Murphy's Laws for Moms

I'm sitting down, enjoying a cup of coffee at my favorite coffee shop, having a conversation with friends, making that all-important phone call, or actually sitting down at a nice restaurant ordering adult food.  It never seems to fail...these are the moments my children will choose to be their worst.  They will scream, be obnoxious, throw a tantrum, say something inappropriate or impolite.  To those of you who are in the spaces surrounding me or on the other end of the line, my children do not always act this way.  It may seem like they're unruly and they may be an annoyance to you.  You're right.  In these moments they are.  However, do not judge them.  They are still learning. You may not know that my children didn't sleep well last night because of nightmares or monsters under their bed.  You may not realize that they're sad because we just lost a pet.  You're unaware that they're dealing with a deployed daddy - or a mommy who ha...

Today, I'm studying the indirect correlation between the productivity of parent and child.  This is an interesting study upon which to endeavor and, while I may never fully develop the study into a well-working model, I consider this to be my own example of diminishing returns. Let's take a look at this economic principle in the light of my own parental experience.  While my husband at times remarks as to how wonderful it could be to expand on the number of people living within the confines of our home (and, granted, there are moments I, too, think this could be a cute idea), the number of children that we have is very certainly controlled constant. This is our fixed input. Now, before we go any further, I must take time to decipher what I believe to be the most adequate definition of the commodity that we're attempting to produce throughout our parenting experience.  On one hand, you might say that this commodity is a well-mannered, intelligent, understanding ch...

This past week, I was blessed to be able to listen to a fabulous presenter, Will Parnell, Director of the Helen Gordon Child Development Center at Portland State University.  During his talk, he discussed how we, as adults, can look at our children not as children of needs, but children of rights.  With this approach, we can actively listen to our children and involve them in society instead of assuming that they are helpless and are in constant need of our assistance.  Even at a very young age, children have possibilities.  We just have to listen to them - even when they can't speak for themselves. As a mom, there are days that go by when I wonder where the hope is for me.  My Sweet Pea is either not sleeping well, not eating well, not building her vocabulary, not crawling, not walking...you get the point: she's not doing what I see other kids her age doing.  I know, I know...every child develops at a different rate.  You hear this over and over from ...