Author Archives: Jodi Cohen
Sainted for airplane kindness
“I get on the plane with my kids. People sitting next to me look at me in disgust and say, “Move”. A woman shared this after she witnessed me agree to give up my cozy aisle seat for a cramped middle seat so a single mom traveling alone with her three kids (all under five) [...]
Exclusion from Parties
Tis the season for birthday parties and holiday parties which means your child may feel excluded from some social gatherings. This one seems to be a very tough one for us momma bears. We hate to see our child hurt and we struggle intensely with how to fix it. Should we call the other parent? [...]
Posted in Birthday party politics, Preschool 1 Comment
Keeping Pace in the Parenting Race
I remember sitting in a playgroup and listening to all the other moms rattling off their children’s activities. Music class. Ballet. Soccer. Swimming. Spanish. Chinese. Our kids were not yet two. Nonetheless, I remember having a silent panic attack that I had already failed my child. I hadn’t introduced her to music or foreign language. [...]
Posted in Competimommy 2 Comments
Hurting other people’s houses
It’s bad enough when you’re little one destroys furniture in your own house, but even worse when it happens in someone else’s house. We were enjoying a lovely thanksgiving celebration – great wine, food, conversation, until…. My four year old son decided to write his name in pen on our host’s leather couch. As you [...]
Sugar Nazis
We know them. We dread them. We fear being shunned when we see ourselves turning into them. I get it and I’ve lived all sides. I was annoyed when friends would judge me for giving my oldest child juice or chocolate milk or gasp, a cookie. “Whatever,” I thought. “It’s not going to kill her. [...]
Allowing our kids to feel disappointed
I had a weird experience at an open gym the other day. My son was playing happily with one of the many toys in a room as I checked my email on my phone. The next thing I knew another kid was crying and the other kid’s mother was talking harshly to my son. I [...]
Tattling on Another Person’s Child
Is it ever your place to tell another parent about her child’s less than perfect behavior? We all want our little angles to behave both in our presence and when we are not around, but do we really need to know every detail? Will the feedback be embraced or the messenger killed? This morning, my [...]
Accommodating allergies