Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
Seeking Wellness through Hypnosis for Women's Health
Childbirth is among the most painful experiences many women will ever encounter. The pain of the contractions, back pain, pushing, and post-delivery pain can all be breathtakingly painful. Research indicates there might be a simple solution to all that discomfort: hypnosis.
By UpNow Hypnosis6 years ago in Families
Gift Ideas for A Newborn Baby: Family-owned and Instagram-friendly Businesses Edition
Everyone seems to be getting pregnant these days, don't they? And you have just found out your friend joined the gang too. The quarantine baby boom seems like a thing more than ever all of a sudden. It's almost like a whole new generation is about to make their entrance into this strange pandemic world. Yet another reason to think 2020 is a true game-changer in terms of shaping the future of the whole planet (especially since babies are the future in quite a literal sense), huh?
By Joanna Ścibior6 years ago in Families
Ghost Girl
When I was five or six years old, my parents got me my first ten-speed bicycle. Obviously, it was way too big for me but that was the way I got things like that since we were not well off. Needless to say, I had issues learning to ride it. My dad didn't exactly have patience and usually, after just a few tries and failures, he would give up and put my training wheels back on. This time I asked if he could leave them off and that I would learn on my own but one day I got some help.
By Onyx Perth6 years ago in Families
To all the Darling Daughters
The joy of Christams, for me, has never been about receiving gifts. Growing up, my family had traditions, like finding the perfect tree at a local tree farm and having snowball fights while we searched. We would make snow angels and run around until that perfect tree called out our names. When we got home with the tree, we would give it water and light it up with decorations. It was never long before gifts started to appear on the red velvet skirt, growing in volume as we got closer to the sacred day. I remember staying up late on Christmas Eve to help my mom put the final touches beneath the tree, and the treats out for Santa. Oh how I miss the smell of fresh pine and apple pie. Like I said, it was never about the gifts.
By Kahsia Solaire6 years ago in Families
Another day without you down here with me.
Dear dad, I miss you more then words could ever be able to form and say. Nothings the same nor will it ever be the same with out you down here with me. Every day I wake up and I feel wrong; Guilty if you would, why should someone who don't wanna be here still be here but yet someone who deserves to be here isn't anymore.The stroke is when it all started and I thought I was blessed then for getting you to the hospital on time. I saved you once and I should have never stopped trying after. You got better to only start getting bad all over again but this time the lead suspect being depression. I think i kept telling my self in a way you were invincible so everything was fine and you would be back to normal ol Tom again soon but boy was i oh so wrong. I feel responsible for your passing in a few ways and it eats me alive inside. I should have called more, I should have visited more, I shouldn't have picked a job that I hated over the only person in this world that had my whole heart. If I could i would go back, if I could i would tell you I love you more, if I could i would have forced you to come out your house more with me and we could've lived life fully together as we both deserved. I think back on all the memories i have of not only you but us together and they are something i will cherish till my last breath on this cold round ball we call Earth is gone. Dad you were my hero, my teacher, my healer, my couch, my therapist, my mechanic, my fisherman and so much more all in one person. Everything I am and know today is all thanks to you. When it was just you and I against the world the days were dark but they got brighter for atleast we had eachother. I shouldn't have left you causing it to become dark all over again for you but this time you were completely alone and had no one else to help lift you up for that ill never forgive myself. We should have been healing eachother but instead I left you to slowly lose all light and eventually all your pedals fell off and you were left a root. Till the day even that root hardened and dried up because I wasn't there to cherish , nourish, and water it daily. I hope you are happier then I could ever be down here without you now and I hope you are getting everything you have ever wanted and deserved up there wherever you are now. I try to talk to you daily and i hold my necklace with you in it every day I wake up and close my eyes. You will stay with me forever and you will always be number one in my heart and in my head. Please just call one more time so I can hear your voice again; oh what I would do to just hear i love you from your voice again. I can't wait for the day I can say hi to your face and not to the clouds. So I guess till that day ill stay here remembering you , talking about you and keeping your soul alive down here with me and those you loved dearly. I love you daddy forever and always to the moon and back. Keep resting easy.
By Amanda lynn6 years ago in Families
Passing Down Kindness
My daughter and I love going to the local park. We run and swing and play and explore. Sometimes we even make friends. Most of the time we are in our own little world oblivious to any other persons on the playground. Oblivious to their needs or welfare as human beings. One seemingly unimportant day about a year ago, I realized there was still some hope for humanity. I don't think I will ever forget that day.
By MissSavannahSky6 years ago in Families
8x7
Quite the year it’s been right? Lets roll into the new age version of the roarin’ ‘20s with a bad case of the flu, leading to a year-long pandemic causing a NATIONAL QUARANTINE, then round it all out with a “rigged election”. To top it all off adults are being considered essential or non-essential which decides their job status but our children are getting sent home with the most outlandish letters! “Principal Wilson here to inform you that all students must wear masks! If they do not abide by our new city ordained safety protocols it will be a punishable offense.” What the heck? Now my 4th grader is worried about which Colleges are going to deny her because she didn’t wear her mask durkng RECESS! Oh, but beyond that Sir Principal McWilson calls home in the middle of a regular old tuesday... for what?! “I’m so sorry to bother you, your daughters not in any trouble. She was involved in a food fight and when lined up with the other students she told THE TRUTH so she will not be punished.” Okay, so first he wastes my time with an advisory letter, but now McWilson wants to interrupt my day to let me know he in fact questions my daughters integrity?! Well let me question him this, why wasn’t I contacted even 1 of the 17 times my daughter went to the nurses office last month when she continuously gets balls thrown at her head during recess?! Why don’t you just save your breath and my time and call snotty nose Sams mom and potty mouth Petes dad to let them know that they’re terrorizing my kid every day on the playground, huh! The biggest kicker of the whole schooling system now is that our KIDS get to choose whether they would prefer in class school days or DISTANCE LEARNING. What the hell! Really? So us adults are told if were essential or not but our kids call their shots for schooling now?! After a 14 day quarantine because my kid is “exposed to the Rona” she decides we’re going to give this distance learning a shot for her upcoming semester. While quarantined shes learning her times tables. She hates it’s I hate it we both give up now shes scared shes going to be an uneducated bum under a bridge and I’m worried about “whats 8x7”... she looks at me slyly and says why do you need to know I said “just cause I need to know!” Then the thing happened. She put her headphones straight on her head, laid upside down in the arm chair and acts like I never asked. Someone please give me strength through this semester of distance learning because damn, those times tables are gonna be the death of me.
By Kadi Starms6 years ago in Families
C19
Where do I start ? This devastating disease is taking over our lives. It is not a lifestyle we are used to, nor that we like. It is financially draining, emotionally debilitating. The stress put on mankind everywhere around the world. Not just in our city, state, or country. No! All Around the world. People are out of work, children out of school. People are wearing masks, and gloves out in public, everywhere they go. For safety precautions, for the health and safety of their lives, their families live. Especially the elderly, or people that have health issues.
By Ruth Harpham6 years ago in Families
5 Creative Ways to Get Toddlers to Eat Nutritious Foods
As the old saying goes, "You are what you eat." This definitely rings true for everybody, considering that our diet directly affects the quality of our physical health and well-being. It is crucial, therefore, to eat plenty of nutrient-rich food.
By Maricar Yabyabin6 years ago in Families
Just Joshin' You 3
You hear people say "it's time to move on" a lot when it comes to "grief victims" as we're called. Like somehow suddenly everyone has a time frame of when they shouldn't be sad anymore. After almost a year of my husband's passing, I heard someone say "You don't move on, you move forward. Your deceased person will never be something you just get over, you'll never be fully healed, but you learn to move forward. They're still, and will always be, a part of your life". And I absolutely love that. There's no straight line with grief. You don't have the starting point then an ending point. You can go days, months, years with feeling "fine" and then have complete break downs. If you haven't been through grief, which I hope you haven't, then you can't understand. And that's fine, I hope you never have to. But please, allow people to grieve their lost loves, any time they want, for the rest of their lives.
By Elizabeth Nolen6 years ago in Families
YouTube Is Part of My Master Plan
I’m bent over at the waist. Snorting, uncontrollable, hysterical deep-belly laughter takes control of my body. The kind of roar that makes you ache from the inside and soothes the soul simultaneously. The kind you can’t stop no matter how much you will yourself to stop. You half want it to end, but can’t anyway, and you also want your hysterical laughter to keep going as long as it can because it makes you feel alive.
By Jessica Lynn6 years ago in Families
