Lisa Endlich's Blog, page 368

My Baby is Now All Wrapped Up In A College Admission Essay

I unwrapped my daughter from a white hospital blanket when she was three days old so I could dress her to come home. It was the first time since she came out of me that I saw the bare skin of her body. She was tinted yellow in the fluorescent light of the hospital room from jaundice.

In a small plastic bassinet on wheels, I dressed her for the first time. My heart was an aching mess. In order to get her into the footed bunny jumpsuit I’d picked out months prior, I had to pull on her, hard. H...

My Baby in Now All Wrapped Up In A College Admission Essay

I unwrapped my daughter from a white hospital blanket when she was three days old so I could dress her to come home. It was the first time since she came out of me that I saw the bare skin of her body. She was tinted yellow in the fluorescent light of the hospital room from jaundice.

In a small plastic bassinet on wheels, I dressed her for the first time. My heart was an aching mess. In order to get her into the footed bunny jumpsuit I’d picked out months prior, I had to pull on her, hard. H...

Here’s Why Running is the Perfect Metaphor for Parenting

So it was a little over five years ago, when my oldest daughter was only fifteen, that we ran our first 10K road race together. It was the Tufts 10K race in Boston and even though we’d been running together for years, that race was a biggie. Not only was it the furthest she’d ever run up to that point, but, with over seven thousand people running, it was also the largest and most intimidating race she had ever run. And it was also the day when it finally dawned on me that running may just be...

A Member of the Helicopter Parent Generation has THIS to Say

You see us everywhere. We’re easy to spot, as we line up at the post office to send out care packages or mope near the entrance to American Eagle Outfitters. We’re the helicopter parent generation—that notorious group of ever-protective, over-anxious, and hyper-controlling parents—and many of us are new to the empty-nest game.
I have to tell you, we’re not handling the transition all that well.

Now, if you’re thinking that we brought this on ourselves, we couldn’t argue. If you say we fixate...

“Undercover High:” What Parents Need to Know About Cyberbullying

Sponsored by A&E Network although the opinions here are entirely our own.

As parents, we know high school is hard. We think we understand the pressures and risks our teens face every day – after all, we were once their age. But the nagging thought in the back of our minds is the fear that we have no idea. No idea.

Glancing at high school as a parent, it can appear as though nothing has changed. The buildings look exactly like the hallways we walked decades earlier and, in many cases, they ar...

Why Teens Struggle When Their Parents Get a Divorce

When my ex-husband and I announced we’d be separating, our three kids had three different reactions. Of course, part of these was because they are three different people, but I think some of was due to their different ages. They were all heartbroken, yes, but it hit my teenager the hardest, I could tell.

After the initial shock of the situation wore off, he returned to his normal self a little bit too quickly. He didn’t want to talk about it. He said it really didn’t affect him and he was fi...

This Is Why Christmas Vacation Was SO Much Better In the ’80s

It’s day one of Christmas Vacation and guess what I did at 6:30 this morning? I woke up early to try and get a handle on things because my head was spinning and my anxiety had its game face on. I had to wash a Lacrosse uniform, my son announced he forgot his book club book at school and started to panic he was going to be behind for next month’s meeting, my other son needs new skis because his ski team practices start any second.

I stood over my calendar writing everything down with a mad in...

Here are the 13 Most Popular Gift Ideas for Teens and College Kids

The holidays have come and gone but the need to buy birthday, grad gifts and off-to-college presents for our teens and college kids are ever-present.  Here are the very most popular gifts our Grown and Flown parents bought during the holidays 2017 – all are great gift ideas for teens and college kids in 2018.

Note: We receive small amounts of compensation from purchases made through the links in this post which helps us to pay our writers – thanks! 

Top Gift Ideas for Teens and College Kids

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Here’s How to Prepare a Gorgeous Holiday Party

Thank you to Capital One for sponsoring this post and holiday celebration.

One of the joys of December is the annual office holiday party. It is time to relax with the people you work so hard with all year and raise a glass to the New Year.

But what if there is no office? What happens with colleagues who work together by phone or email? What is the holiday celebration for the millions of people who work from home, freelance or have their own small business?  So many of us are part of the “gi...

This IS Every College Freshman’s Worst Nightmare

So isn’t this everyone’s nightmare? In fact, even though I graduated from college 32 years ago, this is still one of my recurrent nightmares, along with the one about completely forgetting that I have even taken the class.

My first!!!!! College!!!! Exam!!!! Was magical