Tell me about it!
Posted by G.I. Jane
Like most working parents, I savor every moment with my children. But let’s face it – those precious moments are usually few and far between during the work week. You only have your children’s full attention for so long, so why not make the best of it?
It wasn’t until my two-year old enthusiastically yelled one day, “watch me Mommy!” that I realized… (gasp) that I wasn’t watching her. This realization didn’t occur because she asked me to watch her; it was because she asked me four times before I noticed that she wanted my attention (I was checking email).
The next day I made a promise to my family that I would make a change to enhance our communication. But how can we keep traditional communication going in today’s super- cyber-society? Here are [...]
Kids, Choices and Guilt
Posted by Clair
When your child is hurt, your heart breaks. When you think your child might be hurt, or he might be faking, your heart is filled with angst-ridden guilt. How do you know what to do? That is the million dollar question. And, after 2 kids, I can say with 100% certainty that regardless of whether you race him to the ER or tell him he is fine and just put ice on it, you made the wrong choice.
Two months ago I made the wrong choice. We raced to the doctor to get an x-ray. He was fine, nothing (and I mean nothing) showed up as even slightly abnormal on the x-ray. So, last weekend when he fell from the monkey bars and said his leg hurt I figured he was fine. 4 hours and many ice packs later, he was still complaining. So, after much deliberation I finally took him [...]
A Parenting Lesson from All Dogs Go to Heaven
Posted by G.I. Jane
I recently introduced the idea of letting my daughter watch a movie on the iPad during the daily 30-minute commute to work and child care (no judgment, please). In a desperate—and cheap—attempt to find something entertaining for her, I downloaded the slightly dated movie All Dogs Go to Heaven.
And before I got motivated to download more movies, I listened to this over and over and over for two weeks straight. However, during my date night with my husband last night I couldn’t help but reference a line from the movie: “you can never go back…”
Any of you that have seen the movie, not many I’m sure, know that Charlie the dog goes to heaven and then finds a way to go back to earth. The pink poodle angel dog says multiple times to Charlie that once he goes back to earth, he can never go back to heaven.
Now my [...]
Statistics Class
Posted by Martha
In going through some consumer research for my job in marketing, I recently read a new statistic that said moms check Facebook 4.7 every day—that is considerably more than any other demographic. I was amazed at the frequency, I mean, who has less time than a mom? How does she fit in the several minutes it takes to click, scroll, like, comment, like, swipe, and ignore? Certainly I didn’t have that kind of time.
Until I started to pay attention. That number was right on. Shockingly, this working mom of two makes time to check Facebook while coffee brews, during a commercial, at her desk in the office, as a passenger in a car, and before bed. That adds up to 5 times in a day, and that may be an underestimate. Facebook has [...]
Bringing Baby to Work?
Posted by G.I. Jane
Last week there was an emergency at day care and I had to pick up my daughter unexpectedly. With it being only 11:00 a.m. I still had a ton of work to do, and honestly, felt guilty about heading out so early in the day. Knowing I’d be taking a half day of vacation anyways, I brought her back to the office to finish a few things up before heading home.
My colleagues, whom I adore for this reason and many, had set up my office to be a mini playroom. It helps that I work for an educational child care company – our corporate office has lots of toys and games sent by our vendors. Dolls, bean bags, balls and markers were strategically positioned all over my office—my daughter couldn’t take [...]
Is She Too Young for Stranger Danger?
Posted by G.I. Jane
Every evening I take my daughter for a walk around the block before we have dinner. She loves to be outside, see the train on the tracks behind our house, point at all the “doggies” and say hello to everyone she passes. Since she began talking, I encouraged her to say “hi” to everyone that said hello to her because it gave her an opportunity to practice saying a word she knew.
Now that she is almost 18 months, very mobile and even more friendly, I’m starting to become concerned that my encouragement to say “hi” to people will lead her to not be fearful of strangers. With the daily reports of missing children or violence against children, I have a heightened sense of awareness with stranger danger…a parent’s worst nightmare. The recent cases of Etan Patz and Leiby Kletzky are perfect examples, as recently covered by mom blog Strollerderby. [...]
When Every Minute is Accounted For
Posted by G.I. Jane
Since becoming a mother my life has transformed into a living, breathing schedule. Every minute is accounted for, slots of time have specific activities assigned to them, routines have become critical to maintaining order and each action is pre-calculated.
Gone is a time when days were fluid and free; errands could be run at a moment’s notice, dinner plans could be made while walking out the door and “me” time was all the time.
Here are a few of my examples:
- Talks over dinner often include coordinating calendars;
- Trips to the gym require prior knowledge so one parent knows they are on deck;
- Going grocery shopping involves careful planning to occur during particular hours of the day, preferably after a meal and not too close to naptime;
- You plan your day in a series of time blocks – if we do breakfast at 8, then I can run errands and be back by naptime, then we’ll [...]
Changing Child Care is No Joke
Posted by G.I. Jane
Before I had a child, child care was just one more thing that came with the territory, a necessity for working parents. When I became pregnant, researching and finding child care suddenly became an overwhelming task, but without knowing exactly what to look for or expect it wasn’t real. It was like the empty crib in the nursery – I know what it’s for and it looks pretty but it was just furniture. When I had my daughter, dropping her off at child care became a scary reality. I had to leave my baby…with someone who was almost a complete stranger.After weeks of settling in, crying on my way to work and texting my child care provider daily, I was able to relax and trust that my daughter was [...]
Can I teach my Daughter Confidence Now?
Posted by G.I. JaneI call my 13-month-old daughter beautiful every day. I tell her she’s so pretty. I smile when my husband looks down at her smiling face and says it, but are those words going to give her confidence down the road as a teenager? In a TODAY article, teen girls are asking the Internet if they are ugly and I felt a flutter of panic for the future with a teenage daughter.
As a first-time mom, I tend to analyze – perhaps over analyze – how everything I do or say may affect my daughter’s future. Though that may be extreme, I can’t help but read stories like this and others that leave me scouring parenting articles or consulting with friends on how to give my child the confidence she needs to ensure she never reaches this point.
Is it confidence they are lacking or attention they are seeking, or are the [...]
It’s Okay to Talk About It
Posted by G.I. JaneI read an article on NPR yesterday that talked about the difficulties of parenthood and how admittance of this fact comes with the stigma that you aren’t normal or are an unfit parent. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s okay to talk about it, and more importantly, it’s okay to feel beat down by the whole experience.
My daughter is eight months old and I’m still “mourning my pre-mommy” life as Martha calls it. The memories of being able to get up and go somewhere – alone! – or do things around the house without an infant needing my constant attention are still fresh. Last week I was able to walk to the liquor store by myself to get a bottle of wine on a beautiful evening and I felt an indescribable feeling of freedom in those short 15 minutes.
Monday, however, was a day when I questioned [...]
