Adventures In Motherhood

I don't know what's worse, fist pounding thumps on the dinner table that make flickering candles jump while my heart skips a beat, or the stubborn silence he punishes me with for days, my heart aching for a word of peace or flicker of hope in my child's smirk. Numbness forcing back tears reminds me I have become that parent. "I hate you, you are the worst mom ever…" Slam! An exclamation point door slam on the challenging life I created when I became a mother four times over. Now Coronavirus lock-down. I'm left questioning my every move as a parent, a gaming battle of screen-time vs. stubborn silence. My 7th grade son is desperate for control that gaming rewards him. *********************** The shouts of ear piercing anger mixed with cuss words. I hardly recognized my soon to be thirteen-year-old son in the deep voice declaring, "You control f*&%ing everything." Throwing his Ipad at me amidst his blood curdling screams and F-bomb, the conseq...

Porn Hub dot com. I was blindsided by the images I found searching my web browser history. We had not used protection! The graphic nature of the moving ads alone burned my retinas with disproportionate images that hardly made physical sense. Logging into my computer I found the first clue. A computer hastily closed raised my suspicion. My intuition to search its web browser was a virtual a gold mine. December 28th, for an entire six minutes someone watched 'Dirty Little Stepsister'. Who knew 'Walking the Dog' was as perverse as Spanking the Monkey or Choking the Chicken? On November 8th, I found an explicit title that made my jaw hit the floor. The history in between deleted, thanks to my stealthy Christmas shopping savvy, always erasing my purchases for snooping teens, along with my red-hot trail of evidence. How much porn had been digested by virgin eyes? Sick to my stomach, I screamed for my husband upstairs. I knew it wasn't him. A computer expert woul...

Clash Royale is not just a popular Supercell video game, it's also what happens when an inch of snow falls in Portland, schools are closed, and your mom tries to go 'old school' banning the use of screen time as long as humanly possible. "But mom, we already had a snowball fight, there's not enough snow left to build a snowman and the sledding hill is mud! Plus, we already played a board game and foosball, and you made us play soccer and basketball in the street," said my 11-year-old, working every angle. Hell yes, I told them to go play in the street! Where's the sense of adventure on a day without school? Shaking my head, I marvel at six neighborhood boys who can't find a creative thing to do. "Can we please play Clash Royale together?" the other boys chime in. When I was a kid... we walked uphill in an Iowa blizzard of 50 below wind-chill in three feet of snow to school and spent summer hours lost in the woods or neighb...

"We are the only kids that don't have smartphones at school!” insist my four children.  Even my 2nd grade son has children in his class with the latest and greatest smartphones.  I recall this conversation from my own childhood and it somehow revolved around getting a corded telephone for my bedroom.  New technology, even greater challenges... Having moved halfway across the country at the start of my daughter's 8th grade year in middle school, we were keenly aware of her need to build social relationships a.s.a.p.  When our daughter named every known child her age with a smart phone, we quickly realized that she was quite possibly the only 8th grade student in Oregon and Colorado without a smartphone.  Having experienced traumatic family moves during my formative teen years, my daughter knew I was an easy sell, and my three younger sons began their campaign as well.  Fortunately as parents, we have Bill Gates on our side.  How can children argue ...