Raising Two Kids in this Crazy, Modern World

In anticipation of my blog’s upcoming third birthday (yea!), and in recognition of the way cooler WordPress themes that are available now, I’ve given my blog a fresh new look. (Whaddya think??)

But it’s not just the appearance I’m retooling. I’d like to think that, in addition to being three years older than I was when I started blogging, I’m also three years wiser as a parent. (My kids are 5 and almost-2, so three years is a big relative chunk of time!)

As I present my refashioned blog to my faithful readers (much appreciation & love!!), I’m also introducing myself and my family to a new audience (thank you, Twitter!).

Let me start by saying that I do not have a fascinating story.

I do not have:

• Eight or more children
• A mansion for a home
• My own reality TV show
• Relatives who are more insane than usual
• A wicked bad Brooklyn accent

If I did have my own reality show, you’d see me wearing jeans and a ponytail every day, sometimes showered, sometimes not. My home would not be spotless — there would be dirty dishes, piles of laundry, Play-Doh smashed into the rug and many toys conveniently underfoot so that the cameraman would probably trip on them.

Someone would probably be having a dramatic crying fit or a burst of anger — usually one of the girls, but sometimes me.

And there would be rum.

And maybe I would have discussions about topics I find interesting. Like:

• How are parents of our generation facing the challenges of raising kids in this crazy, modern world?
• How have things changed since our parents’ and grandparents’ time? And even our own childhoods?
• What are we doing — as parents and as a society — to prepare our children for the world they will inherit?
• Is our educational system really broken? Is it working? What are the flaws, and where are the successes?
• How are families handling today’s economy, in which two parents working is the new norm? And how does that fact change the nature of parenting itself?
• Are there values (e.g., hard work, persistence, delayed gratification) that previous generations of parents knew and practiced, but that we have forgotten and would do well to remember?
• How do I raise a confident, self-assured, resilient child — especially a girl — in today’s society?

As the working mom of two beautiful little daughters, I’m constantly thinking about these topics.

(Well, maybe not “constantly.” It’s more like “sporadically,” when I’m not fixing a meal, cleaning up after a meal, cleaning up after the girls, working at my job, dropping off the girls, picking up the girls, taking the girls to the park, falling on the couch exhausted, etc.)

So this blog is my version of a reality TV show: a sometimes embarrassingly-honest record of what it takes to survive, and hopefully to thrive, as a family in the modern world.

Except that it’s better than a reality TV show, because you can join the discussion. And I very much hope that you will!

Advertisement