parents

The boundless love a parent has for their child is matched only by their capacity to embarrass them.

Much to Be Desired
I’ve always loved notebooks. I’ve always loved writing. I’ve been told I get that from my father. “Don’t lose this, Trissa,” he told me. “It’s important.”
By Madelyn Lamb5 years ago in Families
Bell or Belt
Bell or Belt My mom had a cow bell as her better-get-your-butt-home signal. It was most often used as our call to dinner. It was a real cow’s bell and was all clunk-ditty-clunk—not like someone baking the hell out of it with a drumstick in a late sixties rock band—she would just jangle it from the handle, and if you were outside and pretty nearby, you could hear it, get home in a matter of minutes, and not get in trouble. But if you were inside a friend’s house, especially with the radio, stereo or tv on, you were pretty sure not to hear “the bell,” and catch hell for it when my mom had to send a sibling to find you, or worse, if she came to find you herself. And there was no excuse good enough. Saying you couldn’t hear the bell inside was surely countered with, of course, “Well you shouldn’t go inside then,” and, “Stay where you can hear the bell.”
By Mike Ball5 years ago in Families
Fresh Flowers for the Roses
“Honestly, the forest doesn’t care. It’s a forest. It doesn’t care about our opinions. It doesn’t care about our worries. It needs nothing that you and I could offer. The forest is just there living. It welcomes you to look and to learn. Learn about the way morning light pierces through foliage like a sun spear. Understand how the rivers flow with torrential anger foaming at the mouth. If you drown in there, the river won’t have your death on its conscience. It’s a river and it will river on. The forest lets you enter its grounds and permeates your lungs with a deep woodland breath, your shoulders unencumbered by any kind of weight. The forest doesn’t care about you Andrew, but you should care about the forest.”
By William Fall5 years ago in Families
Bad Girl House
My name is Jessica, and I’m five years old. This is the morning that I’m supposed to leave. I’m going to a place that my dad keeps calling the Bad Girl House. He’s been counting down the days on the calendar in the kitchen. He’s been telling me every morning how many days I have left at home. Today has a big, red zero on it. My dad just woke me up, and told me to hurry up and get dressed. He wants to get moving right away. I feel all shaky, and my stomach hurts. Maybe he’s just kidding, and he’ll just give me a long talk about being good. My dad is stuffing some of my clothes in the backpack that I usually take to school. He says that I’m not allowed to take any of my toys with me, but I think I’m going to hide my favorite doll under my jacket. Her name is Cassie. I think she’ll fit if I’m careful enough. I wish that I could take my blanket too. It would help me not feel so nervous when I have to sleep somewhere different. My dad has talked about the Bad Girl House for as long as I can remember. He always said that if I kept doing bad things, and not listen to him, that I would have to go there. Usually when I was bad, I’d have to sit in my room for a really long time. Sometimes I’d get hit on the bottom with a wooden spoon from the kitchen drawer. A couple times he grabbed my face, and told me to stop crying. That only made it worse, because I couldn’t breathe. I remember mommy yelling at him, and trying to get his hand off of my face. I end up sitting in my room most days, and it feels like forever. I don’t understand what I’m doing that’s so bad, and what makes him so mad at me. Sometimes I’ll just be playing with my toys, and he’ll start yelling about something. Sometimes not finishing my dinner makes him mad. Sometimes I bump my cup, and it falls on the floor, and he yells about the mess. I don’t even remember what made him mad enough to start the countdown for the Bad Girl House.
By Kathy Sees5 years ago in Families
On a matter of a few dollars
I hated cleaning out the garage. I didn't take the trouble when I started living on my own so mine was a horrible mess. My Dad's was always clean and organized. We cleaned it once a month when I was in school. But then, after my brothers and I graduated and moved out, Dad got frail. He moved into the facility and never went "home" again.
By Rebecca Fegan5 years ago in Families
The Little Black Book
2/12/21 The Little Black Book: A Hidden Treasure
By BONNIE G SUTTLES5 years ago in Families
Journal Entry 2/16/21
Dear Journal, Here I am sitting here at about 10:30pm thinking about how much things have changed over the past year. It's crazy to think that this time last year I was getting ready to give birth to my amazing son and how his dad and I had rekindled our love and decided to be a family. It has defiantly be a rough year and things have defiantly changed and it has been hard to deal with some days.
By Jessica Rister5 years ago in Families
On the Neretva
Capljina and Sarajevo, my hometowns, have to me become inseparable from the memories I have of my parents before the war; thus any recollection of the streets, monuments, and rhythms of those cities — to which I have not returned — will inescapably take the form of an elegy to them. The thought of returning, except in remembrance, has always troubled me.
By Willa Chernov5 years ago in Families
A Home to Hold
The wind whistled through the tall wheat fields. The blue skies smiled down on me as a I law nested in the soft grass that bordered the property. My dad built this place in 1983 with a couple of his friends and a few family members. He personally planted all of the trees that form a wind shield protecting our home from both onlookers and snow drifts. In the winter it always smells like wood from the wood stove that burns as often as we would like to keep warm. My house is cozy, my dad originally built it to be designed similar to a log cabin, only with cedar siding instead of logs. My house is small, nothing grande, just a two bedroom, enough for me and my mom and dad.
By Abigail Issler5 years ago in Families
Love Notes
I don’t like to dwell on it, but when I was barely ten, my mother passed away. Even given the expectation due to her long illness, it still hit really hard. She may not have been perfect, but she was my mother. Irreplaceable. Dad and I both had loved her very much.
By Jason Knightman5 years ago in Families
Parenting
Parenting- who knew it was so very hard? While it is bittersweet, the joys of raising a child, everything changes- always. Children when small are such a joy and they are a joy as they get older too- but not without some growing pains! You can do too much for your child- which I have learned the hard way! My reasoning for doing too much was his absent father, the childhood I had, the broke college roommate (always the broke college roommate), etc. All of those things were necessary for growth but did not necessarily feel the best while learning those lessons. Some people I know, they only look at the financial aspect of raising children. There's a financial component but there is WAY more to raising children. The goal is to raise self-sufficient adults who can survive without you. If you fail to do this, you are only moving the chess pieces around the board and setting them up for failure later on. Tough love they say is the best love. Although while I was struggling, I disagreed with that, now I think my tune has changed a little bit- especially with have one child as they tend to be more spoiled anyway! If you EVER want to know what your child (or anyone for that matter) is made of, tell them NO to something they want and/or introduce money into the equation. People will never learn the value of carrying their own water until they carry every drop on their own and perhaps some never learn. However, there is a point in life where this becomes a clear choice- life is all about choices. I grew up in a home with two sisters with the same shared mother and father (although they each had a child prior to the marriage) and my sisters and I are all as different as night and day- again, choices. This life requires sacrifice. The absolute hardest thing for me to grasp? And it has always been this- different people are happy with different things- and that includes your children as well. And you have to learn to understand that and let it be. No one has a blueprint to be a parent- all we have are our ideologies for what we are not going to do, or what we did NOT like in how we were raised. And no two people are going to have the same blueprint, but you try your best to make it work. Generations are VERY different too. The actual time frame may not be great BUT the differences in the world are significant and that rolls over in to parenting as well! One thing no one tells a woman in particular is that if you want kids, you are going to have to choose between your career and child rearing. I hate that this is what it comes down to but in essence, it does. I personally believe a woman can have it all but you have to hit the lotto in the other parent department in order for that to be a reality. Otherwise, it is just a pipe dream. Some people believe material things make them a better parent (things raise your children if you believe this in my opinion). And then when the kids are grown, they wonder what happened. Well- they were absent- their presence. By the way, you can be standing right in front of someone and still be absent. I experienced that growing up with my alcoholic father. A lot of patience, and a lot of prayer has helped me make it through the fire of parenting.
By Vikki Conley Ikard5 years ago in Families
My house isn't a mess, it's lived in.
If you walk through my door you will be greeted by one of our five dogs or a child, or both. The living room is where the dogs and our younger child hang out. It's where movie are watched, art projects are done and meals are eaten. It's not dirty, but there is generally a mess. There's dog toys, and school papers and kids clothes, there's always glitter somewhere and usually a barbie shoe or squishy toy stuffed in some part of the couch or recliner. It's lived in.
By April Knox5 years ago in Families