Life Misconceptions

The Blogger Bubble

February 1, 2012 by Diana

“I don’t understand,” the mom says, leaning forward. Her eyes are full of confusion and doubt. “Why on earth would you want to homeschool?”

And I? Am stumped.

Not so much as why – but how to explain it to her. I want to tell her to hold while I type out a post or pull up an old one and then have her read it.

As I stumble my way through talking about it, I begin to realize we are on different pages. More so than she and I thought previously. Not bad ones. Not better ones. Just different.

This is one of the first times I’ve started to see how much of a bubble blogging can put you in.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging, Confessions, Opinions, Playdates · Tagged With: Life Misconceptions, Real life

Our children don’t need perfection.

January 2, 2012 by Diana 17 Comments

There is this huge movement lately for better parenting. Attachment, natural, gentle, connected – call it what you will. It all offers real benefits to parents and caregivers. The concepts of non violence and treating your child like a human being are spot on. I love the ideas behind gentle parenting. A big advocate for treating our children well, loving them with every fiber of our being.

However, I feel as if in many ways we, as parents, have taken these wonderful concepts of “A person’s a person no matter how small” to “Little Susie should be able to do whatever she wants because we don’t want her to feel bad. Ever.”

It’s getting to the point where we can’t even be authority figures, because someone might get their feelings hurt. Or judge us. Or act like they’ve never lost their temper with their kids. So we have to be “on” all the time. No mistakes. No slip ups. And that’s not what AP/gentle parenting is about. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Attachment Parenting, Natural Parenting, Parenting · Tagged With: FAIL, Life Misconceptions, Motherhood, Reasons to save for for therapy, Wishful Thinking

The “Right” Parenting Choice

December 27, 2011 by Diana 17 Comments

I’ll admit that I love being told I’m a good mom or doing a good job raising Bella. Who doesn’t like to hear that? But what I don’t love is when someone tries to congratulate me with a backwards compliment or insult to a working mom. Because that, my friends, really torks my monkey.

Like the PA in our old doctors office who wondered why Bella had croup so often last year. She asked if I had Bella in daycare, and I replied I stayed at home with her.

“Good for you,” she replied nodding. “Best thing you can do when you have children, what a great choice.”

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Filed Under: Family, Opinions, Parenting, Working · Tagged With: FAIL, Life Misconceptions, Motherhood

20 Confessions

October 24, 2011 by Diana 19 Comments

Lately I’ve felt very, very keenly how much of a box this blog has put me in. There are things that I have said on here that I feel I can’t get away from. Change my mind on. Display the opposite of.

I have always wanted this blog to be a place where anyone can stop by and think, “Oh! Me too!” And by using labels and the words “never” and “always”, I feel I’ve made that harder and harder. I’ve begun to sense the fact that people have read me for so long they know who I am in a way even I don’t.

So here we are. 20 confessions about me that I’ve been itching to say for a while. Let’s break out of the “I’m the perfect mom with the cleanest home on the block” mold I’ve tried to force myself into. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Breastfeeding, Confessions, Family, Marriage, Parenting · Tagged With: A funny, Fun with Egocentric-ness, Life Misconceptions, New and Improved

Is this the price of writing publicly?

October 12, 2011 by Diana

I’ve posted many times on wanting to be more me on here. More real, more open. More opinionated. Sunday I wrote a post that was straight from my heart, no editing or anything. I set it to publish that next morning and went to bed.

In the past 3 days, I’ve learned that when people encourage you to, “Write what you want!” they often mean to add, “As long as it’s something we agree with!”

I’m not going to sit here and say that some of the comments made on my posts or spin off posts from it didn’t hurt. They did. It wasn’t easy to see people get their feelings hurt and become offended. It certainly wasn’t my intention, and I wrote it with no one in mind but myself and a random Pinterest pin from someone I don’t even follow. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Confessions, Opinions · Tagged With: Blogging, Life Misconceptions, Why I do what I do

My home is clean and I’m a good mom. That might be a shocker.

October 10, 2011 by Diana

Remember that old poem that says, “Quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I’m rocking my babies, and babies don’t keep”?

It’s so sweet. And true. And annoying.

I see little cutesy sayings on FB, Pinterest, and blogs all the time that have to do with a messy house because a good mom lives there. The mom the saying is referring too is much too busy enjoying her children to clean up or do chores – and everyone is all the better for it.

Bull.

It’s almost insulting to read those. As if you can’t possibly be a great mom and have a tidy home. You know, because women really need to limit themselves to simply playing and rocking the children. Dishes be damned. [Read more...]