Parenting is my passion and something I truly put my full heart into. I love being a mother and take pride in my role as “mommy”! This page covers blog posts I’ve written that relate to parenting and aren’t covered in other tabs on my navigation bar.
So this is where you’ll find post on topics such as parenting older children, navigating motherhood, and teaching safety. You will also find monthly summaries for all four of our children from birth through the toddler years!
If there is something you’re looking for that you don’t see listed here please use the search bar at the top of the blog!
See all Other Parenting posts here
Motherhood
Ah, motherhood! There is so much joy and also so many challenges, and I’ve chronicled many of them here! From bonding with your children to how to take time to yourself, here are my top posts on motherhood!
Top Motherhood Posts:
- 10 Goals for a First-Time Mom
- 25 Ways to Bond With Your Kids That Don’t Involve Play
- Life as a Working Mom… and Loving It!
- The End of the Era of Babies
- We Need to Stop Acting Like a Sensitive Boy is a Bad Thing
- Parenting Priorities
- First Mommy Solo Beach Getaway!
- Helping Kids Cope With Emotional “Tough Stuff”
- Is My Child’s Speech Delay My Fault?: Battling Mom Guilt
- You Can Stay Home if You Want To
- Valuing Your Child’s Feelings
- How Moms Can Help Dads
- Remaining true to “Emily” while also being “Mommy”
- Beth More and Battling Insecurity
- Being Confident in Motherhood
- Coping when “Unglued”
- Surviving Sundays with Kids
- How Just 20 Min Outside Can Make for a Happy Mom
- Solo Mommy Traditions: Surviving the Day when Daddy is Away
- How to Yolo when Parenting Solo
- Recognition of Having PPD
- Overcoming Postpartum Depression
Older Children
I know: they won’t stay babies forever! As your children get older, so does the way you parent them. My oldest just turned 12… that’s so close to being a teenager! As I continue into this stage of the journey of parenthood, you can definitely expect to see more in this category!
Top Older Children posts:
- Explaining Santa to an Older Child: How to Keep the Christmas Spirit Alive
- The Things Young People Do When Suffering From Low Self-Esteem
- The Best Books for Middle School Boys
Schooling
Whether you send you children to public school, decide to homeschool them, or a mix of both, schooling is a big, big part of raising kids! As our children have moved through school, I’ve documented many of the things I’ve learned about how to help them succeed!
Top Schooling posts:
- 8 Online Teaching Tips for Parents
- One Simple Tip for Starting the School Year Off Right
- Making the Preschool Decision: Should My Child Attend Preschool?
- Learning Basic Coding Concepts With Legos
- 6 Ways Babywise Has Set My Children Up for School Success
- Preparing for the First Day of Preschool
- Reasons Why it Benefits Your Child to Ride the School Bus
Safety
A huge part of parenting is doing everything you can to keep your children safe, in all categories of life! In our family, we’re especially big on teaching water safety via swim lessons since we take a lot of beach vacations. I also have some great tips on car seat safety, as well as all sorts of things in between!
Top Safety posts:
- Water Safety Swim Lessons for Kids
- Survival Swim Lessons
- Infant CPR Class
- Nightmares and Children: Helping Your Kids to Conquer Bad Dreams
- Preventing Childhood Fears
- Talking to Kids About Suicide
- Tips for Quick Sunscreen Application With Kids
- Car Seat Safety: Beyond Age 2
- “Stranger Danger”: Balancing Awareness without Living in Fear
Discipline & Training
Teaching our children to grow up to be kind, respectful, happy people involves a lot of discipline and training. Of course, there isn’t just one way to do this, and what one family chooses to do may not agree with what another family chooses!
Honestly, as long as it doesn’t go into extremes, there’s really no single right way!
So with that said, this is just how our family chooses to teach discipline. If these posts help you and you agree with what we did, great! If you don’t, no hard feelings!
The same goes for any of the posts that are more focused on training (such as potty training)… there’s more than one way to do it and different methods will work for different families!
See all Discipline & Training posts here
Top Disciple & Training posts:
- Busy Bags: Keeping Kids Entertained So Mom Can Be Productive
- Teachings Kids About Giving: How We Do Gifts
- Teaching Appreciation in an Entitled World
- Teaching Kids to Value Cleanliness
- Teaching Kids How to Declutter
- Redefining Screen Time Limits as Kids Age
- Undergoing Life Changes With a Strong-Willed Child
- Encouraging Children to Help with Household Chores
- Teaching Kids How to Spend Smart
- How to Teach Your Children Self Control
- When Ignoring is a Beneficial Parenting Tool
- When Bribery Works
Potty Training:
- My Potty Training Post Round-Up
- My Tips for Successful Potty Training
- Helping to Relieve Toddler Constipation
- Potty Training During Nap and Night Time
Summaries
From the time our first son, Kye, was born, I’ve done month by month (and in some cases, week by week) summaries documenting major milestones, lessons, challenges, and more! Since my motto is “oversharing and owning it,” I left no stone unturned! So, even though your children will have unique patterns of growth, I hope these help you know that a) you’re not alone and b) yes, it probably is normal!
Top Summary posts:
- Spear Summary of Month 7
- Tess Summary of Month 20
- Spear Summary of Month 6
- Spear Summary of Month 14
- Britt Summary of Month 20
- Tess Summary of Month 22
- Tess Summary of Month 6
- Tess Summary of Month 15
- Spear Summary of Month 16
- From Birth to 12 Months: A Year’s Worth of Summaries
Life With:
Activities & Fun:
- 5 Disney Movie Night Themes
- 13 Cheap (or free!) Summer Activities
- Our Favorite Family Books
- Keeping Cool Outside When It’s Unbearably Hot
- Balancing Fun and Structure in Summer
- 7 Car Staple Items for Spontaneous Summer Fun
- Our Yes Day Fun!