Blog Posts by Parentables

Photo: alamosbasement / Creative CommonsSeven years ago, I took a position as a semester-long substitute for a teacher on maternity leave at an inner city public charter school in Washington, DC. I expected to be a good teacher. I think many recent college graduates regard teaching this way; at least for women, teaching, like mothering, is something you do instinctively. Maybe this is part of the reason we don't pay our teachers as much as our plumbers or our accountants; I know I cannot find my way around a tax return or fix a toilet.

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For many of my friends, a teaching stint provided an intermediary step before they took on "real jobs" as lawyers and doctors. During graduate school, I taught writing at local colleges. And I assumed teaching high school wouldn't be that different from teaching college. Some of my college students were 18 years old, while others were adults returning to school. But all of them wanted to be there.

Photo Credit: Last summer my daughter turned 10, and reminded me for the umpteenth time that I had promised her that we would consider getting a small dog when she was old enough to take care of it. Her longing for a small dog began when she was four, and she had religiously pestered me ever since.

I have always been a big-dog person, and personally have never really found much use for small dogs. Although I had my doubts, I looked carefully into area breeders and shelters, and after looking through many varieties, pure breeds, and mixes, settled on what I was told was a "designer" dog- the Malti-Poo. Since Jack has entered our home, our hearts have never been the same. From the minute we met him, we were completely taken by his teddy bear cuteness, his intelligence, and his love and devotion.

Read More: 4 Ways to Help Your Toddler and Dog Get Along

The thing I love most about Jack aside from his winning personality, is his portability. I hated the idea of getting a dog that would stay home all

Photo Credit: Aziz J. Hayat / Creative Commons. Article by Katie Morton of TheMonarchCompany.comI was astonished when a post I wrote in January called 5 Amazing Lessons I Learned by Giving up Alcohol for One Month got a major response. I've been publishing content to the internet on a semi-regular basis for 8 years now, and never has a piece I've written generated so many personal and heartfelt emails thanking me for sharing my story and for motivating others to make changes in their own lives. Hundreds of people signed up to receive my free eBook and newsletter, many of them emailing to let me know they intend to follow my story of one year without alcohol in hopes of gaining personal inspiration.

Read More: 5 Amazing Lessons I Learned by Giving up Alcohol for One Month

As a result, I intend to write more posts in 2013 with what I've learned and some discoveries about how life can unfold when one ditches alcohol for a year. Here is your February edition of lessons from month two.

1. A LOT of people want to learn how to cut back on drinking but are afraid to talk

Image: Stockbyte/Getty ImagesLately, I've been finding myself cringing as certain phrases come out of my mouth when speaking to my children. It's not one of those situations where I'm saying things my parents said that I swore I never would. It's that I'm saying things that either I know aren't really accurate or that may be something I want in that exact moment, but not things that I want to instill in my children for the long term. Here are three phrases I'm trying to eliminate from my repertoire when speaking to my kids so that I don't scar them for life.

Read More: STOP YELLING AT ME! And Other Things Our Kids Pick Up from Us

1. "Stop asking so many questions." My son is VERY inquisitive. I don't mind answering questions about the way things work or why we need to go somewhere, but he wants to know every detail about everyone's life whether it is about friends or why my phone just dinged to alert me that I had an email and who was it. "Why can't they play today? What are they having for dinner? Who called?

Stephanie VuoloIt takes a lot of effort to keep a small child engaged and focused throughout the day, especially when it is too cold or wet to get outside to break up the day during the winter. I've found a few activities that my daughter is excited to do any time I suggest them. They provide great tactile stimulation and require her to further develop her motor skills in the process. Use these as a starting point to keep your little ones in good spirits even if the weather outside is frightful.

Read More: 3 Ways to Entertain Your Kids While Exercising at Home

1. Take advantage of how fun water can be to play with. We use a lot of water-based activities even though we are inside more during the winter months. The easiest way is to get my daughter on her step stool and set up at the kitchen sink. I fill a large bowl with warm soapy water and supply her with a sponge and tools like spoons and measuring cups to play with. She spends a lot of time exploring all the options presented, such as squeezing

Photo credit: DCLQuestion from a "19 Kids and Counting" fan on Facebook: Do you celebrate Valentine's Day, and if so, how?

Our family celebrates Valentine's Day a little differently with our friends, the Query family. My dear friend Debbie Query is a widow with four children. Her husband was tragically killed in a car accident when their youngest child was 2 years old. Every year, she puts together a special luncheon for women who are on their own because of tragedy, divorce or even abandonment. She felt like it was a time of year when single women needed to be encouraged and loved. It's common to feel like a fifth wheel when you are alone, especially at Valentine's Day. It's a time when couples will usually be getting gifts for each other or going out for a Valentine's meal. Debbie and her family reach out to women that don't have a Valentine, and host a special Valentine's banquet just for them.

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The banquet is a lovely luncheon

Photo Credit: Lieven SOETE"The quickest way to give away your power is to think you don't have any."

I had never even considered that I was in an abusive relationship. I feel reluctant to admit that I stayed in one for so long, and I'm even more embarrassed to admit that I was unaware that there was such as thing as what I was experiencing at home: emotional abuse.

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When it was finally pointed out by my therapist, I was in denial. How could this be? I was well educated, socially connected, successful in business, and considered myself "aware." It took months for me to fully absorb the information and see my situation from a new perspective.

I've learned the most difficult thing for a woman is to understand how the abuse could have happened without her really realizing it. I've heard it likened to a frog being boiled alive. The idea being that if a frog is floating in a pan of lukewarm water, calm and relaxed, and the temperature is

Photo credit: mettamatI'm sure you know what it's like: that horrible moment of having to peel my kid off my leg, hand him over to the nursery school teacher, and leave the room while listening to his screams of rage. It's so upsetting to me that I fight back tears as I walk to my car. I know he'll be fine - he loves nursery school - but he needs me gone in order to remember that.

Read More: The Gym Incident: Am I an Anxious Monkey Mommy?

Psychotherapist and parent educator Andrea Nair has a solution for this kind of situation. She calls it 'attachment bridging.' By following a few simple steps, our kids can feel secure attachment to us when we're away, reducing the number of times we drop them off to the sound of wails. Nair writes, "An attachment bridge is using some form of object or words to connect the time you are together over the time you are apart, to the next time you are together again." It's important to choose an attachment bridge that doesn't increase the child's anxiety about being away from