To me, motherhood isn’t sainthood. I am going to say something unpopular: I am a Mother’s Day Grinch. That doesn’t mean we won’t be visiting my 96-year-old mother-in-law on Sunday, with a card and maybe a pot of pink begonias. I just don’t expect the same gestures at my house. I have two kids—one adult, […]
As you ponder what to get her for Mother’s Day this year, consider giving her something she’d really value: insight and understanding into who she is at this point in her life. Dear Young Adult: If you’re pondering what to get Mom for Mother’s Day and you’re old enough to have some kind of income […]
Do you have a burning question about pregnancy, modern parenting or family life? Send it to Evie at AskEvieColumn@gmail.com or click here to submit your question anonymously. Dear Evie: My son is 5. He is a wonderful, whip-smart little boy but he is very strong willed and stubborn. He’s currently in a terrible phase where he […]
I fear that someday I will fail her as a parent and she will fail herself as a person and think that it is OK to hurt someone else to a grave extent, and with intent. It was summer. They were girls I had considered friends. A boy liked me, wanted to date me in the […]
What if we can’t always parent on instinct? What if our experiences of our children compete with our instincts as adult human beings? It’s a cool, clear summer night in Binghamton, New York, with faint, jewel-stud stars beginning to fix overhead in the purpled sky. I’m sitting outside on a gravel patio with my mother, […]
“I felt like, and still feel like, I made a mistake. I don’t want to be a parent.” It’s one of the last big taboos, considered too mean and selfish to even mention, and for most people, unimaginable: the regret of having children. But just because no one talks about it, doesn’t mean it’s not […]
When we minimize a child’s fear we make them feel lesser. When we validate their concerns and help them work through a difficult situation we empower them to survive the challenges of life. For the first three decades of my life I experienced fairly normal levels of anxiety. I had short-lived fight-or-flight responses around events […]
You know what’s worse than getting divorced? Feeling lonely every day. A friend once confided in me that she wanted to leave her husband, but one thing was stopping her: the idea of becoming a single mom. I get it. The term “single mom” is loaded—you’re either ruining the moral fabric of the country, you’re a victim […]
