When you envision raising your children, you probably imagine sweet swaddled infants, young toddlers playing in the front yard, and older children bringing home schoolwork and a refrigerator covered in artwork. However, these seemingly normal things can all look different when you are parenting children from traumatic backgrounds. Raising a child with a rough, dark,
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Martin Luther King Jr. It can be easy to fall into feeling inconvenienced by a holiday like MLK Day. I
“MOM!! Every light I look at is a snowman!!” was stridently proclaimed by my son as he burst through the door after a trip to the hardware store with Daddy. He was enthusiastically waving a pair of paper and plastic 3D glasses that make all lights look like snowmen. This over-the-top, unreserved exhilaration was quickly
If you’re like me, hearing your child whine is right up there with the worst ways to die. Last year when my youngest (who is now perfect thank you very much) was whining literally every hour, I sort of lost it. I became unglued. I responded in ways I am not proud of and if
How many times have we uttered the phrase, “Oh man, get ready for college—best years of your life.” to a graduating senior? How many times have we glossed over the huge changes that college life brings because our own memories of undergraduate life are foggy and romanticized? Are we missing our children’s unspoken fears and
The screaming started again. This time it was coming from the bedroom across the hallway. As I jumped up to help, the nursing care plan I was working on scattered in 10 directions. My youngest brother was now sobbing, padding into the hallway in his little sleeper…sound asleep. Night after night, something similar to the