Seven years ago, we purchased a Wii for our girls. If you can believe it, they now consider it “old.” SEVEN YEARS!!! By those standards, at 10 and 12 years of age, my girls are practically pre-historic. I have clothes I’ve been wearing longer, but in today’s age, technology moves at the speed of light and gaming systems are one of the ultimate beneficiaries of this rapidly changing technology.
Before I became a parent, I expected there would be worry. I was prepared for many sleepless nights worrying about if my children were growing, if they were learning properly, and if they would be happy. What I was 100% wholly unprepared for was the Internet. I seriously did not even give a single second of thought to how much stress the Internet plus children would create.
The first snow has already fallen in Ottawa, and it's left a pretty, white blanket behind. It's beautiful and yet I already dread the smells that accompany winter, and I'm definitely not talking about Christmas trees or hot chocolate. I'm talking about smelly boots, damp mittens and hats, ski boots parked in the hallway, and the absolute worst smell of all: wet dog.
Several years ago, after the birth of my youngest daughter, I started to have breathing problems. It started very slowly at first, but before long I was spending my entire day feeling like I couldn’t catch my breath. I set up a visit with our family doctor, and although she couldn't hear anything, she sent me for a couple of tests to confirm there was nothing she was missing.
We’re in the thick of it now, Mama. School has started, vacations are over, and extra-curricular activities are in full swing. You’ve got laundry, carpooling, work, and homework, and let’s not forget all that paperwork from school. On top of all that, you need to figure out what’s for supper too! It’s just so darn tempting to dial in for delivery, isn’t it?
A trip to a waterpark should be a mandatory summer event for every family. Even if you have a pool or a lake in your backyard, the fun of a waterpark simply can’t be matched anywhere else. Lucky for my family, we live close to Canada's biggest theme waterpark, Calypso, where we recently spent a day doing, er...research...hard research on why you and your family should visit this summer.
I like to think that I’m a very tech savvy mother. I know where to look in social accounts for security flaws, I research apps before I allow my children to have them, and regularly check all their social accounts and followers. I know all their passwords and have access to their phone 24/7. They also must hand their phones over to me at 8:30 Sunday night and they cannot have them back until Friday morning. Until today I felt confident in my abilities to manage my children’s access to media.
160 days. That’s all I have left to train for Disney’s Tower of Terror 10 Miler. Eeeesh, when I put it that way panic starts to set in. I mean 10 miles is 16 kilometres, and 16 kilometres is almost half a marathon!
This winter has been cruel. I like to think that I've handled it with grace to this point, but I will admit that the last couple of weeks have elicited some strong reactions from me. It can best be described as a grieving process. Grief over the spring that refuses to join us.
