ExpectingWords.com - Helping expecting couples find the right words at the right times

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Moms can be meanies. It’s no surprise that when I wrote about this sad fact on my blog, I had nearly a dozen responses of women sharing their experience of being attacked by other moms.

Jen, who has a 5 year old son with Autism explained that when he was younger she would keep him on a baby harness so he wouldn’t run off on her outside, which he had done many times. She had one mother telling her she was treating her son like a dog. Another told her she was cruel.

Georgia wrote that she was attacked during her pregnancy for gaining too much weight and deciding to induce labor. But everyone has their reasons.

For Georgia, she induced because (more…)

My friend, Robin Saks Frankel, who is a stay-at-home mom (SAHM) and founder of Crib Notes, an e-newsletter for parents of kids ages zero to three, told me that she loves her husband, but she can’t stand him when he offers opinions on raising their young children.  “When my husband has parenting suggestions I get annoyed, even though he certainly has the right as the daddy to be a part of the decision-making process.”

Despite her admission of his fatherly rights, the emotional tug of “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” is too much of a draw and they get into unnecessary fights.  After all, she doesn’t tell her husband what to do at work, so why should he interfere with her job at home?  I can imagine her rolling her eyes at her partner’s naïve parenting suggestion like “just ignore him” when their toddler throws his vegetables on the floor.  Her response: Ignore him?  When I do that he just continues throwing the rest of the food on the floor and he eats nothing for dinner.

My advice for her and for any loving mother and wife is (more…)

I read a book.  It changed everything I thought about parenting.  Raising a Child With Soul: How Time-Tested Jewish Wisdom Can Shape Your Child’s Character by Slovie Jungreis-Wolff is heavy on lessons and heavy on Bible stories.  But don’t let that scare you.  Even if you’re not Jewish or Christian, there are insights from Jungreis-Wolff that will change the way you parent forever.

I feel desperate to share one of many remarkable insights I gained from this book.  I want to SHOUT this idea to all parents from the top of the Empire State Building.

Jungreis-Wolff writes that one key to building good character in young children is to avoid false praise.  She says that when a child displays a special interest or talent (baking cookies, drawing a picture, finger-painting, etc.) do not give false praise that they are amazing painters, superb chefs or the best artists. Do not hang every picture on the fridge.  Doing that will only make their knees buckle when the real world shows them that they are not as talented as they thought they were.  (more…)

Today, I’m excited to share my guest post on guest post on RookieMoms.com.

I wrote about 5 fun activities to do with your spouse to keep your relationship strong.

My husband and I know that our son adds a lot of stress to our relationship, so we use these activities to stay connected.

Perhaps they will make a difference for you too.

Maybe I’m old fashioned, but aren’t parents supposed to set the rules in their house?  In the Sunday Styles section of The New York Times, Jan Hoffman wrote the article “Masculinity in a Spray Can” about the use of body wash, face wash, exfoliator, hair gel, body hydrator, body spray, deodorant and shaving cream by 10 to 14-year old boys who say they feel more confident and attractive when they wear the products.  The article pointed to one desperate mother who keeps the windows open in her car when she drives her sons to school because of the overwhelming smell of the products they use.  I was not impressed.  She’s driving them to school!  That’s a gift of her time and money.  Can’t she set the rules about the use of unnecessary body products so she’s not held victim in her own car?

Companies like AXE say they market body products to 18-24 year olds, but those ads appeal to children who want to be more attractive, and more adult-like.  In our over-sexualized culture, I think it’s the parents’ job to demand that kids act like kids. (more…)