A Life/Work Legacy? Or Just A Prologue?
Last night I received a Work Life Legacy Award from the Families and Work Institute. The fact that I have the deepest admiration ofREAD MORE
The Mother Of The Graduate Looks Back
Not quite four years ago, I dropped my son off at a stately southern campus, gave him a hug and shed a few tears for change that feREAD MORE
Lunch With My Grade School Teachers, 40 Years Later
I would not have “known them anywhere.” Forty years is a long time, and we, all four of us, are now blurred and softened versions oREAD MORE
Ghosts, And Chocolate Turkeys, For Thanksgiving
There will be ghosts at Thanksgiving this year.
Actually, there are ghosts every year. That’s what holidays are — a measure of READ MORE
Gabe’s Care Map
Courtesy of Cristin Lind
Cristin Lind couldn’t find the words, so she drew a picture.
The artistic inspiration hit about a yREAD MORE
25 Things I Learned In 25 Years Of Marriage
Twenty five years ago I fumbled my vows and said “Sure” instead of the more traditional “I do.” We giggled through the rest of the READ MORE
How My Neighbors Freed Me From Sandy
Among the 11 million others who went dark during Sandy, and the tens of millions who were battered and frightened by the storm, andREAD MORE
My Empty Nest: The Opposite Of What I Expected This To Be
I come home each night, and things are as they were when I left. If there are shoes in the front hall, they are mine. I can always READ MORE
Gun Control Is A Parenting Issue
More than a dozen children went to elementary school this morning and were dead before lunch.
White House spokesman Jay Carney sREAD MORE
When Do We Discuss Gun Control Laws?
To The Dad At The Bruce Springsteen Concert
To the young woman sitting right in front of me at the Springsteen concert Wednesday night:
I am so glad you enjoyed the show. HREAD MORE
Why Does Everyone Pretend There’s A Spanking Debate?
Spanking was a subject of debate on every parenting website on the continent during the past week, and I don’t understand why.
YREAD MORE
How Having A Child Prepares You To Have A Dog
Photo: Elizabeth Sarah Dinner
Every so often I hear a couple talk about getting a dog as “practice” for having a child.
The READ MORE
Why The Healthcare Ruling Matters For This Parent
I never feel more like a parent than when my child is sick.
My role is clear and certain then. He needs me. I am there. It is siREAD MORE
Why The Workplace Doesn’t Work For Parents
Readers here are exploding with opinions about women, work, and parenting. Several high-profile articles in the past few days have READ MORE
Parenting And The Zen Of Roller Coaster Riding
I have a recurring vision of a roller coaster. It’s a behemoth of a thing, which would be named Intimidator or Titan if my mental pREAD MORE
It’s Not Porn, People, It’s Food
A mother in Virginia, who also happens to be a member of the state Senate, plans to nurse her newborn at work, and that fact is covREAD MORE
What I Know Now That I Am The Mother Of An 18-Year-Old
Two weeks ago, my baby turned 18. The law says he’s an adult — he can vote and sign contracts, and when it comes to his medical anREAD MORE
Threatened With Arrest – Because I Was Flying With A Child?
Update: I received a call from Stephania Meyer at American Airlines. She agreed that a muffin is not a “personal item” and that theREAD MORE
Why Men Opting Out Should Make You Angry
It’s been nearly ten years since I added the phrase “opting-out” to the work/life/gender/parenting conversation, in a 2003 magazineREAD MORE
What Really Changes When a Son Turns 21?
Dear Evan,
Twenty-one years ago today, I was in labor in a Houston hospital. The sun was setting and things were finally progresREAD MORE
Why Today’s Mothers Can’t Follow In Pelosi’s Footsteps
Damon Dahlen, AOL
When House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi met with two dozen women reporters and editors at the Huffington PostREAD MORE
Do ALL Parents Love One Child More?
If you aren’t talking about this already, you will be soon. The cover of the latest issue of Time magazine carries the title “Why MREAD MORE
Preschoolers, Name Calling and the Authorities
When do children come to understand the power of their words? Until they do, how can you hold them respoREAD MORE
Night-Shift Moms
Juggling parenting with paid work means keeping a constant eye on the clock, thinking of all you could do if there were only a few READ MORE
The Child Becomes the Parent
Please Don’t Say ‘Break a Leg’
The first thing I did on the “National Day of Unplugging” was use a cellphone. To call an ambulance. For myself.
In other words, mREAD MORE
Motherlode 101
I gREAD MORE
Queen of the Mommy Bloggers
Photo: Catherine Ledner for The New York Times
O.K., then, I say, almost begging at this point, almost to the point of tears, iREAD MORE
After Tucson, Parents Wonder, What If?
Children’s Books You Might Hate
Working Moms are Fine for Kids
Eight years ago, researchers at Columbia University worried a lot of new parents when they concluded that children whose mothers leREAD MORE
The Evolution of Dad
Ad-Libbed Parenting
Two memories of my early parenting:
First, my older son was about 2, and learning the word “no” (plus the attitude that accompanREAD MORE
Why Does Anyone Have Children?
Can Parenting Truly Be Equal?
Illustration by Barry Falls
In the comments about my sleep post yesterday, Stella wrote: “I think women need to be more firm inREAD MORE
Why Women Don’t Get Enough Sleep
Should A Quadriplegic Mom Have Custody?
Does Parenting Make You Stupid
Over at Salon.com, Aaron Traister has a response, of sorts, to those childless folks (you’ve met some of them here on Motherlode ovREAD MORE
Why Women Wake When a Baby Cries
Illustration by Barry Falls
What sound is most likely to wake a sleeping woman? An infant’s wail — and that is true whether or noREAD MORE
Taking a Daughter to the Men’s Room
A new sign in the women’s locker room of my neighborhood gym tells me “boys over the age of 5 are not permitted.” I am told thereREAD MORE
How to Send Your Son Off to College
Illustration by Barry Falls
1. Realize it is well past time to go shopping. Sit down with him and make a list, vowing to keep it READ MORE
It’s Not Your Mom and Dad’s Parenting
So much of how you parent is shaped by how you were parented. There are things you do in the same way, because you see them as corrREAD MORE
A Baby Graduates
By the end of today (or tomorrow, if it pours all afternoon) my son will be a high school graduate. I will watch kids I have knowREAD MORE
Growing Up Too Fast
Two stories in the Times over the past few days raise the same kinds of questions: How young is too young? When did childhood becomREAD MORE
Do We Blame the Columbine Parents?
Where were their parents?
That was the thought I couldn’t shake ten years ago as news broke from Littleton, Colo., and all camerasREAD MORE
Does Having Children Make You Unhappy?
Children do not bring happiness. In fact more often they seem to bring unhappiness. That is the conclusion of one academic study afREAD MORE
What a Mother Learns in 18 Years
On St. Patrick’s Day, 18 years ago, I became a mother.
I knew nothing about parenting that day. I had held an infant only once befREAD MORE
In Defense of Helicopter Parents
I have helicoptering tendencies. I like to think that awareness of the problem is part of its prevention, but when it comes to my cREAD MORE
Untangling Nature from Nurture
Any parent with more than one child can feel like a lab scientist, unraveling the questions of nature vs. nurture. On the one hand,READ MORE