Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
7 Free Things To Do For Halloween
Halloween is coming up and you want to do something fun, but you also want to save money. Don't worry I know what it is like when it seems like every holiday cost so much money. I know how you can save money and still spend quality time with your family. Here are 7 things to do for free for this Halloween.
Megan HendricksPublished 7 years ago in FamiliesMother of the Year
Have you ever met that one person that you absolutely cringe at the sound of their name..? Well to me that person is my mother.
Madeline O'NeillPublished 7 years ago in FamiliesEver Wonder What Infertility Feels Like?
As I sit here thinking, wondering, pondering about what I should write, I'll be honest I'm not sure where to start, but I want to talk about something close to my heart. Something that some people take for granted. Some look at it like a burden and some are shocked by it, but I'll begin.
Rhonda CarrPublished 7 years ago in FamiliesPros and Cons of Binkies
There isn't an easy route for making the trials and tribulations of toddlers any less complicated, especially when any single misstep can have lasting repercussions on the state of your newborn into child growth.
George HermanPublished 7 years ago in FamiliesMom
I was crouched down over a small shoe box in the garage. It was warm, sweat began to form droplets on my temples like morning dew. It pooled together on my cupid's bow, as my lips sat pursed, before slowly reshaping into a smile. A small laugh escaped my mouth as I reached down for a picture in the box. I noticed the way my hands are veiny like yours, distinctive violets and greens protruding from our olive toned skin. In the picture we were at the beach. Your hands held mine, my arms outstretched as I desperately tried to walk on my own. It was windy, your dark wavy hair floated gently behind your shoulders, pieces danced on your prominent collar bones. They looked like mine. I reached up and felt my hair, it was coarse like yours. Your jean shorts, bikini top, and my toddler body covered most of your stomach, but just below your chest I could see the slight shadow of your ribs. I closed my eyes and I could see myself now, looking in the mirror. I looked like you. In the picture you are looking down at me smiling, our noses are different, but our faces are just alike. Your cheekbones are high, creating a vivid set of lines around your mouth. Your lips are different, but we smile the same way. There are more pictures like this in the box. In one, you are standing next to my dad with your eye brows raised and your wide smile, and in that moment I swear we are the same. But we are not.
Ciara DreeszenPublished 7 years ago in FamiliesThe Mom Who Is Always Yelling
Today is a bad day. Why am I yelling so much? Did I sleep enough? Does it make me a bad mom? Am I a bad mom...? I yell so much lately that some nights my throat is raw from just trying to get my kids to stop hurting each other, me, or really just to listen. Excuses... that's all I see: my childhood maybe—it was rough, a lot more so than others; maybe it's just who I am—the mean mom who always yells at her kids....
Kat PeircePublished 7 years ago in FamiliesYou Were Only a Little Abused
"I'm so sorry, Mom," I cried. These words frequently echoed off my lips, resounding in a deafening silence from my mother. Most kids in my generation feared being grounded, losing privileges, or some form of physical beating, but I would have preferred those over what my mom typically had in store for me. I would have understood being sentenced to sit silently in my room. That was a punishment that most, if not all, kids went through. I would have understood not being allowed to watch TV or to use the computer, for those were good things that I, in my bad behavior, didn't deserve. And even a spanking with the wooden spoon...I'm not justifying physical violence or abuse, but at least these consequences would have been more typical of the average kid in the 90s.
Matthew EylerPublished 7 years ago in FamiliesBlow Hard, Bud!
Being a mom is never an easy thing. You often feel as if you have failed in some way, question, and doubt yourself. Those feelings only get worse when you live not only with anxiety but with kids who are hyperactive as well.
Kat PeircePublished 7 years ago in FamiliesThe Sh*t They Don't Tell You: Lesson #2
Death by Laundry I was once a young, wild bachelorette, whose main purpose in life was partying, concerts and, due to the lack of rich relatives to inherit from, going to work, to earn more money for the partying and concerts. (Let's not kid ourselves, I paid rent once a month too.) (Much to my disdain.)
Tiffany WadePublished 7 years ago in FamiliesCope
Losing somebody you love changes you. It changes the person you are at that time, and the person you’ll be in the future. It’s something that you must cope with, but that’s something a lot of people can’t do. But I did. And because of that, there is nothing in my life that I am any prouder of.
Cassandra SladePublished 7 years ago in FamiliesSpecial Days
I am two days away from marrying the man of my dreams and I could not be more excited. I am also having a difficult time because two years ago my dad passed away because of cancer.
Melissa BalthropPublished 7 years ago in FamiliesComing Out
My coming out story happened in two stages, and the second stage is still happening. The first stage was coming out to myself, which was very difficult. I didn’t grow up in a horrible environment, but I didn’t grow up in the most supportive environment either. I was shielded from just about everything related to the LGBTQIA+ community. I can even remember my mom getting frustrated when she saw Ellen DeGeneres on TV and made me turn the channel. During my freshman year in high school, people told me not to hang out with certain people because they were gay. As it turns out, the person that they warned me to not hang around with is straight, and I am the one that is a lesbian. All I knew at that point was that being gay was not okay. Not at home, not at school, and not at church. Once I reached my senior year of high school, the constant suppression finally broke me. I tried so hard to be straight, I prayed every night that I would like boys instead of girls. But, I eventually started praying that I wouldn’t wake up the next day. I literally cried myself to sleep every single night. I was very depressed, suicidal, and even started drinking alcohol secretly. For the last half of the school year, I skipped breakfast because I felt nauseous. I ate my lunch in the school bathroom because I didn’t want to be around other people. Then, I would sit in class and think about the best place that I could crash my truck on the way home so that I would die, but not hurt any other drivers. I would cry the whole way home, then when I got home, I would drink alcohol until I felt numb. There were a few times where I got the gun out of my parents’ closet, but I luckily never committed suicide. In those moments, I thought that my parents would rather have a dead child than a gay child.