• parenting

    The Day Facebook Ate My Tween – Facebook Lies

    May 19, 2014 - By 

    This is a story about Facebook lies, the story of the day that Facebook ate my tween. Or the day I discovered she’d set up Facebook without listening to the rules. Facebook is 13 in this house, as per Facebook rules. I don’t take social media lightly and want my children to understand it is a serious privilege and responsibility. There are rules to all social media use and tweens are often too young to understand some of the hazards involved. This is the story of the day Facebook ate my child. Or Facebook lies your daughter tried to tell…

  • beauty products

    When is it Okay to Start Wearing Makeup?

    March 25, 2014 - By 

    Mom, when can I wear makeup? My oldest daughter started asking about wearing makeup when she was ten. In my head I call her my breadcrumb daughter. She always leaves me little clues as to what she has been up to, almost as if she wants to be caught when she does something out of character or defiant. And around that time, my tubes of mascara went missing. Without much detective work, I could quietly find them in her desk drawer, or in her backpack. I mostly chalked that one up to curiosity. But the questions started then – at…

  • Health - special needs

    Ten Ways to Help a Child with FASD

    March 11, 2014 - By 

    For the first five years of my daughter Ainsley’s life we spent countless resources trying to figure out ways to help manage her disability. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is incredibly tricky to diagnose, and then to manage on an average day. FASD is fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, an invisible brain injury brought on my prenatal alcohol exposure.   In Ontario we are likely 15 years behind the autism movement and advocacy effort. I have been told this by many experts in the education and health care fields. So, in the province where I live we have very limited resources right now.…

  • Health

    Hey Mom, What’s a Bong? Answering Kid’s Drug Questions

    March 4, 2014 - By 

    Kids really do say the darndest things. Usually when I am driving. It’s a minor miracle I don’t crash the minivan with their constant random Nattering questions and hijinks. I’ve heard Mom, did birth mom have any other kids? And can I meet her now? Like tonight? Also random statements like: We aren’t biologically related, right? Then there’s always: Do you miss Grandma? Does Daddy miss his Mom? Do you know why the sky is blue? Did you ever smoke? Did Daddy smoke? Here’s me driving along thinking, ‘Hey what’s for dinner? What did I thaw? Did I forget to…

  • Health - parenting - special needs

    Why I am Relieved: On Autism, #Special Needs and Hate

    August 21, 2013 - By 

    Sometimes I wonder how does hate help anyone? It is a horrible vile and debilitating feeling to carry around as a human being. And it doesn’t help anyone in a minority community, not that hateful people consider that. How is hate allowed to fester? Of that, I have no clue, but it is in fact more prevalent in neighbourhoods and institutions than you’d ever believe. This week we saw that with this horrendous letter that circulated on the news and on line. My daughter last year. Sometimes this is what special needs looks like. By now you have all heard…

  • lunch time-saving tips kids eating lunch at school
    Food - Health

    Five Easy Lunch Time-Saving Tips to Use Now!

    August 8, 2013 - By 

    Listen up. I am about to share all of my lunch time-saving tips with you. So make note and commit a few of these to memory. Trust me. You will need them. Over the course of this coming school year, it is likely you will need about 200 packed lunches, that is if your adorable children are lifers (I mean full time and full day students like mine). That’s just for one child. So lunch time-saving tips are not negotiable. You can obviously make that a wee bit less onerous by opting in for the pizza days and the hot…

  • how_do_I_get_rid_of_monsters
    parenting

    How Do I Get Rid of Monsters?

    August 1, 2013 - By 

    How do I get rid of Monsters? Every single parent knows there comes a time when you ask yourself how do I get rid of monsters? How do I get my child to stop thinking there are monsters hiding in the closet or under the bed? How to get rid of monsters is something you will get good at. Trust me.   We have found several ways to get your child to sleep again. At one point my youngest was super convinced there were monsters hiding in her closet. Luckily that passed, but not without a bit of work on our part.…

  • parenting

    Five Things I Know About Adoption – Adoption Facts

    March 28, 2013 - By 

    Without a doubt adoptive parenting is the hardest thing you will ever do. But it can also be the most rewarding. For us, adoption was the only way we were going to become a family. It is the greatest gift we ever received and we are always grateful. However, adoptive parenting is not the same as traditional parenting. From the start this journey is harder. You will go through all sorts of grief and loss just to get here often. And then it will be intrusive. It will be hard and also very worth it. But you might question that…

  • family - Health - special needs - Travel

    Five Ways to Save Money on Summer Camp #MuskokaWoods

    March 13, 2013 - By 

    Dear Mom: Remember last month when I reminded you all about how we needed to book my summer camps now! Well, I am really hoping you did that Mom. I want to get into the same overnight summer camp I did last year with my BFF. It was the most fun event of my entire summer. Oh I enjoyed Canada’s Wonderland too, but nothing will ever top staying up late, crafting all week long, singing songs and making my own dolls and then swimming in a lake and sleeping on bunks away from home. My counsellors were incredible. In fact,…

  • adoption_and_tweens
    adoption and tweens - family - Parenting

    Navigating Adoption and the Tween Years

    February 21, 2013 - By 

    Just 11 short years ago, my oldest daughter could be picked up and carried around. Sigh. Now she’s a tween. Let me just say the tween years are clearly preparation for the teen years ahead. But adoption and the tween years, well that’s just a special planet in the parenting journey. And me with Payton last summer at a Dove event. My kids are all sorts of awesome. Except when they are not. Sound familiar? I’m not complaining, because I love them, all the time, even when they are not particularly loving. Anyways I slept very poorly last night which…