Blog Posts by Parentables

Busy mom.

As a working parent, I'm always trying to find that perfect work-life balance. I'm not talking about the balance in which the house gets cleaned and there is a homemade meal on the table every night while I'm taking leaps and bounds with my career. All I want is to be able to get my work done and have my children feel like they are getting enough quality time with me. Just when I thought I had a new solution figured out (for the umpteenth time), my daughter decided to make it incredibly clear that I did not.

Read More: Ridiculous Stock Photos of Multi-Tasking Moms are Ridiculous

In my latest attempt at balancing the scales, I am sending my daughter to school three full days each week and keeping her home on the other two days. For the most part I have learned to just let my work go on the days when she is home except while she is napping. It is less than ideal, but on the flip side, I really do like having those three full days instead of the five half days she was

Salute.

Today's my birthday, which is significant for a couple of reasons.

1. I'm turning 27 for the sixth or seventh time (not sure which - I've lost count).
2. Today marks the 70 th anniversary of the infamous, devastating attack on Pearl Harbor.

I'm not writing about my b-day for personal attention purposes, although anyone is welcome to shout it from the rooftops, if you so choose. Instead, every year of my life I've been reminded that December 7 is more than just a really cool excuse for cake and a party. I owe that largely to my patriot father, who was both a United States Marine and a high school history teacher. Everyone in my family is aware of any event, minor or major, that occurred on our birthdays. Naturally, in my own particular idiom, mine is the largest and probably the most tragic historical occurrence.

Read More: How My Daughter Learned About War

Although many of you know exactly what Pearl Harbor Day commemorates, chances are pretty high that

Salvation Army members.

This post was written by Michelle Duggar.

Around this time of year when the weather gets cooler where we are in Arkansas, there are a lot of homeless people, as well as people with different situations who just need help.

Oftentimes our family serves at a soup kitchen or a ministry where they give out bags of food to needy families in our area. And we'll help put those bags of food together and distribute them, among other things.

Read More from Michelle: It's Never Too Early to Teach Your Kids About Character

There are a lot of reasons why serving the community is important to me, but one of them has to do with my father. His father died when he was 4 years old and my father's mother had four babies all under the age of 5, all born pretty close together. And this was when our country was going through the Great Depression and things were so bad. There wasn't work, so my father's mother put the kids in a children's home so that they could at least have meals

Last night my two-and-a-half year old came traipsing down the stairs with her father 30 minutes after bed time. My husband declared that she didn't want to go to bed and assumed that I had let her nap too long so that she just wasn't tired (which was not the case even though it may have been true the day before). We were entering the dangerous territory that we had entered when our son was the same age and which set us up for nearly three years of horrible bedtime habits with him. I could only envision fighting with my daughter every night from here on out if I didn't march her right back up to her room. What ensued was both horrible and gratifying at the same time.

No more naps is just the beginning.As a Parentables video blogger, I was recently asked the question: What do you hate most about being a parent?

The easy, obvious answer is sleep deprivation. But the real answer is the fact that life is far more complicated now. Being sleep deprived wouldn't have been that big of a deal before children. So you had a lazy Saturday and took a nap on the couch. That's not an option anymore.

Life is more complicated when you become a parent, because, like it or not, you become a role model. Every little decision you make affects someone else. Everything you do becomes a teaching opportunity.

Read More: 40 Sayings From Your Parents That You Swore You'd Never Use (But Do!)

Ironically, this is also what I love most about being a parent; it forces me to make decisions that make me a better person. And while that makes life harder in the short term, taking the high road eventually provides rewards and happiness that I couldn't have gained by doing the easy thing.

For

How did your child react to Santa?

Last year was our daughter's first Christmas. At only 6 months old, she was fairly oblivious to what was going on. She liked the glittering lights and the sparkly ornaments, but she just didn't really get it. So, when we took her to see Santa, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would she like the long white beard and soft red coat, or would she take one look at the jolly fellow and have a colossal meltdown? We were lucky; she simply stared at him with curiosity and then turned to the camera with a deer in headlights look. But there were no tears, so we considered it a success.

This year, I have no illusions as to what will happen when we plop her down on Santa's lap. Many of you have probably been through the same experience and have the photo to prove it. She will have her head thrown back, her mouth wide open, and while you won't be able to hear it through the photo, you will be able to imagine the sounds of terror as she screams her head off. In anticipation of our visit,

Try new recipes to keep your kids busy.
I'll admit it - I was petrified of my oldest son being home from school for a solid week during Thanksgiving break. I adore spending time with him, but he and his little brother usually play well together for about 30 minutes before they resort to various forms of physical and psychological torture. To my surprise, a few faithful stand-by activities have kept them both relatively uninjured, entertained and (gasp!) enjoying each other's company (I do recognize that most older kids and teens would probably scoff at some of these, but pre-school and early elementary-aged kids will be thrilled).

1. Cooking: Shockingly, it turns out that Thanksgiving prep work (no chopping or dicing, naturally) is actually enjoyable to young children. They especially love dumping ingredients in the bowl and seeing how they mix together, plus I've managed to incorporate a few handy lessons on measurement in the process.

Read More: Easy Pumpkin Cupcakes Your 3-Year-Old Can Make

2. Movie

A healthy diet can help you maintain a healthy pregnancy.

My husband and I are grateful and excited and just anticipating a good healthy pregnancy for me and the baby. That's our prayer. So we're doing everything that we know is within our ability to do that, and we've sought out the counsel of many people who have dealt with high-risk pregnancies. There are many other moms that have been in my situation - I'm not the first one to have experienced preeclampsia by any stretch of the imagination, as I did with my 19 th child, Josie. Other moms have ventured to have another baby after they've had preeclampsia.

It's not definitively known what causes preeclampsia, and it's kind of one of those crazy conditions of pregnancy that strikes about 10 to 15 percent of women. There are some categories of women who tend to have it more often (moms pregnant with multiples, pregnant teens and pregnant women over 40), but there are other women who fall outside of these categories.

More from Michelle: Jim Bob and Michelle on Josie's Hospital