Parenting

My Breath Smells Weird

by

At least according to my ten year old, who announced this with a face pinched into disgust after I greeted her with a hug and a nuzzle this morning. Warm olives is the exact smell, she explained further, after pausing to reflect on the matter. “Weird” entered our life at age four, perhaps it had … Read more

Parenting Through Stuck Spots

by

Every parent has them. In fact, every *person* has them: Stuck spots.  You know, those difficult things that, try as you might, they just don’t get better…? The spot might be reducing your weight, improving your finances, or some tricky thing about your health. Or maybe it’s related to parenting: perhaps it’s the bedtime struggle … Read more

Prayer for Progressive Thinkers

by

In the (majority white) progressive circles in which I live and parent, “prayer” is not often discussed. It almost seems to me like it could be a bad word among white progressives. Or at least an embarrassing word. It sounds so, so… irrational. So coercive, even. Some people certainly have used prayer in some stupid … Read more

What is your subtext saying?

by

I studied to be an actor years and years ago. One director I worked with had us actors go through the script and pencil in the subtext underneath our spoken words. Sometimes when a scene wasn’t working, she would ask an actor, “What’s your subtext here?” And when she tweaked the subtext, the scene would begin … Read more

Got gunk?

by

Dear fellow parent, Along with the usual gushing river of developments and details that we parents have to track all the time, these days there’s lots more pressing information coming at us–heavy duty difficult information, some of it calling for action. Do you feel overly full yet? Is your system full of gunk from all this? … Read more