Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
Maybe
Do you know that I cyber stalk you? When it first happened, I would creep all day long. It was an obsession. I don't know why. Was it to get mad about your life? Maybe? Was it to torture myself? Perhaps. It could have been just plain disbelief that you could be all over Facebook or Instagram smiling. How are you smiling after what you did to me? To my family? To your husband and your family? I would criticize everything about you. How your hair was, or how ugly you looked. You have a really stupid smile and teeth did you know that? And that picture of you in the bathing suit? I laughed at that for a week. I see your flaws. I see each and every flaw in your pictures. To anyone that doesn’t know you or know what you did, you look perfectly normal, pretty even sometimes. But I know better. I know that behind your smiling face lives a heartless, lying girl.
By sara gockley9 years ago in Families
Sleepwalking Through Sundays
It's time for church. Your mother's voice travels up the stairs and wakes you from the fog of sleep. She wants to know if you'll eat breakfast at home. As you slip back into the fog, you begin to dream of the doughnuts waiting for you at church. The traditional glazed doughnuts, ones with chocolate frosting, and your personal favorite, chocolate cake doughnuts. You smile to yourself as you think of how good one of the sugary breakfast treats would be paired with a glass of milk. That's when your mom's voice disturbs you once more and you remember her warning. "You really should start eating healthier, you won't be 17 forever." You call down with the answer you know your mother wants to hear. You'll have whatever she's having.
By Kassie Henry9 years ago in Families
How the Feeling of Guilt Made Me Stronger
“Why are you tired? Doesn't your wife stay home?” —Cindy, my husband’s prying coworker My husband and I are both teachers...kind of. While he goes to school everyday, I have the privilege of staying home and teaching our nine-month-old daughter. While I do have a teaching certification, our daughter decided to come into this world before I could get my career going. After looking into various child-sitting options, we couldn't justify having someone watch our daughter while I taught someone else's kids. I'd be making maybe a hundred dollars a week after deducting daycare costs; it didn't make a whole lot of sense to us.
By Kate Backus9 years ago in Families
Mom Fail 101
It was summer and it had been a long hot day and it wasn't over, after about two hours of grocery shopping with a hyperactive eight-year-old, who not only wanted everything he saw, but was also easily distracted by everything in the store. I was not in the mood to cook anything I had just purchased, so on the way home I opted to stop through a local fast food restaurant. I know, I know, not the healthiest thing to do, but most of us moms have done it. I still had to go up, clean up the house, and fix my husband his supper, not to mention, baths and bedtime for my other two babies waiting for me to pick them up at grandma's house. Pulling up to the drive thru, I asked my son what would you like.
By Angel Ponder9 years ago in Families
Bilingual Prejudice. Top Story - March 2018.
When my first daughter was born in July of 2010, there was never any question that we were going to raise her to be bilingual. My wife is from Lima, Peru, and though we decided to reside in the United States, we agreed that the Peruvian half of our child’s heritage would have an equal place in our home and family. Having met my wife when I lived in Lima, I’d grown accustomed to speaking with her in Spanish. We welcomed our second daughter in 2012, and have continued to be a Spanish speaking household. However what is “normal” for us is not the norm of the United States, and soon we discovered that what we perceived to be an advantage, would also bring its share of challenges to our children.
By Walter Rhein9 years ago in Families
Dysfunctional Family
I married a man with two kids and an ex-wife. I have not experienced giving birth to a baby, but I accept his kids as if they were my own. Although, I was never given a manual on the do's or don’ts of being a stepmother yet somehow, I seem to have survived! We have been married for several years, moved out of state to be closer to the kids, and be more supportive. Unfortunately, his ex -wife was in the process of a second divorce and his kids despised me, since they thought their parents would finally get back together. He made it clear to them that I was here to stay. The kids are now adults from a 19-year-old boy and a 24-year-old girl. In the real world, eventually, people grow out of disliking someone and get to know the person, but my experience with the ex-wife became a little more than I bargained for as a step parent.
By Charlene Ellison9 years ago in Families
How to Cope With Infertility
I'm just going to be blunt right now. A vast majority of the successful women online are what we'll call "mommy bloggers". Some of them are cute and sweet and helpful, but the ones I dislike are they who just complain about their children. I admit those particular "mommies" are funny at times, but I feel like they get a little too much attention. They are moms themselves, and yet they make motherhood out to be the worst decision of their lives. What kind of message is that putting across to the world? Is motherhood a joke? Well, it's not funny to people who can't have kids. I know plenty of women who deal with the same awful little word I do: Infertility. All of the negative vibes about how hard it is to be a mom just makes us want to scream. Those women don't know what it's like to try for a baby week after week, month after month, only to give up buying the pregnancy tests, and put all your hopes and plans aside. They have no idea how much it hurts to sit behind big families at church or see a mom with her little ones at the grocery store. How dare they mock motherhood when it is something so many women can't have. As a society, we have learned to talk down motherhood and to ignore infertility and it all needs to stop.
By Kathryn C. 9 years ago in Families
Big or Small: The Importance of Family to Me
The way I see a family may be different to other people. I see a family as the people you can always call home, wherever you may be in the world. These people don't necessarily need to be blood-related to you. They can be your friends, a trusted colleague and for some people, a school teacher. These are the people who make you feel like you belong to something, the people who make you proud. I'm going to open up and share a story which recently happened to me.
By J.S. Mellanby9 years ago in Families
Preparing to Be a Single Mother
I fell pregnant in 2012, and in the beginning, things went as expected. My partner and I were shocked at first, we hadn't been trying for a baby. After the shock wore off we began to get excited, after going over a few things we realised we could we could do this. However, just a few weeks later I began to doubt that we would be raising this baby together. He had a few personal issues that I thought he was committed to solving, I was wrong about that. I also had this uneasy feeling that he was cheating on me again. Yes, I said again. I realise that I was stupid to give him a second chance, but if I hadn't then I wouldn't be where I am today so I guess I that to thank him for.
By Soraya Bowie9 years ago in Families
Deliver Me
My nine months of pregnancy was normal. I handled everything like a trooper, including a scare my doctor had given me at 35-36 weeks. At that specific appointment, I was told my son was turned "oblique;" a term which means sideways, literally laying from one hip to another. I was used to them saying, "Baby is head down, and engaged, meaning he was due to make his appearance soon." As usual, however, my child had to be stubborn. "The baby is turned oblique, and we're barely reading a heartbeat." My heart was stammering in a million directions, my mind was coursing through every possible outcome. I was prepared to be told to drive next door to the hospital to be checked into Labor and Delivery. My fiancé and I anxiously waited for the head OBGYN to come in and give us the news. To our surprise, however, the news was uplifting. Christopher (our son) was, again, head down and engaged. His heart rate was reading normal and a healthy speed.
By Lisa Taylor9 years ago in Families
