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Oh, The Things You Hear Driving the Carpool
You can learn a lot from driving a carpool. For instance, I've learned that a car full of kids may cause permanent hearing loss in a mere five minutes. Especially if they are yelling, "Do you like...
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When You Find Yourself Yelling the F-Word at Your Teens
Recalculate pagebreaks: 0 If you’re like me, you are finding that it’s not always so easy to like all the people who you’re living with. Much less love them. At least once a day, I find myself in a...
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How to Get Your Teens to Stop Swearing
Lately my teens have taken to swearing when they think I’m not within hearing distance.Fact: One of the symptoms of motherhood is that all senses (including our sense of guilt) become bionic. It’s why...
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I Don't Want My Kids to Be Popular
Lately, one of my daughters has been feeling a little left out at school. I struggle with a zillion concerns and challenges as a parent of five kids. I have endless goals and desires for all my kids,...
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Jordan Davis and Fears for Our Black Sons
[Editor's Note: On February 15, the trial for the murder of 17-year-old Jordan Davis ended in the conviction of 47-year-old Michael Dunn on lesser charges, including second degree attempted murder,...
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If You're a Distracted Driver, You Can't Drive My Kid!
Dear Mouthy Housewives, My 10-year-old daughter’s friend invited her and a few other girls to go away with her family for part of spring break. They are driving to the family’s weekend home that is a...
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Book Review: It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens by danah boyd
I started reading danah boyd's blog in 2005, after seeing she was an attendee at the very first BlogHer conference, 10 years ago. I met danah in person, at BlogHer '06 when she moderated my very first...
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You're Gonna Miss This, but Maybe You Won't
I hear it said to mothers of young kids all the time: You’re gonna miss this when they’re teens.But here’s my counter-argument: Maybe you won’t.I don’t.Sure, every once in a while, I long for the feel...
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Teens vs Toddlers: So Different -- or Are They?
My daughter is sitting in the corner of the living room, pulling gruesome and bizarre faces into her iPad for selfies which she sends to her friends. (This is apparently called Snapchat.) I am being...
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Dear College Admissions Counselor, Please Answer These Application Questions
Dear College Admissions Counselors,Don’t worry, I’m not trying to make a plea for my kid to get into your school. I am submitting an application for you to complete for my consideration of your...
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Do Former Mean Girls Raise Queen Bees?
“We can be friends on the bus, but not at school.”My eight-year-old and her friends have already started experiencing the mean girl mentality. I have witnessed girls slowly turning on one another on...
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10 Things Teens Do Better Than Anyone Else
Although the youngest of my three children will soon be 19, and there are still days of the down and dirty teen years challenging us every now and again, I am fairly confident that we are almost out of...
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The Adults Should Know Better: How Teachers Enable Bullying in Our Schools
**I've edited a few words below, realizing that a sentence or two gave the mistaken impression that I was shaming all teachers or that I believe that our schools bear singular responsibility for the...
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8 Reasons Parenting Teenagers Is Awesome
I don't know about you, but when our kids were little, we used to look ahead to the teenage years with much fear and trepidation."They are so cute," strangers would compliment our toddlers. Inevitably,...
View ArticleHeartbroken Over Pennsylvania School Stabbings: How Are We Failing Our Kids?
I'm heartbroken. It seems that yet again, a kid -- a sixteen year old -- felt such desperation, pain and rage that he saw his only option was to act out in a violent and permanent way. In his wake,...
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Do You Trust Your Teen Alone with Members of the Opposite Sex?
What would you do if your child asks if he/she could spend a few hours at a friend's house without any adult supervision? Would it matter if the child he/she was hanging out with was of the opposite...
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How Much Do Braces Really Cost? I'll Tell You.
When the twins were six, we started talking about whether or not they'd need braces. It was an interesting topic for me, because I've never had them. I was excited. By the time they were nine, we knew...
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My Kid Is Transgender. Her Life Has Changed. Our Family Has Changed.
I haven't been writing much lately. I feel like a non-writing jerk who doesn't have her priorities straight. But my heart's just not in it. My heart is elsewhere, with a kid who is having a tough time...
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How Teaching my Children Not to Be Afraid Changed Me
Last week I picked my daughters and a friend of theirs up from school.We made a pit stop at our favorite taco truck in front of a car wash on Westwood and Santa Monica Boulevards. As we waited in line...
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It's Almost Time for Summer Break! Oh No!
It is almost that time. The school year is winding down. My favorite time of year is right around the corner. We are sick of homework and school projects. Let's wrap this thing up and bring on SUMMER!I...
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