Personal Archives - Page 2 of 4

21Jul

You Can’t Stop Time. But You Sure Can Enjoy Yourself.

Posted by The Culture Mom Leave a Comment

It was the early 1990s and I was doing some work at my university's radio station. Every morning I announced the the morning headlines at precisely 6:45 am, and I had to get there early enough to check the AP wires and figure out the day's headlines (don't ask me how I woke up). Before and after my broadcast, and every chance I got, I'd listen to the station. It was a mix of alternative, rock and classic music, most of it I loved. It was around that time I got turned on to Jill Sobule, a singer from Denver. Her songs about adolescence, feminism, Read More

05Jul

Living Away from Family

Posted by The Culture Mom 3 Comments

While reading my good friend, Squashed Mom's blog (a must read if not on your radar) today about how she spent July 4th with her cousins, I felt tears slowly come out of my eyes and drip on the keyboard. Her post was about how she spent July 4th with her cousins and close family, mainly out of necessity ( to visit an ill relation) but the day turned into a reunion and celebration of their love for each other with a visit to the beach. I cried for the family that lives far away, for the reunions and celebrations that we can't have very often. I moved Read More

01Jul

A MishMash of Thoughts on Doing it All, Special Needs and Summertime

Posted by The Culture Mom 1 Comment

"I think you're closer to Max since you've been here," my mom said to me after a week long visit in her house. Right when school ended, we came down south for a week to stay with my mother. My goal was to spend time with her during a much needed healing process and to place my kids in the camp I grew up in. When we arrived, his behavior was up and down. Sporadic. Unpredictable. We were both not sure if he would wake up on the right side of bed to go to camp or whether he would lay there for an hour and struggle to dress, eat breakfast and leave Read More

28Jun

Summer Camp Away From Home

Posted by The Culture Mom 12 Comments

A few months I made a decision to send my kids to the camp I grew up at this summer. It is still possible to visit my mother who is still living in the house I grew up in, which may or may not be for much longer. I have very vivid, happy memories of my time at this one camp and I wanted to give the same experience to both my kids: singing on the yellow bus that took me back and forth to camp, canoeing, archery, horseback riding, cooking, camping out in the woods, being a good enough swimmer to make swim team. Most of all, I remember the Jewish Read More

12Jun

Tween Talk

Posted by The Culture Mom 2 Comments

My daughter turned nine a few months ago and I have already seen changes in our conversations. They are getting heavier and more complex. I'm having to really dig into my brain and my heart to provide the right answers and guide her in the right direction as she enters this new phase of life, inches closer to being a pre-teen, then a teen-ager, then an adult. Can we please slow down time? When I talk to her, I'm shifting my memory back to my own childhood and sharing my own stories with her so she can see that she is not alone (" When I was your Read More

25May

Thinking About Etan Patz, the Atlanta Missing and Murdered Children and My Own Kids

Posted by The Culture Mom Leave a Comment

As I write, I'm lying in bed with my 9 year-old daughter. We're staying in a B&B in the Adirondacks. We spent today experiencing a number of firsts for both my kids. It was the first time they'd ever been for a ride in a canoe. It was the first time they'd ever ridden in a tractor. It was even the first time they'd ever eaten chicken parmesan. I spent the day watching their faces. Faces of curiosity and bewilderment. Faces of happiness and excitement. My son was literally jumping for joy after his ride on the tractor. Suddenly a trip that Read More

17Apr

Not doing it All…and Realizing That’s Okay

Posted by The Culture Mom 1 Comment

Having just returned from two weeks away (I was in England, if you haven't noticed and yes, my children did come back with slight British accents), I feel somewhat overwhelmed. Work deadlines, dance recitals, violin practice, dance lessons, swim lessons, homework, state tests. So much to keep track of. It's never easy to jump right back in after being outside our everyday norm. Before we left, I was worried about how I could pick up and leave so many things. But my husband wanted to to go to the UK, as he was homesick and wanted to spend Passover Read More

19Jan

I Don’t Know How She Does It, Either by Shari Simpson

Posted by The Culture Mom 22 Comments

This is the fourth entry in “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” a series of guest posts about the working mom/stay-at-home dilemma. It’s written by Shari Simpson, the co-writer of the comedy “Maybe Baby, It’s You” , (Dramatic Publishing, Inc.) and the non-dizzy redhead behind the blog “Earth Mother just means I’m dusty.” She is also the editor of Mommy Poppins NJ and writes a weekly humor column for Aiming Low. Shari won a 2006 Telly Award in the “Social Issues” category for her short film script “Positive Choice” and writes for the HOPE Worldwide Read More

16Jan

On Finding Balance: Who, What, Where, Why, and How by Elena Sonnino

Posted by The Culture Mom 16 Comments

This is the third entry in “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” a series of guest posts about the working mom/stay-at-home dilemma. It’s written by Elena Soninno, the founder of Ciao Mom and Just.Be.Enough. Italian by birth, a mom, a teacher, a wife, a runner & triathlete, and a cancer survivor, Elena strives to carry the extra weight of empowerment and self-confidence through her writing. She started Just.Be.Enough. last year in the hope of inspiring women, parents, and children to believe in themselves. I met Elena at BlogHer in 2011 Read More

13Jan

Work at Home Vs. Stay at Home is so 1992 by Bonnie Rothman Morris

Posted by The Culture Mom 27 Comments

This is the second entry in “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” a series of guest posts about the working mom/stay-at-home dilemma. It's written by Bonnie Rothman Morris, the owner of Company B, a branding, public relations and social media expert known for her creative approaches to marketing. Her clients have included Kaplan, Achilles International, Gevalia, Kaplan, Inc. and Shaw Henderson Interior Design . She has counseled and developed campaigns for some of the world’s leading marketers, including Kraft Foods, eBay, American Express, Read More