Category: Uncategorized

To the Adolescent Who’s Struggling: It Gets Better

To the Adolescent Who’s Struggling: It Gets Better

by amoderatemama ♥ 5 Comments

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It seems like not a week goes by that I don’t see a heartbreaking post about a young person’s experience of being bullied, often with tragic consequences. My heart breaks for all the kids who are suffering, and at the thought that my own kids might experience this one day.

But my heart no longer breaks for that girl in the picture, my adolescent self. She suffered too. There were deep emotional wounds from my own bullies’ words. For a time, the pain they inflicted colored my entire world. But the cruelty of those kids long ago lost its power to hurt me.

My family moved from the city to the suburbs when I was ten years old. Geographically the move wasn’t far at all, but it felt like the firm closing of the chapter of my childhood, a care-free time of being oblivious to things like Read more ›

8 Things You (Yes, YOU) can do Right Now if you’re Outraged about Harvey Weinstein and the Scale of #metoo

8 Things You (Yes, YOU) can do Right Now if you’re Outraged about Harvey Weinstein and the Scale of #metoo

by amoderatemama ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

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In our current political climate of extreme divisions, things that we can all agree on seem few and far between. But basically everyone on the planet (except apparently Woody Allen) can come together around this: Harvey Weinstein is a disgusting garbage pile of a human, and his actions are horrific.

Harvey Weinstein is only the repulsive tip of a dark, huge, and hideous iceberg. But the iceberg is coming to the surface. Women are coming forward and sharing their stories.

The flood of #metoo declarations is heart-wrenching, the scope of the suffering almost unbearable. But it’s also a call to action. We *have* to take the momentum of this movement and make sure it means something. Call me a naïve idealist, but Read more ›

I’m Somebody’s Mother

I’m Somebody’s Mother

by amoderatemama ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

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Most of the time I think about parenting from my own perspective – making decisions about how to best raise my kids. What’s the best way to potty-train? Am I striking the right balance of discipline and affection? Will I ever get my son to eat a vegetable?

But sometimes I stop and think about the relationship in reverse. It’s not just that my son and daughter are my kids. I am their mom. 30 or 40 years from now when my kid’s spouse/child/therapist asks what their mom was like, that person they’ll be talking is ME. Holy crap!

There are always these moments in books, movies and television where a character reflects on their mother – some oft-repeated piece of wisdom, the smell of her perfume, the swish of her skirt as she’d move around the house. I’m just picturing my kids, in contrast, wistfully recalling their mother’s messy mom bun and old ratty yoga pants Read more ›

Yes, I Know I Have a LuLaRoe Problem

Yes, I Know I Have a LuLaRoe Problem

by amoderatemama ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

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Recently at my neighbor’s house, her ten-year-old son asked a simple enough question, something to the effect of “what’s the deal with LuLaRoe – why is it so popular?”

In the span of just a few weeks last year, I went from only vaguely having heard of LuLaRoe to belonging to ten LLR Facebook groups and owning more pieces than I’d like to admit. So I have a thing or two to say about the brand’s appeal.

But I’m sure this young man was not expecting a twenty-minute monologue from his crazy, perpetually leggings-clad neighbor. So I kept my answer brief. But here’s how I could have responded to explain at least my own obsession with LuLaRoe (and I promise not to rhapsodize about the leggings feeling like a certain dairy product I dare not name).

After baby #2, I couldn’t fit into my old jeans but refused to buy new ones for what I hoped would be the temporary state of my body. I kept wearing my maternity pants, but Read more ›

A Mom Blog Confession

A Mom Blog Confession

by amoderatemama ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed yesterday, and saw an article with a title strikingly similar to my last blog post. I followed the link, and the post was strikingly similar too. The content itself was different, but the basic conclusion of the piece was virtually identical. This {bleep} ripped me, and now she’s going viral, I (very unkindly) thought to myself.

I followed the link to the original post to check the publication date, certain that I would catch the author red-handed. But there it was: Read more ›