parents
The boundless love a parent has for their child is matched only by their capacity to embarrass them.
Yes, I Am a Teen Mom
I want you to take a moment to think about the words 'teen mom'. What do you see? Is it Juno, in her skirt-jeans combo? Or Farrah, Maci, and Amber as background noise as you scroll through your phone? Maybe there's even a family member you think of.
By Kindle Fyre8 years ago in Families
Parenting Without Using Physical Punishment
As promised in my last article, I’d like to share some ways of parenting children without using physical punishment that I learned both as a parent and a grandparent. This article is not designed to change your beliefs about smacking children: if you believe physical punishment works, then my goal is not to change your opinion, because as I stated in my first article I too used to hit my children. However, I do believe there are many parents out there who are looking for an alternative way of raising their kids. This one is for you!
By Mari-Louise Speirs8 years ago in Families
An Open Letter to Drugs
I remember sitting in a freezing car in the middle of Los Angeles, looking out of the car window at the homeless people that passed. Many of them walked by without a second glance, but a couple of them made direct eye contact and stared. Eventually they moved along, but my heart raced as I waited for my father to return to the car. As every homeless person passed, I imaged my dad in their torn clothes, begging people for money on the streets. To this day, I'm not sure why my young mind had placed him there, maybe it was just one of my worst fears playing tricks on me.
By Kasey Lomax8 years ago in Families
Mother Games.
“Tell me about your mother.” My relationship with my mother is an interesting one in the fact that it doesn’t really exist. And for everything one would assume couldn’t be said about the estrangement, there’s actually more than I like to admit. People are always saying I look exactly like her, and I never know what to do with that because they say it as if our comparable appearance is enough to constitute a relationship, or worse, as if I should somehow feel privileged. I guess it’s supposed to be a compliment; what girl wouldn’t want to be compared to her beautiful mother? I however find that looking at my mother is a little like looking at a reflection that moves when you do not. Rather than having some deep-rooted knowledge that allows us to know the other’s movements, there is an empty abyss leaving us completely disconnected. I realize that at some point I dwelled within her, everywhere she went and consuming every corner of her mind. Breathing her air and existing within her existence. But on that fateful day we were to separate she let go of me completely. A division that left a cavern somewhere in the center of my chest.
By Kim Gaines8 years ago in Families
I Will Raise My Children the Way My Mother Raised Me
I've heard a lot of people say this, but my mum is my favourite person in the world, there's no doubt about it. She is an older (and wiser) version of me, and she's always had my back, no matter what. I know that ordinarily, parents don't turn on you for your mistakes, but I also know that sometimes, we know they shouldn't be so forgiving.
By Jemma O'Donovan8 years ago in Families
Step Parent Part 1
Parenting is hard under the best of circumstances, but under the worst circumstances, it can be and is a nightmare. It's like a walk on a long dirt road all alone, no one to talk to, no one to share what it really feels like. No one cares no one sees and everyone just closes their eyes to your pain; it doesn't matter to them they only see what they want to see. So why do it? Trust me, I have asked myself that question more times than I can count. Still do to this day. My mother said once that I must enjoy making my life harder than it has to be. Truth is I love my husband and would never leave him. Truth is no matter what is thrown at me and no matter how much I am hurt by these children, I do love them. Does that make me pathetic? Honestly? I don't know. Some times I feel that way. Sometimes I get in the car and drive, music cranked up and I scream as loud as I can. I yell. I cuss. I cry. But at the end I drive back home and start again. This is my story. This is what I have been through and this is what I have felt and do fell. It is my rant. It won't be pretty and it will not be sugar coated. For years I have kept this all bottled up and hidden in the darkest places of my heart, mind and soul. I haven't shared this with family and only one friend has heard most of this. So why now do I write this down and share it? Simple, I can not keep it locked away any longer. I no longer feel embarrassed. What I feel is pain and anger and I feel done most days. I feel alone in this and I am done feeling alone. Maybe others can relate or maybe others will hate me, but if there is just one person out there that is going through the same type of thing and that person feels alone, then they will know that they are not alone. And since I decide to write this all down and throw it out into the world, I feel a weight lifted from me. For the first time in a long time I feel good. So here it goes and I'll see where this journey takes me. Who knows maybe I'll even be happy in the end.
By Deanne Jensen9 years ago in Families
To Smack or Not to Smack?. Top Story - September 2017.
The debate on smacking is an interesting one in as much as there are not many fence-sitters on this subject: people either have no problem with it at all, saying “I was smacked as a child and it didn’t do me any harm” while others are vehemently against violence of any sort against children. Just using the word “violence” evokes very strong feelings in many who hit their children because they don’t consider smacking a child to be violence. The “no hitting” camp generally believe that we hit our children out of instantaneous anger, frustration, and basically because we don’t know what else to do.
By Mari-Louise Speirs9 years ago in Families
One Eyebrow Doesn't Make You Friends
Yesterday, my father bemoaned his feminization over the last decade due to his constant exposure to me and my sister - his two loving daughters. His role as a single father meant the cannibalization of the maternal role, which resulted in a sort-of heightening of feminine characteristics. (I'm sure Stan Lee has written a comic about this, right?)
By Adeline E. Anderson9 years ago in Families
