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Musings :: How Becoming a Mother Changed Me
The journey to become a mom was not an easy one for my husband and I. It wasn’t until the 9/11 tragedy that I woke up and realized how life can be so uncertain and that not only did I want to get married (had been with my now-husband for 7 years), but I also wanted to have children. Yes, it was 9/11 as well as a quote I read in an article that completely altered my life. I was reading a magazine article that was written by a playwright who talked about all these experiences she had in life, traveling the world, dinners at castles, etc., but one thing she wanted more…
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Giving Your Kids Your Rock Solid Support
We love them beyond measure. That’s a given. And no one handed us a “how to” guide or technical manual when they were born. So we tap into that unconditional love and do the best we can to raise our children to be confident, well-adjusted, and self-reliant. We do what we do so they can one day go forth to live with passion and meaning. There are many factors that will contribute to our desired outcome for our children. And some of them, we won’t be able to control. What we can do, however, is build a strong foundation of support and a mom-child relationship that fosters and encourages…
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Parenting :: Swimming the Tide of Autism
This spring marks two years since my son’s Asperger diagnosis. His younger sister has been professionally diagnosed with Asperger’s and nowhere near the spectrum. I am currently in the midst of a divorce with their father, who is a walking billboard for autistic characteristics but refuses my pleas to get evaluated. When April came celebrating Autism awareness, I felt I was already not only quite aware but drowning in a sea of autism. Somehow, I managed to swim the tides for two years unaware of many frequently vicious debates within the autism community. I naively put a blue bulb on our porch on April second, then read such frightening attacks…
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Parenting: Are You a Dream-Stealer?
“Dreams are illustrations from the book your soul is writing about you.” ~Marsha Norman Are you a dream-stealer? Do we as parents put limitations on our kids because of our insecurities, self-doubt and other related issues we had when we were growing up? Do we start to allow the negativity from ignorant thoughts of others to creep into our minds and put a fence around our abilities as parents? Surround Yourself with Positive Role Models: A very powerful leader and role-model said to me recently, if you want better things for yourself and to be a better person, surround yourself with others who you believe are better (at something)…
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Parenting: Navigating Pre-Teens with Special Needs
Navigating through the Pre-Teens: For me, the moment my son turned 10 years-old I felt a life as we knew it was about to change. No longer were the days of thinking he’d stay little forever, racing through the house in his undies & a cape, curling up together under the comforter on a cold Saturday morning, or popping him in the good old Radio Flyer and walking around the neighborhood. No, at that 10 year-old moment I felt a noticeable shift in the dynamics of our family…a shift into the unknown. We were headed into uncharted waters, my family and I in a raft, knowingly paddling into…
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Reflections: Being Content With Our Choices
One of the reasons we have a section on dandelion moms called Reflections is for women to share in their observations about the choices they made and offer some insight to women who are in the beginning, middle or even later stages of motherhood. One of my favorite illustrations from Charles Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts, is the one where Charlie Brown is sitting by the pond with Snoopy and says “In the Book of Life, the answers aren’t in the back.” How true is that observation! As women we need to trust our gut instincts and do what works for ourselves and our families. This might mean working at home, not working, or working outside the home. …
