• parenting_through_the_pandemic
    family

    Parenting Through the Pandemic – Life Kicks it Up a Notch

    May 24, 2020 - By 

    Isn’t it crazy how life sometimes kicks it up a notch out of nowhere? Parenting through the pandemic has definitely been like that here. Week Nine went like this… Two weeks ago we were coasting along doing Tickety Boo, a phrase I once found charming and a favourite of my now deceased mother-in-law. But cute phrases aside, I was all set to write the WE ARE ROCKING Pandemic Life post. I was even contemplating having the T-Shirts custom made (not really), when out of the blue everyone broke. That’s right. Everyone broke. Everything. Week Nine of Pandemic Parenting It’s like:…

  • family

    Our Pandemic Story Week Seven Online School

    May 2, 2020 - By 

    Every week of the pandemic has arrived with a new theme. Know what I mean? But, oh my God, this week was not my favourite. This is week seven of our pandemic story and online school. I was all set to write a pandemic story about how well we were doing, making the best of this social distancing/ quarantine/ lockdown situation. On the weekend, I literally said out loud: “I am so proud of all of us. We get up and get dressed every single day and we try to do something, do work, take a walk, go for a…

  • family

    19 Easy Things To Do To Keep Teens Busy Right Now

    March 21, 2020 - By 

    There’s no denying this has been a tremendously hard week for all. One of the hardest in our history. We had to postpone our family ski trip and March break due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. It was recommended here in Ontario, Canada last week that all travel be stopped, so we followed the health unit and Government of Canada protocols. But, that has not been easy. We are all genuinely disappointed because we had an amazing ski trip to Vermont happening. My younger girl has FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder) and she doesn’t cope with change well at all.…

  • family

    Karate Lunch Box Jokes

    December 30, 2019 - By 

    Karate Lunch Box Jokes are the cutest thing to add to your kid’s lunch when they go back to school in the New Year. I mean New Year new approach to lunch, right? Listen, if your kids are at all like mine they might need a bit of encouragement going back after Christmas. Oh, I know a lunch box joke set might not change the world but it is a nice little reminder that even when you are apart you are still thinking of them. Karate Love Most of you know that my kids are karate black belts. They’ve been…

  • Parenting

    We Don’t Get That – Friendships and FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder)

    December 4, 2019 - By 

    “You know how everyone else has a best friend when they are small and they kind of grow up with them? Well, it’s like we don’t get that.” – my daughter, 15, who has FASD. Recently we found a peer support group for my younger daughter. This has been a long time coming. In fact, I’ve basically been looking since she was old enough to have been diagnosed with FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder) at 4 or 5. For years, we had nothing. No support. No local FASD parenting group. I mean, I had a loose group of online advocates…

  • teen_with_skateboard
    Parenting

    Courage and Parenting a Child with FASD

    July 22, 2019 - By 

    I wrote this in May when we had a not so great month here at school and home due to FASD and explosive behaviour. Sometimes I day dream about where I could go if I just left. Maybe for the day, maybe longer. Sometimes I contemplate never returning. Yesterday was one of those days. I love my kids, my family, my husband. But some days the scale tips. This past May was a month of this. When the Scale Tips – How it Feels Parenting a Child with FASD. Do you ever have those days where the scale tips? Where…

  • family

    Practicing Gratitude – 85 Things I am Grateful for Today

    May 27, 2019 - By 

    Lately I’ve been having a hard time with a few things. It’s been a challenging year so far and there are a lot of moments when it’s easy to slide into a funk. A BIG ONE. The kind you can’t slip out of easily. When everything black and white that was pink, or red or blue yesterday is now grey and grossly misshapen. Parenting teenagers is NO fun some days. Sometimes they suck the air out of a room with borrowed drama, angst and mood swings. Occasionally you look at them and wonder where the cute kid went. There are…

  • teen_mood_swings
    parenting

    How To Cope With Teen Mood Swings Now

    December 20, 2018 - By 

    Teen  mood swings and hormones can be hard to handle. That might be the understatement of the year. Of all the ages and stages of child development the teenage years can be the hardest. One moment your teen is engaging and strong willed and they have clearcut ideas and opinions and they can carry on great conversations with you on topics like social justice and politics. And then the very next day they are slamming doors, shrugging at every thing you say, seemingly incapable of more than one word answers. Parenting teens is a Jekyll and Hyde experience. You never…

  • raising_teenage_daughters
    parenting

    11 Survival Tips For Raising Teenage Daughters

    August 10, 2018 - By 

    Raising teenage daughters is not a walk in the park. Your sweet little girl, that adorable baby you used to dress up in cute pink dresses, who insisted on reading Robert Munsch bedtime stories all snuggled up in her toddler bed for years, is now a teenager. Oh yeah, it happened fast too, didn’t it? Overnight, she’s a surly teenager with attitude, and you wonder how your relationship will survive this. Relax, the good news is you’ll both be fine…eventually. There are just some things that you need to remember. Chief among those is DO not take it personally. You…

  • talking-to-kids-about-adoption
    Parenting

    How Do I Answer Hard Adoption Questions?

    July 19, 2018 - By 

    This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase via one of the links I receive a small commission.  Mom, did I grow in your tummy? Why didn’t my parents want me? What was wrong with me? How come nobody gave them money or helped them? These are all hard adoption questions I have been asked over the years as an adoptive parent. And I have answered them all, sometimes precisely and sometimes in very young vocabulary for a five year old or even younger. Talking to your child about adoption doesn’t have to be scary. The scariest part…