Parenting Superpowers

Parenting Superpowers

I spend a lot of time complaining about all the things parenting has taken away from me. My energy, my free time, any instance of silence, the ability to open a bag of chips without a mop-headed midget running in and demanding all of them, without even knowing what they are.

But today I’m looking at the bright side.

Parenting doesn’t just take, it gives. And over the past five years, I’ve acquired some amazing talents that never would have manifested if I weren’t responsible for a child.

Because with great responsibility comes great power…

Read more about Parenting Superpowers

Am I a Good Parent?

Am I a Good Parent?

Last week, I wrote a piece about many ways parents constantly second-guess themselves. I surely missed a lot of examples, which was inevitable; every parent has different anxieties, and every parent questions themselves in different ways.

But no matter the specific details of your insecurities, it all boils down to asking yourself the same thing: Am I a good parent?

I’m not.

Read more about Am I a Good Parent?

Under the Influences

Under the Influences

In a recent post for Lifetime Moms, I mentioned that the issue of my son having “bad influences” – i.e., influences that aren’t his parents – wasn’t one I was expecting to encounter for a while. I expected him to be primarily under the influence of me for the next few years.

And then he met Xander.

And Xander ruined my son’s childhood.

Read more about Under the Influences

Questionable Parenting

Questionable Parenting

Being a parent is hard.

You start from scratch every day and run until you’re empty, hoping that you’ve made a dent, that you did something right, that one of your lessons actually sticks. One of the intentional ones.

But you won’t know for a while. Not for years, not truly. And the lack of feedback, direct or otherwise, makes the job even harder. It’s impossible to know how well you’re doing and thus it’s very easy to succumb to self-doubt.

This is why judgment from other parents is so obnoxious; it’s redundant. Every decent parent already constantly questions their own parenting.

Read more about Questionable Parenting

e9afe31c5a7577fdf2fc8f15bd5008856c363ba4adcd73a03f