Author: Erin Middlewood
Creating a homework routine
This is the first year homework has really started to affect our family. Homework until now has been predictable and tear-free. Now that my oldest is in third-grade, that’s changing. He […]
Lower your standards for family meals
The dinner hour is one of the most fraught times of day for families. As if anyone couldn’t tell you that, there’s a new study by a trio of sociologists […]
Someday my kids will pack their own lunches
I’m already tired of packing lunches and we’re only a few weeks into the school year. Unlike the bloggers who post daily pictures of the works of art they send to […]
When a friend moves away
My 6-year-old son’s best friend recently moved to Oklahoma. He didn’t see J every day, but he always felt a close connection to his little buddy. They've known each other since birth, […]
Curbing screen time tough for parents, too
I have a lot easier time controlling my children’s screen time than I do my own, even though it probably affects them just as much. In a recent Washington Post interview, […]
Vacation time = family responsibilities
Summer is a tricky time for working parents. The added expense of caring for school-age kids during summer vacation is what led Debra Harrell, the now infamous South Carolina mom, to […]
Train kids before leaving them alone
Stories about children left unsupervised have been springing up around the country. A 9-year-old was removed from her mother’s custody because she left the girl in the park while she worked […]
Pot stores prompt family talk about drugs
My 8-year-old son recently said a kid in his class told him that a certain convenience store sells drugs, launching a conversation that I hadn’t yet thought to have with […]
CEO: You can’t have it all
The discussion hasn’t stopped since Anne-Marie Slaughter wrote “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All” in the Atlantic two years ago. We just can’t stop asking: Can women have successful careers […]
Classic ’70s novel provides lessons for today
I’m reading my boys the Judy Blume classic, “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing,” which I enjoyed as a kid. As I read it aloud, however, I’m realizing there’s a […]