While friends and family pour their love and affection over the new baby you've brought home from the hospital, your older child is wondering what's so great about the sleeping stranger who doesn't say much.Even though bringing home a new bundle of joy is labor intensive and time consuming, it's…
The opposing team is kicking the ball straight toward my four-year-old daughter who has been talking about this moment for weeks. But as the ball gets within a foot of my pint-sized soccer player, she just stands there, watching the other team kick it past her.I shake my head and watch as she jogs…
While we try to shield our children from the pain and suffering that happens outside of their world, instant communication and the presence of the media in the home has made keeping disturbing news more difficult. But, when children do see something sad or confusing, it helps open the door to talk…
Backtalk. Backchat. Mouthiness. Whatever you call it, it's one of the negative aspects of parenting a budding adolescent. They are beginning to assert their independence, much like they did when they were two or three and refused to eat anything, or threw themselves on the floor of the grocery…
By Jessa McClureIn a world that values self over others, it can be difficult to find ways to bring your kids back down to earth, and teach them to show compassion to their families and fellow man.While it might seem like a daunting task you can show your overly-connected offspring that there is a…
By Jessa McClure"Can we paint today, Mommy?" While the idea of colored water spilling into the grooves of our dining table and brush strokes ending up everywhere but paper makes me want to run screaming from the room, I know that letting my daughter express herself through art is a good thing.In…
By Jessa McClureIt's dinner time, and I'm once again staring down the table at my two-year-old, waiting, hoping, begging for him to take a bite. But he is skilled at this game of chicken (even though he wouldn't eat it), and he knows how to win. For a second he brings a piece of broccoli to his…
By Jessa McClureI watched family members and people I didn't know file into a room I'd never visit. None of them looked my direction as I sat in the potpourri-scented waiting room of the funeral home with my feet dangling inches from the floor. I knew my grandmother had passed away, but I didn't…
By Jessa McClureI suspect that a pink-clad character in a popular book series was part of the reason she chose it, but my little one was suddenly obsessed with soccer. She was kicking every ball we owned, pointing out soccer balls in cartoons and soon began begging to play.As a parent entering my…
By Jessa McClureDisney music shouted at us from a speaker in the ceiling, barefooted children ran circles around our bodies like they were inanimate objects, and a toddler sat crying inside of an inflatable castle. I looked down at my daughter as she surveyed the scene, and I could tell it was…
