Archive: Relationships
A Web Site for the Professional Aunt
By Sharon McLoone washingtonpost.com staff writer Mothers spend about $1.7 trillion annually on consumer products, but mothers are only about 50 percent of women in the United States. What about the other 50 percent? Chances are moms and dads leave their kids in the care of this group more than...
By Ju-Don Roberts | August 18, 2008; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (32)
The 50-50 Split
Just in time for Dad's day comes an extensive New York Times magazine piece on shared parenting. For families such as that of Amy and Marc Vachon, that means that Amy doesn't make Marc follow her routines when Marc is the parent-in-charge (known as PIC in my household). It means...
By Stacey Garfinkle | June 13, 2008; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (40)
Adoption: A Black and White Issue
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1809722,00.html http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/research/2008_05_mepa.php
By Stacey Garfinkle | June 12, 2008; 08:00 AM ET | Comments (37)
Sex After Kids
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article3997517.ece
By Stacey Garfinkle | June 2, 2008; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (33)
Parent Punishment?
If Six Flags banned you from using your CrackBerry, would you still take the kids? That's just the experiment that's going on in a theme park in Britain. Alton Towers Resort has roller coasters and other rides, shows, characters and a water park ... all the requisite family fun activities...
By Stacey Garfinkle | May 27, 2008; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Family First
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been linked to a prostitution ring and has now stepped down from his public role. While his actions as a public official aren't about parenting, I can't help but wonder how he is talking about and explaining this to his three teenage daughters. Eliot...
By Stacey Garfinkle | March 12, 2008; 11:50 AM ET | Comments (0)
Momnesia
Oops. Missed another doctor's appointment even though it was written on the calendar. Oops. Forgot to pack lunch in the backpack. Oops. There's wet laundry in the washer? There's actually a name for all that forgetfulness. It's called "momnesia," writes Liz Szabo in USA Today. "Few parents enjoy feeling so...
By Stacey Garfinkle | March 7, 2008; 07:15 AM ET | Comments (22)
The Truth About Lies
Ninety-eight percent of teens lie. So says Dr. Nancy Darling, who has studied them. Surprised? Probably not. But when does the lying start? Po Bonson explores the developmental stages of lying in a New York magazine piece this week, Learning to Lie. In it, child lying behavior expert Dr. Victoria...
By Stacey Garfinkle | February 14, 2008; 09:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
The Sandwich Dilemma
Taking care of a kid or two or five is plenty of work all on its own. But add an ailing parent to the mix, and life becomes downright messy. Reader Kate touched on this earlier this week in "As Life Shifts, So Do Friends": I lost touch with friends...
By Stacey Garfinkle | January 25, 2008; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
As Life Shifts, So Do Friends
While still in college, my best friend from high school got married. She was so young, in my early-twenty-something eyes, that a shift in our friendship was inevitable. It didn't hurt that we attended college across the country from each other and simply grew apart as we met different people...
By Stacey Garfinkle | January 23, 2008; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Dating Rules Do Apply
When it comes to dating in a world where teens text and post on each other's "walls," in a world where a comment on a Facebook or MySpace page can circulate to thousands in the blink of an eye, are there new rules we parents should contemplate? Bill Albert, the...
By Stacey Garfinkle | January 16, 2008; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (34)
A Little Holiday Cheer
What would the last workday before many folks take off for Christmas be without some feel-good stories? (Okay, for the record, I'm the Jew crew next week and will be working, though not blog writing.) Anyways, let's hear it for: 1. The rescue of Frederick Dominguez and his three children...
By Stacey Garfinkle | December 21, 2007; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Mom and Dad on Equal Footing
When I heard that my colleague Jill Hudson Neal was writing a Still Me column about how -- even today -- women wash the dishes while men sit and watch football at Thanksgiving, I rolled my eyes. Yet again, these stereotypes surface that I simply don't see in my life....
By Stacey Garfinkle | November 28, 2007; 12:00 AM ET | Comments (61)
Traditions Old, Traditions New
Turkey day. A time for family. A time to give thanks. A week full of cooking a large homemade meal that everyone at the table appreciates. Thanksgiving day in our house has evolved over the years to become much different than the Thanksgivings my mother hosted. In those, Mom would...
By Stacey Garfinkle | November 19, 2007; 08:00 AM ET | Comments (66)
Skimpy Skirts or Modest Fairies?
Whew! Another Halloween's come and gone. And the girls' costume wars can begin anew next year. After reading Brigid Schulte's story on preteens trading fairy wands for fishnets, I wondered: Who's going to win the costume battles this year, the girls or the parents? In my neck of the woods,...
By Stacey Garfinkle | November 1, 2007; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (31)
Family Planning Gone Too Far?
An election is coming! An election is coming! Shout it from the rooftops. No baby this year. An election is coming! For many election-obsesseddevoted women and men whose jobs revolve around campaigns, having a baby in an election year is too disruptive to their work. So, they plan around it....
By Stacey Garfinkle | October 31, 2007; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (35)
A Comic Strip Mom's Death
The story is tragic. A thirty-six-year-old mom with a husband and five-year-old daughter dies after years of battling breast cancer. Now, add a twist. The mom, Lisa Moore, isn't real. She's a Funky Winkerbean comic strip character. Readers of the comic tell NPR on air that they are split between...
By Stacey Garfinkle | October 17, 2007; 07:39 AM ET | Comments (44)
Well, Britney, Here's How You Parent...
For now, Britney Spears and Kevin Federline will continue an even custody split of sons Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1. But court commissioner Scott Gordon imposed some rules on Britney: random drug and alcohol testing and eight hours a week of parenting classes with a coach. So, let's...
By Stacey Garfinkle | September 21, 2007; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (30)
What Makes a Good Parent?
Once upon a time, in la la land far, far away, a prince met a princess. They got married and had babies. And all was well in the world. And then the world changed. Welcome to United States circa 2007. Births to unmarried mothers is at an all-time high (nearly...
By Stacey Garfinkle | September 20, 2007; 07:30 AM ET | Comments (42)
Do They Know Who Mom Is?
In last week's Trust Your Instincts blog, we had an interesting -- though overly nasty at times -- discussion. Here's a flavor of some comments: Anonymous: Seriously- at camp 9 hours a day not including drive time? It's a wonder your child even knows who you are. So sad... :(...
By Stacey Garfinkle | July 3, 2007; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (120)
Do You Love Your Kids the Same?
My kids are different -- I happily admit that. One is an engineer in the making. He's all about building based on directions, and math, math, math. The kid did tangrams at age 3 and 500 piece puzzles at age 4. The other is a more creative, verbal and touchy-feely...
By Stacey Garfinkle | July 2, 2007; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Father's Day Revisited
As is to be expected, the media had a field day with dads this weekend. Stay-at-home dads were on the minds of The Post, The Salt Lake Tribune, The Denver Post, The New York Daily News and The Washington State Olympian as well as a few other media outlets. For...
By Stacey Garfinkle | June 18, 2007; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
School's Out for the Summer
To any of you with preschoolers moving to kindergarten, elementary schoolers moving to middle school, middle schoolers moving to high school, high schoolers moving to college: Congratulations on passing a milestone. Your child's moving on. As I sat in elder son's classroom just after graduation yesterday, the teacher had them...
By Stacey Garfinkle | June 15, 2007; 09:13 AM ET | Comments (0)
The Best Age To Become A Parent
You know you want kids. But you've got a life to live, a career to build and a partner to find. So, you wait. And before you know it, you're in your late 30s or 40s. Your biological clock has been ticking away. Getting pregnant becomes harder. Infertility treatments cost...
By Stacey Garfinkle | June 11, 2007; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Single Parenting Ups and Downs
I've been a single parent for four days. Thankfully, my spouse returns from his out-of-town work trip today -- and not a moment too soon. I could use some much needed sleep. As far as I'm concerned, single parents must have an extra patience gene. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, playing,...
By Stacey Garfinkle | June 5, 2007; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (98)
Some Parents Make It Home...
Memorial Day weekend coverage was filled with tear-jerker stories of parents, sons and daughters who have died in the Iraq War. In the Newsweek video series, Voices of the Fallen, Michael Mundell's wife talks about her husband as a father. His children, full of sadness, read from the letters he...
By Stacey Garfinkle | May 29, 2007; 09:19 AM ET | Comments (0)
Supernanny's 'Seeds'
"Supernanny" was in town this past weekend. No, not British nanny Jo Frost herself, but the show's casting producers. And a funny thing happened: The turnout at their casting call was slim pickings. The show put a good spin on it. Casting producer Kim Clevenger told The Post: "People usually...
By Stacey Garfinkle | May 24, 2007; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (31)
The Choices We Make
New parent-to-be and Post workplace columnist Amy Joyce wrote a thoughtful piece this weekend about impending motherhood and the life choices she is about to make. So many questions, so few answers. Amy, in case you're reading this, that doesn't change, even years after that baby has been born. At...
By Stacey Garfinkle | May 16, 2007; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
A Wish for Mother's Day
This Mother's Day I'll wish for something a tad unusual: I'll hope for my mother to die. She would want it that way. I recognize this wish is unusual, and most people don't understand it. I certainly don't speak this wish aloud very often, though I think it nearly every...
By Stacey Garfinkle | May 11, 2007; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Mothers and Daughters
Apparently, all those times my mother called my hair "a mop," it was out of love. And all the times she told me I was fat -- even though I was a competitive swimmer going to practice for four to seven hours per day -- that, too, was love. That's...
By Stacey Garfinkle | April 10, 2007; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Date Night
First comes relationship, then comes baby, then comes ... what's that? More dating? That's right. After the sleep deprivation, the months and years of feedings, diapers, night wakings, learning to roll, sit, crawl, walk, talk, read, etc., there comes a time for spouses, partners, adults in general to take some...
By Stacey Garfinkle | February 22, 2007; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
