My interview on Mother Plus Podcast

Ambivalence in motherhood. Part 1: When you're a "different" kind of mom What happens when you feel like a "different kind of mom?" Despite feeling grateful to be at home…

Dealing with negative emotions
I love, I hate. Peace after accepting ambivalence.

All mothers know this.  That the love we have for our child is so intense and all-consuming that it's spectacular and terrifying in its power.  Yet it's rare we admit…

Parenting through a pademic
A mother’s need for control in a pandemic

It struck me recently that my daughter is handling the uncertainty of the pandemic much better than I am. She accepts not knowing exactly when the world might return to…

how my two very different playgroups saved me
How my two very different playgroups saved me

Perhaps during our earliest mothering years our friendships are born because we reflexively cling to each other. Drawn together like forceful magnets by a love for our children so new,…

postpartum depression
The split mind of postpartum depression

Originally published on Motherwell  In a quiet, distant voice I tell my husband Mark that I want to die. Not exactly dead, I clarify, but not this. I tell him…

The day I realized I pushed my college daughter too far

Originally published on Grown and Flown One of the few demands I gave Taylor when she started college (besides work hard, be safe and guard your Solo cup at parties)…

Getting into college
4 parent myths about college admissions

Originally published on Mother.ly If you have a college-bound kid, I know you’re feeling it. The anxiety. The competition. The intensity. The bombardment of well-meaning but sometimes conflicting advice from…

On Grown & Flown

I’m delighted I found Grown & Flown, a website and blog about parenting older kids (ages 15 to 25). Grown & Flown recently published my essay "Why I Stopped Worrying…

Trash TV: When kids catch you in the act

The other night my daughter looked over me lying on the couch. "What are you watching?" she asked. I guess I fell asleep in front of some movie called "House Bunny."…

British study shows kids of working moms just fine. Here’s why.

Photo credit: wilpf.org The Brits know. Quality childcare is key. Maternity leave, essential. Studies had shown that children born to career mothers in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s did not…