Crisis negotiation, as defined by our friends at Wikipedia, is "a law enforcement technique used to communicate with people who are threatening violence (workplace or domestic violence, suicide, or more rarely, terrorism), including barricaded subjects, stalkers, criminals attempting to escape after ...
A tribute to the cantaloupe I bought and let die on my counter
I saw you from across the produce section. With all of the other ones like you. Your round family members and you all waiting together. You don't usually catch my eye due to the work it takes to distribute you in an edible form to my family and the ho-hum reaction they usually give me. But ...
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and the awful lesson it’s teaching our kids
I've watched a LOT of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in my day. I spent four years nannying for multiple families and now I have my own children--and they have all loved Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I liked it too! (For their sake of course, kind of a yawn for me.) It's so interactive, colorful and ...
Hey 90’s kid, this song sounds exactly like your childhood!
Hey millennials, have you heard this song yet? It's the fun, electronic sounds of Owl City featuring HANSON (mmmBOP anyone?) and IT WILL TAKE YOU RIGHT BACK. "When I was I was a kid I spent my Saturdays blowin' on Nintendo games. The newest thing was Lion King and I COULD FEEL THE LOVE." I mean, ...
Dear Mama who is knee-deep in everyone else’s needs,
Have you had these days where you are knee-deep in everyone else's needs? When the needs feel like quicksand and you don't know if you'll be able to take another step? It's when your husband gets sick and goes from being your partner in the parenting effort to just as needy as the kids. It's when ...
How the new baby made you a terrible mom to your toddler (why it happened and how to make it better)
Somewhere in the fog of those first months after our second baby was born, something happened that I didn't think was possible: I had days where I flat out did not like my toddler. It's a hard thing to admit. But I started admitting it to other moms of two or more children. And you know what I ...
Trying for a VBAC (what you should know)
If you opened this post, then I'm guessing you've had a C-section. And since you're trying for a VBAC, I'd also bet that you didn't want to have that C-section. Maybe you cried. Maybe it felt like failure. Maybe you were terrified. Maybe you felt ashamed. Maybe you were fine with it but the recovery ...
How and why I encourage my toddler to help care for our baby
Becoming a big sibling comes with its fair share of losses--undivided attention, immediate need-meeting, and a world that revolves around his or her nap schedule are just a few. I don't know about you, but I tend to feel bad for my toddler because of all the losses that arrived with his new baby ...
Dear fair-weather baby-holders,
You know who you are. You're the ones who hold the baby at the restaurant while we order and wait, but as soon as the food comes, that baby goes right back to mom or dad. You reach your loving arms out toward my sleeping child as if you're sent from above to hold him at the easiest point of ...
The best trick for getting your kid’s ears to pop while flying
Living one thousand miles away from family makes for a lot of flying for our kiddos. This little guy in the photo has been on 17 flights in his 2.5 years of life! And usually, he's awesome. We use snacks, drinks, naps and pacifiers to get through the parts of the flight where the pressure changes. ...