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Family

Things I am grateful for right now

Desk with laptop and candles in front of bay window
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We have plenty of coffee in our cupboard. What’s not in bloom has buds, promises, waiting. By Kara Gebhart Uhl

May 1, 2020 Culture, Parenting Challenges

I lost my mother. This is how I know when she’s with me.

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It has to be a single leaf, floating through the sky by itself. Do you have a mom sign? By Kandace Chapple

April 27, 2020 Parenting Challenges

Movies to watch with your family right now

movie night sign with popcorn and other symbols coming out of it
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Every night this family of five sits down together to watch a movie. Rotating who picks, no opting out. By Daisy Alpert Florin

April 17, 2020 Culture, Family

A thank you note to all teachers

Black and white photo of three small children sitting around a mother with her head down on a table
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This job is hard—physically, mentally, emotionally—it’s so damn hard. By Maureen Boesen

April 13, 2020 Culture, Family

What the women in the waiting room are thinking

empty crib against green triangle wallpaper
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Every fertility journey is different. You never really know what somebody else is going through. By Amy Klein

April 9, 2020 Books, Family

The relentless anxiety of being a single parent right now

parent sitting down hugging small child in sleep suit standing up
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Let your children see you trying. Let them see you cry. By Kaci Curtis

April 8, 2020 Culture, Family

This is how perspectives change during a hard time

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He said, “I never knew you started dinner at 4pm every weekday.” By Teresa B. Duffy

April 6, 2020 Culture, Family

Forgiving myself as a mother, especially now

hands together with a yellow flower coming through
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My kids are used to my loud, Jewish-mom complaining—but not this unkindness. Not this anxiety-fueled rage. By Hannah Grieco

April 1, 2020 Culture, Family, Parenting Challenges

Parenting in the time of coronavirus

photo of an empty swing at sunset
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We want to hear from you. Motherwell is here to tell your stories.

March 17, 2020 Culture

Learning to make my mother’s holiday cookies again

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I ignored her recipe for many years as a way to avoid the loss. By Marcia Kester Doyle

December 12, 2019 Parenting Challenges

My child wanted to be a boy

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I’m surprised by how many moms give me the thumbs-up for “letting” my daughter be a pirate. By Mimi Lemay

December 11, 2019 Books, Culture

When your sister has a miscarriage

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After bursting into tears, you text your brother-in-law: “Sorry, this is awkward, but make sure she doesn’t use a tampon for the bleeding.” By Lorren Lemmons

December 10, 2019 Family, Parenting Challenges

The Santa myth is hard work and I won’t miss it

Santa ornament on Christmas tree
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As much as I love Christmas, without Santa I felt only glee and relief at the massive reduction in my December workload. By Michelle Deininger

December 4, 2019 Culture, Family

If I had the chance to parent all over again

Empty blue playground seat swing and metal chain with pretty sunset in the background
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I’d raise my family differently, not because of the mistakes I made—though I certainly made my share—but because time means so much more to me now. By Melissa T. Shultz

September 26, 2019 Family

How I came to appreciate my father’s weekly letters

stack of letter tied together with twine on a table
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They arrived. One after the other. In snowstorms. On holidays. From foreign countries. In succession—as inevitable it seemed as midterms and finals. By David Joseph

September 24, 2019 Family

How my baby changed the way I look in the mirror

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My eyes focus on my abdomen, the bulge pregnancy has left behind. My inner critic opens her mouth…but then I take in the whole picture. By Chrissie Dunham

September 12, 2019 Family

Learning again how to pass the time

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Cell phones do not work here, and on a good day it takes only ten minutes to open email. By Mindy R. Roll

August 22, 2019 Family

The day I helped my mother pick out a wig

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My mom took off her scarf and revealed her bald head. We all braced ourselves, but the woman at the shop didn’t flinch. By Kandace Chapple

July 16, 2019 Parenting Challenges

How to talk with my daughter about anti-semitism

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My parents grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust. Neither one of them knew how to tell me what had happened, so instead they said nothing. By Elissa Jacobs

June 27, 2019 Culture, Family

To my absent dad on Father’s Day, with love

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My father was an every-other-weekend dad, then a once-a-summer dad and, finally, a phone-it-in dad. Then we lost touch. By Stephen J. Lyons

June 12, 2019 Parenting Challenges

It’s possible to stay too long at the fair

Titled shot of the top of a red and gold carousel with a vintage-like filter.
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These words by Joan Didion summed up my twenties, but they also capture the predicament of my current midlife crisis. By Elizabeth Newdom

May 20, 2019 Parenting Challenges

The gift of togetherness with a baby in the NICU

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We already lived paycheck to paycheck, how in the world would we scrounge up the money to stay in even a cheap hotel near our daughter? By Anna Whitlock

March 26, 2019 Family, Parenting Challenges

Useful tips on how to raise a reader

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Actions speak louder than words. Take your kids to the library once a week or make regular outings to your local bookstore. By Regan McMahon

March 6, 2019 Culture

What happens when my son is with me in the ladies restroom

Mom smile while holding arm of adult autistic son in backyard of home
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Why in the world had I even brought the kids to the store? I just wanted to go home, have a good cry and forget about autism for a while. By Jennifer Jones

February 28, 2019 Parenting Challenges

How I spent the first Thanksgiving after my divorce

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My sister had asked me to bake. “Keep her busy” was the secret code among my family members that season. By Nancy Payne-Hambrose

November 19, 2018 Parenting Challenges

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