Today is Violet’s 4th birthday and I’m finding myself rather emotional. Her pregnancy was unexpected, the 58 hour labor remains vivid in my mind, the ride over the last 4 years has been crazy, and each exasperating moment with Vivy inevitably is counterbalanced by a sweet or hilarious one. I’ve also learned some things the second time around, and I’m grateful for the lessons, which I want to share with you today as part of the Lessons Learned series.
Today’s Lessons Learned essay comes from Brittni, a dancer and visual artist from Grafton, MA. Brittni also works with preschoolers and in this moving essay, she shares lessons she has learned both from working with preschoolers and self-identifying as a highly sensitive child. And goodness, this piece definitely resonates with me, given that parenting my fiery sensitive Violet has taught me so much.
Following my post on amping up your wardrobe with necklaces, for the next installment of Style on a Budget, I'm focusing on scarves. Like necklaces, scarves offer a lightning fast way add dimension to your outfit, and here in the tundra scarves also are functional for warmth! Added bonuses: you don’t need to go to a dressing room to try scarves on + per the recommendations in this post, scarves offer an affordable means to try a new style or fad.
Today, Lindsey shares a special local gems edition, focused on 3 fantastic maker sites:
Though my 10-year-old son likes hockey and baseball, his true passion seems to lie in science and engineering. He's a budding maker, wants to be a robot designer, is often found poring over a book about physics, has a periodic table poster on his wall, loves Minecraft, and delights in home science projects (cue baking soda and vinegar!).
Yesterday I did two interviews about the snowpocalypse. The first was a short Skype segment on The Weather Channel about parents' reactions to the snow days (note to self: replace ugly bookshelf in office!) and the second was a longer segment on WBUR's Radio Boston about ideas to curb cabin fever and cope with cranky employers. The Radio Boston segment was especially fun, and I loved chatting food with Gordon Hamersley! Hope the tips help!
Envision that you’ve been running around like a crazy person, tackling work, caregiving, and parenting demands. Your husband heads out of town for the weekend and you are sitting down by yourself for the first time (late in the day, around 3:30pm), excited to enjoy a cup of coffee while catching up on email. And then about two seconds after your rump hits the chair, you get a call from preschool to notify you that your kid has lice.
Money is a source of stress for so many people; not just how to earn it, but what to do with it. And the topic becomes more complex when you have kids and need to budget for their needs and teach them about money. I'm subsequently thrilled to welcome Sandra Gilpatrick as a new contributor! Sandra not only is a Beacon Hill expert and devoted mom; she also works to help women become financially confident and competent. SO AWESOME. Welcome to Sandra's first financial literacy post on teaching kids how to budget:
Today's Lessons Learned essay (see submission guidelines here) on standing back comes via Kim Kalicky, author of Mothers Fulfilled and Away at a Camp in Maine. Thanks so much for sharing this essay, Kim!
The hardest thing we'll ever have to do as parents is stand back and let our children be who they are and who they are meant to be...especially if it happens not to be what we expected or hoped.
Few things exemplify the wrestling with abundance concept Asha and I discuss in Minimalist Parenting like the holidays. Too many things to do, too many things to buy, too many crazy people to deal with...the list goes on. And I'm by no means immune. Thanksgiving break offered a very clear reminder of what fills me with happiness and also what causes immense stress. So I decided that I wanted to create a minimalist holiday manifesto, and invite you to do the same. Intention setting is powerful stuff!
Longtime readers (or those who have read Minimalist Parenting) know that Laurel is a sweet and sensitive soul who has struggled with transitions. School transitions were incredibly challenging for us during the day care and early elementary school years, and until recently, our forays into extracurriculars and camps were either epic failures (meaning, mission aborted) or ridden with anxiety.
Over the next few weeks I'm going to be reposting select back to school content from the Boston Mamas archives. Why? Because I've realized that there's some truly helpful material back there (oh how we have suffered with transitions!) and I'll be editing and refreshing this material for you. The first post in this series are 4 book recommendations for back to school. Books are so helpful in helping with back to school transitions!
In my roles as parent of grade schooler and blogger (and also with my education-related clients in my periphery), it was truly fascinating to speak on the Microsoft/Parade tech and education panel last week. We covered a lot of topics, but there were four conversational threads related to tech/education challenges and opportunities that I wanted to share, particularly as we gear up for (or already have started) a new school year: