Big Kid
ADHD and College Prep: The Last Frontier?
My high school senior is more ready for college than I’d imagined, except for this one little issue that could turn into a giant issue. I have to trust her.
Big Kid
Push. Pull.
As the clock ticks down on my oldest’s remaining time at home before launch, the pushing and pulling between us intensifies, bittersweet.
Big Kid
Confessions of a Recovering Naggy McNaggerson
A lifetime of nagging my children in the name of “helping” is coming to a close, because we all need me to back off. It’s hard, but I’m working on it.
Big Kid
When “I’m an Adult!” is Still a Kid in Your House
How do we switch gears from “child we provide for” to “young adult who must provide for herself” in a way that makes sense? In our case, slowly.
Big Kid
Teens: Learning To Let Go
Micromanagement is my middle name, but as my kids approach adulthood I’m actively scaling back so they can shine in spite of me.
Big Kid
College Worries, Big and Small
As I try to prepare both my kid for college and myself for her launch out of the nest next year, I’m realizing my worrying strategy may be skewed.
Big Kid
Transitioning To An Empty Nest
I finally bought a new car, but is it just a car or the beginning of a bunch of transitions on our way to empty-nest-dom?
Big Kid
Bathroom Remodel: Neurotic Parent of Teens Edition
A remodeling project is always fraught, but throw soon-to-fly-the-coop teens into the mix, and I’m even more neurotic than usual. Surprise.
Your Life
This is a Story About a Bunch of “Probably Nothing”s
There’s nothing like a few little health scares to make you think about your assumptions and the future.
Big Kid
Failure to Launch: Removing the Parental Safety Net
What can be done when a young adult has been enabled by her parents and is now completely immune to failure or consequences?
Big Kid
D-Day: College Dorm Drop-Off and Beyond
Was the first college dorm drop-off the stuff of legends? Actually, it felt remarkably normal, even as everything is changing, now.
Big Kid
Different and the Same, Nearly-Grown Edition
Life with teens is completely different than life with little kids, and yet there are echoes everywhere of days past. Maybe it’s not so different, after all.
Big Kid
Thoughts From An Almost-Empty Nest
I never felt like the years were flying by until now, and with my kids finishing up high school, we’re thinking about what comes next after they go.
Big Kid
College is Looming, But Will We Kill Each Other First?
Oh, those halcyon final days of high school when… your college-bound teen knows everything and you’re just stupid. Yeah. Um. Take a deep breath.
Big Kid
Like Spreading Out an Enormous Pile of Rocks
Graduation is almost here, and so are all of the feelings that accompany it. Time to make a to-do list and focus on that, I guess.
Big Kid
Post-Graduation and not Looking for The Moment
It seems like there was supposed to be an immediate shift, somewhere in the whole turning-18-and-graduating-high-school thing. But life is full of moments.
Big Kid
The Good, the Bad, and the Dorm
I’ve been focusing so much energy on getting ready to let go of my college freshman, I forgot I was going to have to do a trial run with her brother, first.
Big Kid
The Lost Summer? Maybe The Best Summer
While my time of “active parenting” with my kids is drawing to a close, I finally figured out how to make sure the tail end of their childhoods isn’t lost.
Big Kid
Senior Year: The Last First Day and The First of Many Lasts
I thought getting my oldest off to college was the hardest transition, but now it’s time for the last everything as her little brother heads into senior year.
Big Kid
Motherhood (And Personhood) In Flux
I thought that once my kids were nearly grown I’d have everything figured out, but the truth is that as they change, I do, too, and I’m still figure it out.