What would Judi do?

Yesterday was a beautiful day so Andrew and I walked around Lake Artemesia.  As we were walking and looking at the leaves, the fish, the lily pads and the like, I couldn't help but remember walking around the Sligo Creek trail with my kids.  I thought about how grateful I am that my kids were little before the time when everyone had a phone, ipad, leapfrog, etc.  I wonder if they're remember the things I do. Like the regular game of tell me what you see in the clouds.  Now, tell me a story about it. Like the game of how many different leaves and different colors can we find?  What shall we make with them?  (We had lots of pretty leaf bookmarks and window decorations.) Like the game of how old is that (fallen) tree?  How high can you count? Like the game of tell me a story. I know I sound judgemental and I really am trying not to be.  But I am glad that my kids grew up with limited screen time and have good imaginations. I miss ...

I was interviewed a few months back for an article on teens/tweens who color their hair for the Wall Street Journal.  I find it interesting that people find this a thing.  I've been coloring my hair pretty regularly (except during pregnancy) since I was 14. The interviewer was super nice.  I enjoyed doing it.  She asked me a question that made me think: Do you have rules in your house? Huh? Well, do you make your kids go to bed at 10?  Do you have rules about electronics? Oh, yeah.  My kids think I'm strict. Really? My kids go to be bed at 9.  There are no electronics at the dinner table.  We eat together.  We hug often. My kids refer to adults as Mr. or Ms.  I have lots of rules.  Hair isn't one of them. It got me to thinking about things and what other people might think looking into our family.  My house is unorganized.  I don't always cook the healthiest of dinners.  I'm a fairly unorthodox mom who...

My mother once said I was raising rabble rousers - kids who are very much like me and while they don't start the fires, occasionally they need to fan the flames.  They can't help themselves much like I can't help myself.  Especially with the religious protesters.  I don't seek them out.  They find me, which makes them fair game. First we stumbled upon the "Put God and Prayer Back In Schools" folks.  There they stood, holding their big wooden crosses.  I get a star in my crown today for not talking to them.  After all, which God do they want in schools?  Allah?  Yahweh?  Jesus?  Who makes that decision?  As someone who does have a faith of sorts, I don't want God back in schools.  I want to teach my children.  That's my job, not the teacher's.  They left before I got my picture taken with them.  Rats. There were lots of people trying to push their religious propaganda at me.  I wasn't the only...

I have two beautiful daughters who are now 10. Ten is clearly different from nine. There’s a budding maturity yet a need to stay young. I go from Mommy to Mother! in record time, depending on their moods. I think daily about how I’m going to get my girls from this stage to being independent, thoughtful, productive women. I want my girls to grow up and have healthy relationships. But how will they learn that? I didn’t do such a great job modeling that in my marriage, which I owe largely to the fact that I didn’t have that model. A general mistrust of humanity doesn’t help that, either. Yet here I am faced with the daunting task of making sure my children grow up happy and healthy. Daunting doesn’t begin to cover it. I read an article recently by Lisa Bloom (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-bloom/how-to-talk-to-little-gir_b_882510.html?ref=fb&src=sp) which addressed the issue of how we talk to girls when their young can influence how they see themselves as they grow up. A...