’t handle the truth. That’s a problem.

When I see a grieving mother being viciously attacked by strangers after she watched her toddler be stolen by a wild animal, I know that it is not safe to write about my own, lesser struggles. When I see a woman who loses her child in a crowd for a moment, and then almost loses him forever to a gorilla, be held up as an unfit mother undeserving of parenthood, I am afraid that I’ll be destroyed for my own shortcomings. When I read that a mother is told she should have aborted her children and deserves to die because she publishes a rant on sunscreen, I worry that sharing my truth will open my family up to similar terror.

continue reading

motherhood, parenting, relationships

The Difference Between Mommy Guilt and Mommy Shame

Go ahead and clutch your pearls but I’m going to say it, mommy guilt is not always a bad thing. Guilt lets me know when I may have done something wrong. When I feel guilty for something that I am actually responsible for, and I feel it in an appropriate intensity, I can learn from my mistakes and become a better parent. The problem is sometimes mommy guilt turns into mommy shame and that is harmful.

continue reading