kids

As you may already know, I am the proud mother of four boys. To say that my life and my house is filled with noise and dirt is an understatement. I sometimes find myself daydreaming of pink, flowers and girls that smell like cotton candy instead of boys that smell like farts. However, I am not delusional. I know that girls are not perfect either.

I recently read an article that made me stop and think. This article was about grandmas and how invaluable they are. I don’t often appreciate all that my parents do for me and this article made me realize just how lucky I am to have them.

For the second time this winter we are lucky enough to have temperatures below zero. Thanks to this degree dive, we are all going to be able to enjoy a lot more time indoors than what we’re used to. This might be nice for a day or two, but after that it can make a person crazy...

In a move to get 3-5 years olds in better shape and eat better the producers of the Muppets are working with heart doctors to change what some characters are doing. For example Bert and Ernie will take up jumping rope and The Cookie Monster is going to cool it...

I’ve never seen a commercial that perfectly describes parenthood like this one does. In a short 60 seconds it manages to capture the essence of daily life for parents. Somehow it manages to embody the joys, frustrations, sleeplessness, clutter, pain, dog-food eating and chaos that is parenting.

It’s that time of year again. It’s Christmas program time. The time when parents pack into gymnasiums and auditoriums like sardines to watch their children sing holiday classics.

I remember as a child thinking that my parents knew everything. They always seemed to have the answers. Before I was a teenager, I looked up to them in awe of all that they knew. They were my heroes.

Having four kids of my own I get some pretty interesting answers for the questions I ask. Some of my favorite answers come from asking my kids the question they just asked me. I’ll give you an example.

I had a story on the Craig & Al Morning Show recently about social media; texting, tweeting, Facebook, Twitter, et al. It basically said parents should pay attention to their children’s uses of them and limit that use.

About half way through summer vacation every year I begin to crave the schedule and the normalcy that the school year brings. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the carefree days of summer I do. It’s just that I run out of things to do with all those footloose and fancy free days, and look forward to the ease of a scheduled daily routine. At least I think I do at the time.

For those of you who wonder what it’s like to be a mother of four boys, wonder no more. Another wonderful and saintly mother of four boys penned and sings a song, set to “When You Say Nothing at All” by Allison Kraus that describes to a tee exactly what it’s like.

As a mom it’s easy to wonder if you’re doing a good job. Unfortunately for moms, kids don’t come with an instruction manual. We always try to do our best, but we doubt if our best is really good enough.