Category Archives: Conflict with Friends
Shame — How others influence your parenting
At a birthday party this weekend, another mother who I have known causally for years snapped at me that my son was too close to her daughter. It wasn’t so much what she was asking – her kid doesn’t like people too close to her and I respect that – but how she did it [...]
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Even Charlotte feels Judged
In the new Sex in the City movie, Charlotte and Miranda struggle with mommy guilt and judgment. Miranda for picking work over her child’s milestones and Charlotte for feeling overwhelmed, frustrated and imperfect, even with full time help (think Mary Poppins, sans the bra). Over lunch, when Charlotte’s child starts to cry inconsolably, Miranda tries [...]
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Why we care what Other People think of our Parenting Choices?
“Girls think other people’s opinions are a good way to judge their abilities,” Mindset author Carol Dweck mentioned in a speech last night. Through her extensive research on fostering success, Dweck found that girls, and as a result women, give far more weight to other people’s opinions than their male peers. I found this interesting [...]
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Torture Momma
A friend related a story about how she was trying to encourage her three year old daughter to toughen up and walk the few blocks between their house and her brother’s preschool pick up. Used to being carried, the daughter pitched a fit in the middle of the street. “I can’t walk! My legs hurt. [...]
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Are most of us lonelier than we realize?
“We are far lonelier that most of us even realize,” a source explained to me during an interview. At first blush, I couldn’t imagine that this observation applied to me. Afterall, I am so busy and I spend my day talking to other moms – at preschool and kindergarten drop off and pick up, running [...]
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When Other People’s Kids Push your Buttons
Have you ever been with a friend who flipped because your child did something that totally doesn’t bother you? Maybe your child talked too loudly, or interrupted you mid conversation or asked a question mid-chew. Annoying, absolutely? Cause for extreme punishment? Your friend seems to think so. You may think she’s over-reacting. But we all [...]
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Secrets: Can our Shame Hurt our Children?
Shame. The dictionary defines it as the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, ridiculous, etc., done by oneself or another. Shame is a popular emotion among us moms, along with guilt, fear, anxiety and frustration. On the simpliest level, we may feel shame if our child talks too loudly in public, [...]
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Money Changes Everything
Since motherhood, Mary is finding it harder and harder to maintain her friendship with Cara. Mary can hardly believe she feels this way because she and Cara have been super close friends since college. Both are SAHMs, but Mary’s husband makes considerably less money than Cara’s. Whenever Mary and Cara hang out during the day [...]
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Can this friendship survive children?
After kids you may expect to drift apart from your childless pals. But not from friends with kids the same age. Or maybe not? It seems to come as a surprise to most of us when long term friends, the ones with whom we have so much in common and a rich shared history, have [...]
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Letting your child experience disappointment