Lisa Endlich's Blog, page 371

This is the Reason for All the Little Goodbyes With Our Kids

I’ve been saving for a long, long time. I’ve let small things go.  Towels on the floor. Dishes stacked up in bedrooms.  Saving and waiting for my cache to grow.  I had a goal.  I kept my eye on the prize.  And then I spent it.  All the guilt usually heaped upon teenagers was spent in one fell swoop.  I got all three kids and the dog to sit for a portrait. The dog incidentally needed no convincing, “Wanna go for a ride?” and he was in.

I haven’t made them sit for a portrait since they were to...

One More Smiling Face, One More Chance to Get it Right

When you walk into my house you will see a small table on your left and on that table are three picture frames in the shape of school buses, one pushed to the fore and two flanking it. When we moved eight years ago, everything went in the moving truck, but my buses came with me, carefully bubble wrapped and carried by hand to their coveted new spot. 

Each of the three school bus frames has one of my children’s name engraved on it and thirteen small window openings labeled K-12 for wallet-size...

Why I Love Being My Kids’ Google

When my kids were little I sometimes heard their “Mom” requests in my sleep.

“Mom, Adam stole my GI Joe guy!” “Mom, where’s my pink sweatshirt?” “Mom, tell Lauren I want to watch Ninja Turtles, not The Little Mermaid!” “Mom, can you make cupcakes for the Valentine’s Day party at school tomorrow?” “Mom, where are my baseball cleats?”

Mom…Mom.

Needed, I was definitely needed—sometimes the sound of “Mom” made me feel like a combination Little League referee/personal shopper/party planner/detect...

My Daughter Won’t Talk To Me When She’s Upset. This Is What I Do Instead

My daughter has always been a little on the quiet side. As a baby, she didn’t start talking until she was almost three, and even then, her words were few and far between. If she was upset about something she would get over it really quickly, and before I knew it, she was on to something else.

And if her little brother was upset about something (this happened a lot), she knew how to distract him and direct his attention to something happy and positive. She knew more about how to sooth a toddl...

I Discovered The Right Words to Motivate My Kids

Like many parents, I often struggle to find the right words to motivate my children. I have survived the teenage years twice and am well into my third go-round with my youngest son. As a wordsmith who prides herself on being able to communicate effectively it’s incredibly frustrating when time and again the words I need elude me.

My fear is that my children will do something which will have a permanent negative impact on their future. Making them see the consequences of their actions (or ina...

Dear Santa: Here are 15 Things This Mom Wants for Christmas

Dear Santa,

Hi. It’s me. I know you haven’t heard from me in a while. Okay, since 1978. I’m sorry about that. And I’m sorry about the way things ended between us. That’s partly my fault. I should never have listened to my big brother. After all, he’s the same guy who used to con me out of all my candy cigarettes every Halloween, and he’s the same guy who tried to convince me to take the blame for breaking Mom and Dad’s Fleetwood Mac album.

I never should have stopped sending you letters or v...

The Other Conversation We Need to Have About Sexual Assault

He arrived home for Thanksgiving break. This was the first time our son was back since he left for his freshman year of college in August. He walked into the house and slowly looked around, as if in shock to be seeing his childhood home after a decade away. My heart soared, yet for a few moments, he was like a mirage that shimmers in the distance of a desert – wondrous to see, but an entity that you are not entirely certain is actually there.

After hugs, for both the humans and pets in the h...

10 Things You Absolutely Need to Know About the SAT

This post is sponsored by The College Board.

I thought I knew a lot about the SAT. I took it. My three kids took it, over and over.

I knew about buying test prep books and hiring tutors. I knew that you dropped off your kid early one Saturday morning, gripping a handful of #2 pencils and a calculator and often times still wearing their baggy flannel PJ bottoms. I knew that you nervously picked them up hours later and tried not to say, “How did it go?” before they even got in the car.

While y...

No, iPhone, THIS is “Home” for My College Daughter

“My phone thinks campus is home,” my daughter reported, with a hint of tears.   A month into her freshman year she had gone on a weekend-long retreat with other freshman about 25 minutes from campus.  As they were preparing to return to school she glanced at her phone to find one of those ubiquitous traffic pop ups we all have.

Just as my phone knows to tell me on Saturday mornings how many minutes it will take me to get to the YMCA for my lap swim, or how long my commute to work will be eac...

This Is What Moms Mean When They Say “Cherish Every Moment.”

I had three kids in three years and our outings were few and far between. It’s not easy to hold a tiny hand, have a baby on your hip, and trust your oldest will stay close and not knock over displays or run off on you. I don’t have to tell you venturing out to a public place was overwhelming, stressful, and exhausting. 

Every time I did manage it, a veteran mom, or grandmother, would stop to tell me to cherish every moment with my young kids because they grow so fast. I tried to appreciate th...