Adventures In Motherhood

Defeat builds resilience and losing gracefully is a lifelong skill of maturity. Too often children today are sheltered from discomfort with the 'every child's a winner' mentality. Luckily, my son's 5th grade Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) team 'Dumbledore's Army' experienced defeat last night. Losing gracefully to 'The Unicorn Ewok's', a team of 3rd grade girls, they failed to make the top eight teams in the tournament's second round and another mark of resilience was earned! Dumbledore's Army is anything but a failure and certainly not made up of losers. Rather, the team is comprised of five boys with the greatest sense of humor and zest for life. I was honored to coach their team, though it took every ounce of patience I could muster on Friday afternoons to practice book trivia together. Avid readers, three of the boys, including my son, returned this year to form a larger team of five, including an alternate player. Having been sh

I often feel outnumbered as a parent with four children at different stages of maturity. Sometimes I amusingly picture myself barely hanging onto a life raft, a child dangling on each arm and one slung on my back, while my husband tosses me a fourth child from the sinking Titanic ship of life. This was one of those mornings when I needed to summon all of my 'lifelines' to gain courage as a parent, rather than succumb to the icebergs of parenthood. No stranger to my circus, I've learned through the years that in order to maintain my balance, I need to take care of myself, or risk drowning amidst the raging waves of children's hormones. Setting off on a run this morning to gather my parenting thoughts and positive endorphins, I was looking for any sign of encouragement, Pandora tunes energizing my stride. Always cautious of my surroundings, I noticed an older gentleman approaching me from ahead, the path rather empty otherwise. An enthusiastic "Good Morning!"

Why are mom's always required to think quick before their morning Cup of Joe? Today was no different than any other day of hectic school departures, yet barely into my morning coffee and news, my ten-year-old caught me off guard with his toothless grin. 'Oh s*&%!', I thought to myself. No one loaded the 'dead drop' and the tooth fairy's cover is surely blown this time thanks to a parenting fail! Sauntering into the kitchen after his three siblings had already departed for school, my ten-year-old asked me to guess what happened to him. Last night I attended a school meeting leaving my playful husband (a.k.a. my 5th child) tasked with the evening routine, which undoubtedly dissolved into WWE wrestling and horseplay among the boys past their normal bedtime hour. Out of sight, out of mind, is my mantra, thrilled to escape the chaos with purposeful return at least an hour past 'lights out'. Responding to my wise-guy son, my mind assumed the worst outcom