advice
It takes a village to raise a family; advice and tips to make the most of yours.
Baby Talk
A few months back I watched Chrissy Teigen give an amazing speech about how it's not ok to ask someone when they are having children. They could be going through fertility treatments, they could be trying to adopt, or they could simply not ever intend on having children. Bottom line, we don't know someone else's struggle. It stirred a lot of emotion up in me, that I typically push to the back of my mind on most days. I identify so much with what she was saying it’s insane. Not having children by the age of thirty isn't an uncommon thing nowadays, but for some reason you still get the same old tired “your clock is ticking” or my favorite “those eggs won't cook for too much longer.” I get it, I do. It’s not that I don't want children, I do hope to have my own little bundle of joy someday. People, however, act as if they get offended that I don't have children or that I'm not actively trying. I'm honestly just not in the position I would like to be in before I bring a being that's totally dependant on me into this world. I got a late start on college, so at the age of 29, I'm still working on my degree. I want to be financially stable, not working paycheck to paycheck to barely make ends meet. I can't even begin to think about the world I would be bringing a child up in these days with being in a constant state of war, political turmoil, social injustice, bullying, and let's be frank here all the creeps running around nowadays. When people feel the need to discuss someone else's declining fertility, it tends to get a tad under my skin and here's why:
By Erica Tinnin7 years ago in Families
Stop Persecuting Us For Doing What Comes Naturally
So, here's an image for you. A young mom is sitting in a park, or a beach, or wherever you prefer. She's fully clothed. Held tightly against her chest is a beautiful, healthy baby, and its little round grapefruit-shaped head covers the woman from public view.
By Crystal Renner7 years ago in Families
Parent Shaming
Parent Shaming. Charlie, who is 6 and High Functioning, needs new shoes for school, and here you sit, in the middle of the shoe department. Charlie has been trying so hard to keep it together. He is on his 5th pair of superhero light up shoes. You know they are the right size, but to your son, they don’t feel right.
By Jenna Logan7 years ago in Families
Bonus Dad
I have served in the military, worked in lethal environments and jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. Nothing has ever scared me as much as meeting my girlfriend’s son Gabriel. We had only been together a few weeks, and conventional wisdom said that meeting him so soon was a bad idea. To me, establishing a relationship only to find that I was not ready to be a parent would be devastating. I was reeling from a divorce and the loss of my career in the Navy. I decided that this fear, like any other, would have to be faced. That is what my parents taught me, and now, four happy years later, it is what I am teaching “The Wee Lad”.
By Mickey Finn7 years ago in Families