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Turning 18 – My Latest for CBC Parents
Both of my kids now are technically an age where the world considers them adults. This year, my youngest was just turning 18, when my nephew asked me if both of the kids were adults yet and that gave me pause. I mean first of all what is an adult? At what magical age or stage are we all adults? Happy Birthday! Second of all, I think most of you know that my kids are not neurotypical. They are neurodiverse kids aging during a pandemic and frankly that just hits different. So I wrote a little something about what is turning 18 anymore and what does it mean. This is…
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Twenty-one Things I Am Proud of in 2020
So what are you proud of in 2020? What was your greatest accomplishment? What are you proud of in 2020? People keep asking this question. Part of me wants to be a total smart ass when I read the question – I mean 2020 accomplishments at the end of the year were dramatically different than our expectations at the start. Let’s be clear. I got up, got out of bed and kept going in a year full of anxiety and stress. That was enough many days. My 2020 Moments Instead of making it a negative or griping or dismissing the entire year, I keep saying the same thing, which leads…
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My 2020 Christmas Gift Guide – Celebrate With Me
Happy Holidays! My 2020 Christmas Gift Guide is ready to share. I couldn’t be happier to spread some joy this year and share a few of my favourite things with you. My 2020 Christmas Gift guide contains affiliate links. At no extra fee to you, I receive a small commission off of purchases made via qualifying links. I received product and compensation in some cases for features in this guide. Well, here we are almost at Christmas and this year I am doing a few things differently. One thing I am doing is shopping slowly and in chunks to spread out the cost. We definitely have a budget to stick…
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The Simple Art of Walking
Or How I Don’t Want Your Pity Walk Became Let Me Get a Sweater and My Shoes) With gyms closed for much of the past year, I have discovered the value of the simple art of walking. We walk in all the weather, sometimes alone but often together. That’s been a highlight of this year actually. Walking. Discovering the art of walking has been an unexpected positive in a year too full of negatives. The Art of Walking It started as a way to get the kids moving and a means for me to get my steps in for the day. Way back in March, when the pandemic was new…
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Your Mask is Completely Inappropriate and What Happened Later
A week or so ago I wrote this Your Mask is Completely Inappropriate post for CBC Parents. Here’s what happened afterwards. As some of you probably already know, I freelance and publish content in many other spaces. This year, a lot of that content has appeared on CBC Parents. Happy to hang my hat there sometimes. An Excerpt From My Recent Post on CBC Parents This past week we were walking through a grocery store near my home when my teenage daughter spied something scrawled on a face mask. In fact, I heard her speaking to a stranger before I even saw why. So Why Did She Speak Up? This…
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How to Bleach Dye a T-Shirt in a Few Easy Steps
So, a few weeks ago my daughter was all about this bleach dye phase. We had seen it on several sweatshirts and hoodies and thought that it looked cool, but the finished product always seemed expensive. So, we wondered if we could do it ourselves. How hard could it be? Post may contain affiliate links as a service to readers. I receive a small commission off of purchases made via qualifying links. Then we saw t-shirts and long sleeved shirts in Michaels one day on sale. Fate. Serendipity. Whatever you want to call it. It’s all good and it clearly was a sign that we had to do this craft.…
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My Daughter Has FASD – My CBC Parents Post
My youngest daughter has FASD. I have occasionally written a bit about that here, but I am adding a bit more content about this invisible disability and publishing in major national outlets to grow awareness. My CBC Parents Content Over the last two years I have been writing a lot of consistent content on CBC Parents. I am happy to be able to reach a wider audience and frankly freelance, of course, is where I began years ago when I started writing. A few of my posts have centred on our journey parenting kids with special needs, or mental health issues and disabilities. For whatever reason, that content resonates with…
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Affirmation Cards for Teens to Build Positive Self Image
Raising teens is all at once the hardest thing I have ever done and also the most rewarding. As hard as it can be for me to parent them, sometimes I fully recognize that it is even harder to be them right now, especially during a pandemic. Teens need all the mental health tools they can find. These Affirmation Cards for teens are a positive way to encourage mental health and self esteem. I printed these out for my oldest daughter and she was thrilled with them. You never know how these things will be accepted. But, she said OMG I need those. So, I am calling that a big…
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Six Netflix Series to Watch with Your Teen Now
These days we are spending so much more time in our homes that it’s inevitable at some points we resort to curling up on a sofa to watch Netflix. I have teens, so over the last seven months we have often looked at each other and said Netflix? So, we thought we’d share some recommendations for Netflix Series to Watch with Your Teen Now. Sometimes we all feel like binge watching something…and off we go often to the family room in the basement to queue up the next in a series. It’s actually something I enjoy on cold days when the weather is rainy or dreary or just not nice…
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Two of the Best Books for Parents of Teens to Read Right Now
Why aren’t there more books for parents of teens? I mean is there a harder stage? I don’t think so. That’s why, when I found these two resources for Parents of Teens I was happy to share them with the world. I received product for consideration here. Post also contains affiliate links. The title, Parenting the New Teen in the Age of Anxiety by Dr. John Duffy snagged my attention immediately when I saw it recently from Mango Publishing. Anxiety, check. Teen daughters, check. Could this be more relevant to my kids, my life as a parenting and my current situation? What is the New Teen? The new teen is…
