My daughter stayed home with me today. This morning she was sitting in the dentist chair, the same dentist chair she sat in 8 years ago for the same procedure, getting two stubborn baby teeth pulled so that her already descended adult teeth could be brought down where they are supposed to be. Right now those... Continue Reading →
Tooth Pains
My daughter’s first dentist appointment included X-Rays of her teeth, and a positive affirmation that she indeed had an abscessed tooth that needed to come out. She was 3 years old. We had spent the day at the Bennett Valley Fire Station for their annual pancake breakfast. One of her childhood friends, a solid and... Continue Reading →
TV Battles and Video Game Wars
About a week ago I posed a question from a local dad. He was wondering about how to impose limits on his willful kids concerning television at night. "I try to turn off the TV but that is met with heavy resistance. So when I turn off the TV the battle is on. The best... Continue Reading →
Kids, Parents, and the TV Battle
Father of Three wrote me: "My wife and I are in our 30’s and did not have TV in our rooms as kids. But we have spoiled our kids by letting them have TVs in their rooms. But now they want to stay up on school nights watching their shows on the DVR. I try... Continue Reading →
Guiding our Children Positively
Call it sassiness, adolescence, or plain old Back to School backtalk, but my 8 year old is suffering from it. And this means that our whole household is suffering from it. Last night was a prime example. We’ve been working on implementing the rules for a successful back to school schedule: packing up the backpack... Continue Reading →
Teenagers: A Mom's Lament
A mom was lamenting to me about her 13 year old son. He used to be such a nice kid – totally respectable and responsible, and extremely trustworthy. But things changed in the last year. His parents got divorced, surely a huge shock to his world. And with the divorce came a lot of changes.... Continue Reading →
Teenage Angst
I was an awful teen. I can say that now that I’m in my 30’s, because I sure didn’t think so then. I thought my parents were idiots, completely clueless about anything in life. I was sassy (to put it nicely) and sullen. I would lock myself in my room all day long just to... Continue Reading →
Overscheduling and Activity Burnout
The beginning of the school year can be an exciting time. Dressed in brand new clothes and carrying new backpacks filled with sharpened pencils and clean binders of white, school-lined paper, your kids get to see friends they haven’t seen for 3 months and sit in classrooms with a new teacher, breaking up their day in ways they haven’t had to in months. But it can also bring dread to kids who have already endured a very busy summer of camps, summer school, and workshops, only to have an even busier schedule with school, sports, and music, among other things.
The Bully
From the moment I heard that my son had been hit by a kid three times bigger than him all reasoning had gone out the window. I was fuming mad. I was seeing red. And I wanted to take this kid’s head and twist it till it popped off his shoulders like a grape. He wanted to touch my kid? He was about to find out what it was like to deal with an angry mother protective of her son.
Clinginess in 8 year olds
“Mom? Mom?!?” my 8 year old son called from downstairs. “I’m right here,” I called from my computer. “Ok,” he said. It was his usual check in. He just needed to make sure that I was still in the house and hadn’t snuck off and abandoned him. And in 10 minutes, he would do it again.
Wine Country Mom 