Month: December 2016

Because Sometimes You Need Help: Parenting a Strong-willed Child

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I watch helplessly as my daughter rips the cushions from the couch and heaves them to the floor.  “I’m not going, and there’s nothing you can do to make me.”  She picks up a tray off the coffee table and stares threateningly into my eyes, daring me to move.  “Put that down,” I say calmly in my firmest “I mean business” voice.  “No!” she says and hurls it at the wall.  Before I can respond, she grabs my arm and sinks her teeth into the muscle above my elbow.  “Go.  Go.  Just go to your room and leave me be!” I shout.  I sink into the one remaining cushion on the couch and allow the tears to flow. Continue reading “Because Sometimes You Need Help: Parenting a Strong-willed Child” →

O Come, Thou Long Expected

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My hands toss into the air along with exasperated sighs and harsh words of frustration.  Another strand of lights is only half working, when minutes before all had been working.  I circle the tree like a Maypole without all the fun, undoing what I’d just spent twenty minutes doing when the lights spring back to life, and another strand suddenly goes dark.  I look out the window and notice my neighbor’s tree, perfectly lit, as if posing for a typical Norman Rockwell portrait. Despite my Pinterest ambitions, my tree always manages to resemble Charlie Brown’s before the rest of the Peanuts magically transformed it.  Once again, my imaginings of an idyllic Christmas are fading, and I haven’t finished the leftover Thanksgiving turkey.879c604ba638f21f4de376cbad260785 Continue reading “O Come, Thou Long Expected” →