May, 2020 | PulseonParenting

To All the Classes of 2020: This One’s For You

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May 28 2020

This is not how it was supposed to go. Turning in your last final exam should have felt like more than relief. You didn’t get the heady feeling of walking out of your school for the last time as a student. No senior trips. No prom. None of the rituals you observed a year ago, thinking, Next year that’s gonna be me and friends. It may not seem like there is a silver lining. But there is. There may not be the traditional fanfare of a graduation ceremony, but you do have a unique story to tell. The promise of…

May 21 2020

Let’s change the subject. COVID-19 is still very much a part of our lives, but there comes a time when some lighter fare is just what we need, something a bit more digestible. So let’s talk food obsessions. We’re cooking at home and baking now more than ever, so food is a distraction and even the main attraction during our time stuck at home. Comfort foods rule. So does humor. And comfort-food humor is good for the soul. It brings us together, like cookies and hot pockets. Nutella is the great uniter of sorts in our household. It sparks a…

May 14 2020

I was soooo ready to take the reins on this. When we got word that our school district was going to start remote schooling in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, I went about setting up a schedule for my kids to follow while they homeschooled. They needed structure. They needed to do their chores. They needed free time. They needed things laid out neatly so they could do school as best as they could. But what they really needed was for me to get out of the way. Wow, was this a tough realization for me to swallow. I had…

May 07 2020

John Oliver gets it. On March 16th he invited us to join him in a primal scream of sorts. In front of a white screen, during the first taping of his show Last Week Tonight while in isolation, he gives us permission to vent (it happens at about minute 18:00): Get it out. Really get. it. out. We all have had to give up something, and been disappointed or frustrated, by the new reality thrust upon us by the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s totally ok to feel this way. But we can’t let these feelings consume us. Or our fear. It’s…

May 04 2020

News flash: I sometimes post my opinions on social media. I even post my frustrations. Recently a friend from high school messaged me how angry she was at one of my Facebook posts. Her ire spread from that particular opinion, to one of my “likes” and from there to how much she despised my exercise regiment and shoe choice and everything in between. It was a stunning tirade that soon revealed the fuel behind it: Fear. Fear of COVID-19. Fear of being unprepared. Fear that she wouldn’t be able to get toilet paper. Pure fear drove her anger, and it…

Archive - May 2020

To All the Classes of 2020: This One’s For You

Jim Gaffigan: Hot Pockets. Cookie Monster: Cookies. Our Family: Nutella.

The Book Every Parent Needs to Read

Gratitude: a Stone’s Throw From Disappointment

Fear: How to Cope and Help Our Kids Do the Same