Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
Why My Daughter Growing Up Scares the Shit Out of Me
My daughter is two-years-old. She is beautiful and happy. I am so blessed that I have such a happy baby. She smiles at everyone but screams for me. Timeout isn't my favorite but she's smart and beginning to understand it. She loves to brush her teeth. She's starting to talk a lot more. She's outgrowing clothes every month and goddamn is she tall. But that isn't what scares me. Watching her grow and learn is the greatest joy in my life. I love it. I don't care that I'm buying her new clothes every month or that I have pool noodles on every sharp corner in my house.
By Michelle Schultz8 years ago in Families
Yes, Baby Boomers Had it Easier than Millennials
Recently, I had a disagreement with my dad. See, we had an agreement back when I started high school that he would either pay for a wedding or for my college tuition. I plan to spend a boatload of my dad's money on a wedding someday so I chose to pay for college myself; a decision that I made when I was 15 and am seriously starting to regret, especially considering I don't think I'm going to get married. Anyway, currently, I'm looking at buying a house and he asked me about my finances and monthly charges and was shocked to find out how much I'm paying in student loans a month. Then all the questions came up; what about your scholarships? Can't you sell your books back for the same price you bought them at? What were you doing in college that your loans are that much? If it cost that much why didn't you work harder to have a perfect GPA? Why would you pay that much interest? Then, my personal favorite statements; You must have done something wrong. I didn't pay that much when I went to college.
By Michelle Schultz8 years ago in Families
Parenting for Good Mental Health in Our Children
We read so much about how our overcrowded lives, lack of sleep and stiff upper lip mentality can lead us into poor mental health. We read even more about the benefits of practices to improve our mental health. Experts have noted a worrying rise in child mental health problems in recent years. Is there a way to parent our children so that they can learn to deal with their own pressurised lives as children and into adulthood? And at the same time take care of our own mental health?
By Laura Ansbro8 years ago in Families
Awkward Moments When You've Lost a Parent
I lost my Dad in 2011, and whilst it was and still is one of the hardest things to deal with, as the years go by you learn how to cope with your loss. You find it becomes easier to talk about them, about what happened, about the memories you have with them. With that being said, there are some moments that are just outright awkward (in an amusing way of course, once you begin to cope better...)
By Paige Roden8 years ago in Families
Family Issues
Let me introduce the real me and tell you a little about my background and my childhood. My name is Dominique. I’m 24 years old and I have an amazing six-year-old son. Yes, I had him at 18-years-old. I’m from Elmira, New York, a little town in upstate New York. I’m mixed; my mother is white and my father is black. My grandma on my mother’s side is full Czechoslovakian, also Greek and Irish. My father's side is African American, Indian, and Haitian from what I’ve been told. It’s cool because I’m just learning more about my race recently on Ancestry and I did the research. Dealing with being a mixed child I had some white family that had nothing to do with us or my mom and we certainly didn’t care. On my dad's side, we weren’t dark enough to some, but it was never a issue. The main ones always treated us the same. It’s like you're not light enough for the white side and not dark enough for the black side when you're mixed. Growing up wasn’t the best, but I tried to make the best out of it. I’m the middle child. My mom and dad had three kids, all girls. Giovonni was the oldest, I’m the middle, and Katie was the youngest but she came later on in life.
By 8 years ago in Families
Dear Little Sister
It’s one of those nights to where my mind drifts and I ponder about life. Lately, I’ve been on my best journey yet to self-discovery. For the longest time, I have wanted that teenage girl I used to be so innocent, untouched, carefree and always cautious. Now that I’m much older I want something I haven’t had yet. To love who I am for all my flaws and imperfections and to care less who loves me or will be by my side. Those that are the truest will never stray, any amount of time or distance they will never part from us.
By Scarlett Price8 years ago in Families
MyPhoto Changed the Way I Do Sentimental Gifts, And I’ll Never Go Back. Top Story - November 2018.
Call me old, or just call me old-fashioned, but I’ve never been much of a tech guy. It just never was my thing, and I preferred to live life the way my parents lived it. It’s been that way for 45 years, and I never really saw it changing.
By Michael Pickett8 years ago in Families
Starving to Shame
Two weeks ago, I was babysitting at a five-star hotel. I was starving, so I put the little baby boy in the buggy and headed up to the lounge. They told me there would be free food up there, but there was nothing left but fruit. Fruit? What kind of joke was that? Maybe I could order a sandwich! But no one was around… I was going to faint any time soon unless I treated my stomach to a decent meal. The parents had made it very clear: you can either hang out in the room or in the lounge, but that’s all. Don’t go anywhere else. Don’t go outside. Why wasn’t I allowed to go to the restaurant on the ground floor? It made no sense at all. But well, you always have to please the customers…
By Mireia Prats8 years ago in Families
