I am sitting outside my daughter's first week of ballet class. She could not be more excited -- which is an understatement. As a normal, functioning human being I slightly fear her persistent pursuit of ballet, the theatre, and dance and all that will come with it -- and I'm not talking about the cost. I'm talking about the fellow mothers. Right now, us mothers are hanging out outside our ... View the Post
We mothers are all a hot mess
I am sitting outside my daughter's first week of ballet class. She could not be more excited -- which is an understatement. As a normal, functioning human being I slightly fear her persistent pursuit of ballet, the theatre, and dance and all that will come with it -- and I'm not talking about the cost. I'm talking about the fellow mothers. Right now, us mothers are hanging out outside our daughters' ballet class reading books, catching up on email, or in my case -- blogging about the other ... View the Post
My love-hate relationship with Podcasts
I love Podcasts. I love Podcasts so much that I have an entire blog post dedicated to them - hint, you're reading it. But, I hate Podcasts. I hate Podcasts so much that I have not written in the last two, ok maybe three weeks, because of the stress of this post and the stress of not having listened to my Podcasts. I hate to write this, because as you may or may not know the entire goal of Mommy Has Struggles IS a Podcast. Maybe not the goal, but ideally it will serve as 50% of its ... View the Post
My Breakthrough Decision to Stop Reading Parenting Books
I've stopped reading parenting books. I quit parenting books about halfway into the first year of raising our daughter. It was too much. It was too exhausting to keep up, too overwhelming to stay informed, and each day that I fell further behind in keeping up I felt like a failure. And so, I gathered all* our parenting books and Marie Kondo'd their bums far away from my minimalist-inspired home. I've decided to rely on instincts. I do this to protect myself from the anxiety that takes over ... View the Post
Confessions of 14 Kid-Critique Mistakes I Made Before Children
I feel like we as women always judge and question one another. After all, we are problem solvers. We are always looking for a way to explain behavior. Behavior in our spouses for why they can never remember where they last left their shoes--and behavior in the child of another for why it won't stop screaming. It's both better and worse if you do not have children. For those without children we often think, "Well, when I have a kid . . . [insert what we'll do different]" or "If this were my ... View the Post
Confessions on Mom Guilt and the Deadline for More Children
I confess--it's not that I don't love being a mother or love my child, but as it turns out I am not a baby person. Maybe I am, or perhaps I'm somewhere in-between. I'm not sure. I always loved babysitting when I was younger and always loved children. I always thought I'd want a household of lots of little kiddos. But, perhaps what I've learned with age is that happiness and personal fulfillment doesn't come from others--it comes from ourselves. Thus I have discovered that I am totally content ... View the Post
How I Fail My Child In School
I am in a pattern of failing my child in school. There is a scene from the late-90's British comedy show, Coupling where the Welsh friend and goofball of the group attends a funeral with fellow Coupling characters and fears what he calls, "The Giggle Loop." "You are surrounded by people for a moment of silence when the Giggle Loop begins... Suddenly out of nowhere this thought comes into your head: the worst thing I could possibly do during a minute's silence is laugh. And as soon as you ... View the Post