Category - Monday TakeAway

There are pros and cons in being a mindful-conscious-thoughtful mother. On the one hand, you don’t let the joys of raising children pass by you unnoticed. On the other hand, you don’t let anything less-than-perfect in your own behavior towards your children go unnoticed either! All too often this results in unnecessarily harsh self-judgment and feelings of inadequacy. (Is it only me?) Which brings me to Leah’s question, the star of today’s episode: “How do I avoid abandoning my parenting values in the midst of the stress when my baby is crying and dinner must be prepared?” That gives an[…]

This week I’m responding to a parenting question that really touched me. First of all, because it was sent in by a father. And second, because he describes the pain of not being able to help his children when they cry—a situation moms are so familiar with as well—that is the cause of feelings of guilt and incompetence. But let me ask you: if you’re in the midst of a challenging parenting situation, and you feel helpless, and you look helpless, are you really helpless? Wouldn’t parenting feel different if you stopped believing that you don’t know what to do?[…]

My kids are on a break from school for Passover. But my #1 concern right now is not the intense cleaning, shopping, endless expenses or the cooking. My top concern right now is my how to keep quiet when the kids are getting on my nerves with everything they do and everything they don’t do. It’s because I know that my “little helpful comment” sometimes turns into a full-blown rant. On the Hebrew calendar, Passover and spring mark not only the season of national freedom for the Jewish people, but also the season of PERSONAL freedom from limitations. And in[…]

When I think of my younger university days, I’m not sure what I miss more: is it the library fifth floor and the intellectual atmosphere, or the cafeteria-hopping where I mindlessly poured countless $2 coffee down my throat? For the most part, people who haven’t yet experienced parenthood–and that includes the carefree student that I was– cannot imagine HOW MUCH of our personal agenda we put aside as we raise our children. Why would they? Even I, as I was diving into the topic of this week’s episode on the “parenting challenge” of drinking your tea or coffee while it’s[…]