Families

Were you going to run into that cute guy John Williams on the way home? Would you see Anne Marie by the lockers and sort out what to do for the weekend? It was hit-or-miss, and that was the beauty of it. The breath-holding chance of it all. Now, our kids’ friends are as close as a keyboard stroke away. It’s too easy.

The "Mega-Mouth" Mom: You’ll usually be able to hear her before you can see her. Not one to be discreet in her conversations, the whole playground usually knows of her business (and other people’s).

The heart wants what the heart wants, and my daughter’s heart is a Lisa Frank landscape made up of sparkles and rainbows and princesses and unicorns. It’s just who she is, and I am OK with that. But what I am not completely fine with is her labeling these preferences as being “for girls” or “for boys.”

I see you now, and the parts of you that are me: your smile, the shape of your face, becoming an adult, becoming a person who doesn't always need their mother when they fall. I see you slowly becoming an adult, and I remember how you turned my world upside-down when I was your age.

“My daughter is in kindergarten in the United States. She’s 6. She loves unicorns and mermaids and soccer. And I’m concerned about my community forcing her to share the restroom with men."

Parenting is not easy. It’s really hard — even more so for single parents. I can only guess that parents are frustrated with being parents. I imagine it’s frustrating to watch people like me take a 2-hour nap whenever they want, when all you want is five minutes to go to the bathroom alone.

When I found myself suddenly not working 50 hours a week, I had no idea what to do with myself. But as my family eased into this new normal and found our rhythm, I’ve figured out a few things.

The sex dreams that have caught me completely off-guard. I don’t generally have much of a sex drive during my pregnancy when I’m awake, but when I’m asleep, it’s a completely different story. I have these incredibly vivid, incredibly-detailed sex dreams almost every night. Often, they involve celebrities.