Family Goes Strong

Grandparent Gift Ideas: Here's a New One!

scrandell — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:31:52 +0000

A front-page story in the New York Times reveals that a growing number of aspiring grandparents are giving their daughters the ultimate gift: the gift of life (and the gift of time). By paying to freeze a clutch of their daughters' eggs, they've hit on the granddaddy (and grandmama) of all grandparent gift ideas: giving their daughter the ability to give birth with presumably healthy young eggs after she's passed the point of producing them herself.

Best Mother's Day Gift? Help Mothers Take Care of Our Health - Give her a 'Mommagram':

pamcy — Sat, 12 May 2012 17:56:11 +0000

"If you're traveling with a child, please place the oxygen mask on yourself first."

There's a reason they tell you (especially mothers) to put the oxygen mask on yourself first when you're on an airplane with a child. You can't help the kid if you're passed out. But let's be honest. Who among us would really do that? We are hard-wired to take care of others first, then with the scraps and dregs of our energy and time, we scrape together our own self-care.

Let's Start a Mama's Day Revolution: Give the gift of a 'Mammagram'

Anxiety and Aging

Karen.springen — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:46:39 +0000

Anxiety and aging. Sigh.

This week I chomped on a single Starburst, which immediately pulled my less-than-one-year-old gold crown out of my molar. I felt embarrassed to tell my dentist that I was still chewing on kids' candy at age 50. Next stop, dentures?

I added toothlessness to my list of aging worries - Alzheimer's, stroke, heart attack....

To learn how to reduce getting-older anxieties, I checked with the pros. Their tips:

Family Meals: The Mother's Day Gift That Keeps on Giving

rlflipse — Fri, 11 May 2012 16:07:15 +0000

If you're a mother lucky enough to be asked what you want this Mother's Day, why not ask for more family meals? A bouquet of flowers will look nice on the table for a few days, but the time your family spends around that table eating together is a gift that can last forever.

I know this is true not only because I have read volumes of research on the benefits of eating as a family, but also because I have fond memories of my experience.

Memories of Childhood Meals

The Time Breastfeeding Cover

Karen.springen — Fri, 11 May 2012 06:38:18 +0000

The Time breastfeeding cover - with Los Angeles mom Jamie Lynne Grumet nursing her nearly 4-year-old son while he stands on a chair — is the controversy of the week.

I'm on Team Grumet: I breastfed my oldest daughter for two years and my youngest for three and a half.

Joyce Maynard Adopted Two Girls from Ethiopia Then Gave Them Up

sooze21 — Thu, 10 May 2012 18:56:06 +0000

What happens after a single woman has adopted two girls from Ethiopia and things don't go as planned?

Joyce Maynard, a prolific writer, often of raw truths about her life, is perhaps best known for her affair with J.D. Salinger. When they met, he was 53 and she was a freshman at Yale.

Honoring Other Women on Mother's Day

CherieBurbach — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:32:00 +0000

For most people, celebrating mom's big day means taking her out for brunch, making a phone call, or perhaps giving some flowers. But there are folks who, for whatever reason, don't look forward to Mother's Day. Maybe they have a terrible relationship with their mom, never knew their mom, or are dealing with the loss of their mother. What then?

Just because there's a day set aside for mothers doesn't mean you can't use it to celebrate the other women in your life instead. Here are some ideas to turn Sunday into a happy event, no matter if you have a mom in your life or not.

(Very) Last-Minute Mother's Day Gift Ideas

CherieBurbach — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:29:15 +0000

If you're running behind on your Mother's Day shopping this year, relax. There are plenty of great Mother's Day gift ideas that don't cost a lot and are available at the very last-minute. These are thoughtful and smart, and are sure to make Mom's day even more happy.

Spa Gift Certificate

RIP Maurice Sendak: World's Greatest Teacher

pamcy — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:31:16 +0000

It seems fitting, somehow, that the World's Greatest Teacher would leave this world on National Teacher Day. It seems fitting that since we're all thinking about and thanking teachers that we should be giving a final shout out to a beloved author of what we call 'children's books' but really are so very much more.

Being a Mom Means It's All Your Fault

irene zutell — Tue, 08 May 2012 04:47:58 +0000

Being a mom. It's the most important job in the world. I cringe writing that sentence because it's such a cliché. But so true.

We try to be perfect mothers so our children will have perfect childhoods. We struggle not to make the mistakes our mothers made. We want our children to be well adjusted, confident, happy. We want them to be better than we are.