Jane Roper's Blog, page 26
June 22, 2012
Being a Parent = Seventh Grade?
There’s a debate raging in the comment thread over on Toddler Times at Babble.com in response to Danielle Elwood’s confession that she loves using a child harness (or leash, if you prefer) for her toddler as a safety measure when she’s out and about with her three kids. It’s more or less what you’d expect,... Read the Rest »
June 13, 2012
A Wax Before Summer Camp? No Way.
I spent the first fifteen summers of my life at overnight kids’ camps in Maine. My parents had been long-time camp counselors before I was born, continued to be involved with camps during my childhood and eventually owned and ran one of their own. I’ve been a staff brat, a camper and a camp counselor.... Read the Rest »
June 10, 2012
Princesses don’t rock.
It’s my daughter Clio’s ambition in life to be a musician. Specifically, she’s interested in being a rock star. Ergo, her favorite pajamas are her rock star pajamas: little shorts with pictures of various instruments on them and a t-shirt that says “rock and roll princess.” I’d sort of forgotten about the princess part, and... Read the Rest »
Should I go under the knife? (Would you?)
A number of us Babble Voices blogger types have been talking about plastic surgery over the past week — our feelings about getting it, or not getting it, or other people getting it, or dogs getting it. (We all agree: dogs should not get plastic surgery! Unless it’s those really wrinkly dogs with the big... Read the Rest »
June 5, 2012
Gut Punch: My Babies are Going to Kindergarten
About a month ago, I went — along with the girls — to the kindergarten open house, where we toured the classrooms and said hello to the kindergarten teachers at what will be their school in the Fall. It was a little overwhelming, but not a particularly emotional experience (even though Clio was clearly a... Read the Rest »
May 30, 2012
That ever-elusive one-on-one time
It seriously is one of the biggest “I wish we could do more of it but how?”s of parenting, whether you’ve got twins or kids of different ages: How do you carve out time to spend with each kid separately, so you can focus fully on them, instead of dividing your attention between them and... Read the Rest »
May 23, 2012
When is it OK to abandon your kids?
OK, OK, not abandon them per se. (Jeez, Jane, way to write a provocative and misleading headline just to get people to read the post.) But at what age is it appropriate for them to leave the confines of your house or backyard unsupervised? Seven? Nine? Fourteen? As the fabulous Madeline Holler wrote about on... Read the Rest »
May 15, 2012
I am the world’s awesomest mom.
Yeah that’s right. You heard me. As of last night, I am such an awesome mom that Michelle Obama is going to start calling herself “Second Mom” instead of “First Mom.” So awesome that “Parenting” Magazine is going to change its name to “Jane Roper Magazine.” So amazingly incredibly awesome that the editors of TIME... Read the Rest »
May 12, 2012
Every Mother Counts
Back in December, I was saddened to read the story of Michal Lura Friedman, who died just hours after giving birth to healthy boy-girl twins, as a result of complications following her C-section. As a mom of twins myself, I couldn’t help identifying with her, and as someone who knows what an immense challenge it... Read the Rest »
May 9, 2012
My Life as a Blog: Why I chose to write openly about my depression
“…shortly after I weaned my daughters, when they were 14 months old, I was hit with an episode of major depression worse than any I’d experienced before. And I was faced with a dilemma. Should I write about it on my blog—where I’d been sharing my life so openly over the previous nine months—or keep... Read the Rest »
