Read to the end of this post for your chance to win a $50 Rose and Rex Gift Certificate! Today, let’s talk about play. More specifically, creative play. I think most parents would agree that they love supporting creative play and exploration in their children. We know that creativity plays a strong role in a child’s mental…
Ah, it’s that time of year again! It’s time to walk the aisles of your local drug store in search of the perfect valentine. You choose a sweet, sappy or funny message and with a big whoosh of your signature, you will have fulfilled one of the valentine requirements for your true love. Wait –…
Last weekend I was teaching a parent and tot cooking class for kids ages 3-5. While we were waiting for the food to come out of the oven, I had a great conversation with one of the moms. The conversation started with her telling me that she hoped her son would try the breakfast cookies…
She was a beautiful, easy-going baby and our time together until she started daycare at 18 months is among the favourite months of my life. We had ups and downs; at three week’s old she was tested for Cystic Fibrosis because she screened positive as a Newborn. Before the test, and when the possibility of…
We have a tradition in our family. Each Saturday night we make our own pizza and sit down in front of Netflix to watch a movie and eat dinner. It is a special tradition in our family; a lazy meal for mom and dad and wonderful memories for our kids. Netflix features many family-friendly movies…
People often ask me, “When do you write?” I know they want to know what time of day am I able to carve out hours at a computer to type up my column or blog post. They want to know if I wake up before the kids do, or stay up late past their bedtime…
I love fall; the air turns crisp, the kids head back to school and it feels like a great time to try new things and set new routines. I try hard to carve space in my life for alone and couple time. While I am excellent at making space for exercise (the junkie for sweat…
In a recent conversation about babies, I flashed back 8 years to the earliest months spent with my newborn son. Those days were precious, if drunkenly enjoyed on the nectar of way too little sleep. And for me, the earliest most sleep-deprived months were spent in a kind of washed ignorance. Postpartum Depression didn’t set…
“How many of you have written in a journal?” I ask a group of 18 adults I have never seen before. A few of them raise their hands. “How about poetry? Have you written poems?” Some hands drop and a couple more shoot up. I nod, and inside me my excitement grows. Over the next…
Who doesn’t love it when you find something on the net that so accurately captures how you feel as a parent you are not only laughing out loud but nodding your head in agreement. We love parenting memes for that very reason: they are just so spot on for most of us! We thought we…
It’s funny what sticks out in your memory; seemingly trivial moments are often remembered with the greatest clarity. Two months into the most shocking emotion of my life, I remember standing at the window in my front hall. Snow was gracing the ground with fresh flakes of brilliant white and the sky was a deep…
Help! My kids drive me crazy at bedtime. When 7:30pm hits our household we begin the painful process of bedding three children down for the night. This involves asking, and then asking again, and then asking one more time if they will brush their teeth and get their jammies on. It involves saying, “No now…