• Created on 6/4/13 by Beth Berry

By Beth Berry     Reposted from my blog, Revolution from Home.    Recently, I had the honor of spending a day with my new friend Barbara and several of her girlfriends, all self-proclaimed hippies who met in Colorado in their 20s and who have managed to remain “thick friends” through the years.   Barbara (first in the lineup) lives part-time in Colorado and part-time here in Tulum. She and her husband have an off-grid, solar powered home in the jungle community my husband manages. Barbara is a gem. She and I hit it off from day one, swapping stories... read more

• Created on 4/10/13 by Marcy Axness

"I had to love her enough to let her hate me." It was a stunning and very wise thing that Carol Burnett said to the ladies on The View. Burnett said she was scared of her daughter -- of saying the wrong thing, making her angry, pushing her away. (She was talking about her late daughter Carrie's three-year struggle with addiction when she was a teen.)   While Burnett's situation was extreme, her experience isn't unusual. Scared, stressed-out parenting has become epidemic: many parents today feel overwhelmed and under-adequate. Always waiting for the other shoe to... read more

• Created on 6/3/13 by Melanie Mayo

How Pretending I Was a Better Parent Helped Me Be a Better Parent   I'm going to put myself out there and admit something that I typically do not admit in print. Vulnerability isn't comfortable for me (understatement), but I am guessing that most of you have felt the way I do at some point in your parenting career. I am tired. I am often overwhelmed. I lose my cool more times than I care to admit with my children. At four and six, my boys have an energy that I cannot keep up with from time to time. The amount of fighting in the house can go from zero to full blown... read more

• Created on 6/2/13 by Melanie Mayo

  Everest at Two By Sheryl Paul   Note: Originally published on my blog in July 2010. My kids are now eight and four.   There are moments when I can hardly bear the passage of time, moments when I’ll look at my nearly-six year old and realize how young and small he really is but knowing that if these six years passed so quickly, how much more quickly will the next six pass, and the six after that. There are moments when I deeply long for unbroken sleep, but then I snuggle up next to my fifteen month old and revel in his smallness, knowing that, in... read more

• Created on 6/1/13 by Melanie Mayo

By Suzanne Leigh   Seeing a psychic is almost a rite of passage for despairing bereaved parents, but to a pragmatist like me, booking that passage seems unlikely. I don’t think I buy into the premise of connecting with the dead with the aid of a medium, even if Oprah does – and perhaps especially if Oprah does.   My 12-year-old daughter, Natasha, passed away a few months ago, after challenging a brutal brain tumor for five years. In spite of my cynicism I’ll be accompanying a friend, someone who loves Natasha, to see a psychic who will meet with a small... read more

• Created on 6/2/13 by AmandaK

                  I had a mothering fail today.  I took my girls on a play date to a local park.  The two older ones were running around and playing, and I was sitting on a picnic table under the shade with the baby.     It had been a stressful morning, and I was happy to have a fifteen second reprieve while both big girls were taking breaks from climbing on the high parts of the play ground.  I turned around to grab my phone to check the time, and I heard screaming.  I looked down, and I saw little Mae lying face first on the ground.  Sobbing.  Somehow,... read more

• Created on 5/28/13 by Melanie Mayo

                  I remember my eldest daughter’s second birthday.  I bought her one of those adorable little birthday tutu’s and a little happy birthday shirt with tulle all over it.  We decorated the entire house.  My husband left late for work that day because he wanted to see her expression when she came down the stairs into her birthday wonderland.  Her favorite part was the balloons, and I have a very clear and vivid picture in my head of her staring up at the balloons, a look of pure joy written all over her face.   We do holidays big in our... read more

• Created on 5/24/13 by Melanie Mayo

  It recently came time for me to walk my talk! How many times have I cautioned parents, "When we overbook, we overlook"? How often have I invited them to recognize that among a child's greatest needs is to be really heard, seen and understood? And how that delicate process can get trampled under the weight of a lock-step schedule. One of the biggest obstacles to tranquility and joy in the home is our adult agenda, and sometimes we simply need to pause for presence.   Last week my daughter Eve graduated from college. And a week prior to that was the Senior Art... read more

• Created on 5/28/13 by JillVettel

    “Mama, what are those turtles doing?”   It was one of those moments of truth that all parents have, where time seems to slow and we quickly page through which available option is the least horrifying. I could lie and distract: “Why I have no idea! Look a gosling!”   I could avoid the question: “What turtles? This lake has turtles?”   Or I could answer honestly because for some foolish reason we’ve decided on a general policy of addressing the tough questions in a gentle, age appropriate manner. Respond authentically without providing too much... read more

• Created on 5/23/13 by Melanie Mayo

By Sheryl Paul People often ask us why we homeschool. I used to launch into a long-winded answer about how we never planned to homeschool but by the time Everest was two it became apparent that, because of his high emotional and moral sensitivity and his asynchronous learning style, he would be crushed in any traditional school environment. I used to talk about our attached parenting style and our belief that kids need to be with their parents much longer than our culture encourages. I may have said something about our outdated educational paradigm and the... read more