Solo Mother

Sometimes, Twitter is more than just an addiction for my ADD mind… sometimes, it brings in really cool blogs to follow, like Parenting4HappyKids.com. Anneli Asplund has taken it upon herself to post her list, 10 ideas at a time, for how to have happy kids.

Her first ten are here: Parenting tips for happy kids #1
Second ten: Parenting tips for happy kids #2
I have to work on being more patient with my child, more present. Listening more and not jumping to the conclusion that I know everything about what he’s saying. I get caught up sometimes in that arbitrary, “I’m …read more

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If you’re part of my Twitter feed, you might have seen the stunned and very happy announcement I made over the weekend. You see, after ten years of struggling with my weight–never quit smoking and become a catering company chef in the same week–I have finally hit my goal weight.
I’m a size six now, in case you were wondering. That’s down from an uncomfortable 12 trying to slide into a 14.
It’s hard to lose weight, especially as a single mother. You can’t pass off morning off to school duties to your partner while you run five miles or hit …read more

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I have a boy. I have a boy who wanted to be an astronaut (until his father, probably with the best of intentions, convinced the Kid to go on the Gravitron by saying, “You’ll love it, it’s what the astronauts do!”). I have two friends who work for NASA. Ergo, I follow our nation’s space program pretty closely. One of my favorite small details is the special spots for holidays:

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A week early but still beautiful, the snow has made getting a Christmas tree impossible, but gave us an extra day with the most incredible friends from overseas. We didn’t have a Christmas party this evening but three apartments from my building converged on my house after an impromptu snowball fight to have sipping chocolate and Turkish Delight and banana bread another friend brought to us this week. We didn’t get to go to the Choral Arts sing, but we played Go Fish and made Turkish coffee and stole a few extra moments together. My son got an extra dose …read more

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Taking your kid to see the decorations inside the White House this Christmas season… What could be better? How about taking your kid to see the ornaments you made to hang on a White House tree?

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How many of us play with our hair? Twirl it around our finger, muss it, fuss with it, gather it up and let it fall, shake our heads just enough to set the beads clicking? Yeah, that’s right. We do it. A lot. And we’re mothers. We’re grown ups! Can you imagine how hard it is for a first grader to stop playing with her beautiful, braided hair?
Well, when Lamya Cammon didn’t stop twirling a braid in her fingers, her teacher called her to the front of the class and cut that braid right off her head. In front of …read more

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Yesterday, I wrote about What to do when your kids don’t want to go, and focused on the times when the reason falls to bad behavior on the part of one (or the other) parent.
I loved the feed back I got from parents who reminded me that sometimes, it’s just hard to go, hard to leave, hard to deal with new houses and routines. Especially the littlest ones and the newest separations. So I thought I would pull a couple of suggestions from the comments and post them here to continue the conversation:
Donna suggested that separation anxiety is another real …read more

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I get a phone call every once in a while from single mother friends whose kids don’t want to go to their father’s house… not for the weekend, not for the holidays, not for Christmas. I honestly don’t know how to make it all better, and I understand the pain the moms go through.
Because the kids have to go, or the law might come down on you. It’s his turn, right? He’s their father, no matter what, right?
Maybe.

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I often talk about my ‘tribe’ here on Solomother… that group of women (and men) who are there for me no matter what. I don’t speak very often of the friends I made when we lived overseas. Quite simply, I miss them too much. I owe Hanna a very long letter and I despair of finding Bisan…
But Bushra and her husband are here tonight, and I am thrilled.
I can’t even express how wonderful it is to have her in my home after not seeing each other forhttp://www.solomother.com/wp-admin/post-new.php#titlediv three years. What a wonderful present this is. The King of Everything …read more

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I got a nice note this month asking if I’d be willing to review a bit of software that helps kids own their spelling lists. And from the looks of it, this program works. The King of Everything and I will try this over his holiday break.
The concept is simple: record your child’s spelling list in the program and it will check the spelling as the words are entered on the keyboard. The student can check the spelling or simply move to the next word–but beware! If the word is wrong, you’ll know about it, and if the the whole …read more

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