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Metro Parent Essay: Becoming Grandma
“Grandparents are there to help the child get into mischief they haven’t thought of yet.” ~Gene Perret Our new grandson, William George, was born in December 2019. Before he arrived, I wrote an essay for Metro Parent, reflecting on my hopes and dreams, what it means to be a good grandparent. You can read it here. ~Cindy La Ferle
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Preparing for the empty nest: An essay about letting go
“It is not what you do for your children; it’s what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings.” ~Ann Landers As I post this, a good friend is on the expressway, driving her only daughter to start her first week of college in another state. I’m reminded of an essay I wrote a few weeks later after I settled into my newly emptied nest. The piece was first published in Metro Parent magazine, and later republished in Guideposts. To read it online, click here. Today our son is a married man with a family of his own — yet the topic of launching our kids to adulthood…
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Spring break for moms
“By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class.” ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh Few people need a spring vacation more than caregivers and moms with young kids. In Metro Parent, I share a memory of my visit to Captiva Island, where Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote her classic seaside meditation, Gift from the Sea — a book that has resonated with meaning throughout the parenting and caregiving stages of my life. You can read the essay online here. Photo by Cindy La Ferle
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The family columnist
“We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today.” ~Stacia Tauscher Using our kids as fodder for Facebook posts, blog posts, or newspaper columns is hardly new. But it was a thought-provoking exercise for me to revisit my own column-writing days in a “Home Forum” essay for The Christian Science Monitor. How much ink is appropriate to give our kids? Are we bragging or exploiting? How can we avoid overstepping personal boundaries or violating our children’s privacy? Please click here to read the essay. –CL
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A new season of parenting
A shaky child on a bicycle for the first time needs both support and freedom. The realization that this is what the child will always need can hit hard.” ~Sloan Wilson Note: This essay was published earlier this year (“A New Season of Parenting”) in Metro Parent magazine. It was written especially for friends whose children will be starting college this fall… It’s going to be a roller coaster year for a friend whose youngest child will graduate from high school in May, then head out of state to college in August. My friend is already working through some conflicting emotions. She gets a little teary at the thought of…
