Category Archives: parenting

18 Ridiculous Things Parents Say to Their Kids Because They Have To

18 Insane Things Parents Say to Their ChildrenYou know how there are certain phrases you’ve said to your children, that upon reflection, you can’t believe actually came out of your mouth?

Last week, I had to ask my 12 yo son, J to “stop smelling the cat” and there was a time I explained to my daughter Ry, that “the balls boys have are not the same as the little balls on your tongue,” (may we never discuss balls on her tongue again) and just a couple weeks ago  I had to explain motorboating to my tween son (with an audio and quasi visual demonstration), so that he could keep up with the middle school cafeteria banter.

As parents, we’ve all had to turn some pretty insane phrases at one time or another. The question is, have we, the parents, gone bat shit crazy for uttering these words, or is it our children who are certifiable, for doing things that require us to speak them?

Here are some of the weirdest things I’ve had to say to my children over the years (I surprise myself daily), plus some phrases from my awesome Facebook Fans, who never disappoint.

1. “You can have a favorite shirt, but you’re not allowed to have a favorite pair of underwear.”

2. “Gum you find under tables is NOT ‘free’ gum.”

3. “I don’t care how much she annoys you, your sister is not for sale.”

4. “Please stop riding the dog.”

5. “You cannot charge your friends at school for massages. And please stop massaging people at school.” Continue reading

10 Hair Myths Debunked – My Aging Thinning Graying Hair Wants to Know

10 Hair Myths Debunked - My Aging, Thinning, Graying Hair Wants to Know...My hair, which was never more than baby fine to begin with, started to fall out as soon as I stopped breast feeding. Yes, when everyone else was losing their hair after giving birth, I was mocking them with my luxurious locks and my big engorged boobies. Of course they got theirs – my boobs and locks that is. The tatas deflated and the follicles ran for the hills, well, my drain.

Now, as I’m getting older, my hair seems to be thinning out even more. This is why I’ve become obsessed with making my hair thicker and also keeping it in my head. It’s also why I’m debunking all the hair myths I’ve fallen for over the years, because frankly, I don’t have time to crack raw eggs on my head and mix them with mayo on a daily basis. To me, that’s egg salad, and it should stay between two pieces of bread. Continue reading

Raising a Girl is Like Hanging With Sybil – Which is Why This Conversation Will Probably Sound Familiar…

raising a girl is likeGirls have so very many moods and personalities, which come and go faster than SnapChat photos. Yep, they’re like a box of chocolates, You never know wh… (I know, I just referenced Sybil, Forest Gump, and Snapchat – that’s a vast range of pop culture knowledge… we Gen Xers are impressive like that.)

Moving on… today, I got a haircut. Ry (my little girl, who is 9) got in the car and simply said, “hair cut.” In a robotic, I see you got one, so I’m making an effort, but this conversation shall go no further, because I’m pretty much a teenager already, kinda way.

Me: Human child. (I said, pointing out the obvious, in kind.)

She picked up her iTouch and disengaged. She’s too cool for this talk, and her roller coaster on Minecraft awaits.

Me: What, you don’t like it?

Ry: Nope, I hate it. *looks back at iTouch*

Me: I always tell you not to say mean stuff.

Ry: Yeah, you tell me if I don’t have something nice to say, not to say anything at all, which is what I was trying to do. (There was no, “duh” at the end, but it was implied.)

Touche.

Me: For your information, my hair hates you too. (I said, in an effort to have a conversation with one of the other personalities in my little “Sybil,” which they all turn into somewhere around 3 years old.)

Ry: Whatever.

Then I made a crying sound. (Oh, I do not relent.)

Ry: Really Mom?

Me: It’s not me … it’s Hair. You don’t care that Hair is sad? Well, my hair will never talk to you again.

Ry:  K (She said, in the way I imagine Miley talked to Billy Ray when he would threaten to take away her allowance if she didn’t clean your room. Actually, that conversation may have been the other way around, but you get the point.)

Me: What? What did you say?

Ry:  Nothing momm…

Me: Shhhh shhh, I can’t hear Hair, she’s whispering… No, I don’t know what happens when a curling iron, a flat iron, and a crimping iron walk into a blowdry bar??? *pause … then huge laughter and knee slapping*

Ry: (laughing just a little)  Stop Mom, you’re so weird.

She’s cracking.

Me: You’re right Hair, that was the funniest joke I’ve ever heard. *laughter laughter*

Ry: Mom?

Me: Are you serious Hair? Did they arrest her?

Ry: Mom?

Me: Yeah, I know a bail bondsman.

Ry: Mom, please stop.

NEVER… I’m on a roll, plus this is the most interesting conversation I’ve had all day.

Me: Who said, ‘please stop’? Oh Ry, you’re still in the car? I totally forgot, I was so enthralled by Hair… She’s hilarious. *pause* I’m sorry, “hair-larious.” Hair just told me to say that.

Ry: That was so corny.

Me: Hair, knows.  She says, she was being ironic by saying something corny because you will never get to see the true depth of her humor.

Ry: Mom, you’re ruining my brain.

(She really said that.)

Me: Fine, no more hair talk.

Ry: No, keep doing it… What is Hair saying now?

Yep, raising a girl can be tough. Sometimes you have to pull the person you want to hang with out of them, yourself — and have an iron will while trying, because it can take  time, effort, creativity and the ability to do impressions and accents.

Related Posts:

You Know You’re a Mom of a Girl If…

20 Momisms Translated: What we really mean

PLEASE TAKE A SEC TO SHARE THIS WITH THE MOMS OF GIRLS IN YOUR LIFE AND

COME JOIN THE GENX/PARENTING HUMOR ON FACEBOOK

You’re Probably Not a Parent If …

You're Probably Not a Parent If... (a humor list for parents)A little parenting humor for the moms and dads who know what it’s like to notice (after being out and about for the day) that there is a dried booger on your shirt, which has clearly been there for hours.

That said:  

You’re Probably Not a Parent If…

1. The name people use to get your attention is your actual name.

2. The only person you wipe is yourself.

3. You don’t sneak vegetables into things like meatloaf, smoothies, and brownies — you just eat them. Continue reading

The Most Ridiculous ‘Mommy and Me’ Type Classes I Actually Took


mommy and me cardLast week, a new mommy called to ask what classes I would recommend. Yes, I have friends with infants, because I’m awesomely cool, also, I was once their babysitter.

I began to reminisce about the myriad classes I took  with J (my first, who is now 12). I was under the impression that the more time you spent in various classes, the more socialized and intelligent your child would grow up to be.

Darn if my 3 month old wasn’t going to get a baby massage in a fancy room while he and 10 other babies squirmed uncomfortably.  No, I would not be the ogre to rob him of that experience. An experience that would surely be the reason he one day gets accepted to Harvard.   Continue reading

1 Million Views Thank You Thank You – Cue Speech Music

Screen Shot 2014-02-04 at 12.15.31 PMLately, I’ve been thinking, maybe it’s time to throw in the towel, but then I noticed this… Last night, my site hit 1 MILLION views!!! Yes, I’m in the 1M club… One freaking million. To some that’s a couple of months or minutes, or decades.  I’m not as good at math as I claim to be, but for me, it took 5 1/2 years. For me, it took tons of effort and pep talks and rebranding sessions.

When you consider that nearly half of those views were in 2013, 10% occurred in 2014 (which just started, hooray!) and 30% of the views were in 2012, you’ll realize that I spent the first 3 years blogging to no one! So, 1M needs to be noticed!

I tried counting to 1 million, just so that I could feel the gravity of this feat, but  I stopped at 7… Continue reading

Binge Watching TV Has Turned Me Into The Paranoid, Drunk, Lesbian I am Today

binge watching tvOver the years I’ve let some pretty stellar entertainment pass me by, like: Breaking BadWeedsLost, Shameless, Game of ThronesHomeland, Mad Men … due to this crazy thing called life. You know life, right? The whole raising a family, having a job, trying to maintain a certain age, weight, and level of sanity (though your body fights you on it) thing? Yeah, that.

I’ve heard how enthralling and addictive these shows are but life got in the way. Well, that’s over. I’ve pretty much given up my life lately to binge watch some of these shows, so that I can have more stimulating conversations with people five years ago.

That said, I’ve found a strange effect from binge watching shows, aside from the one that makes me appear comatose and unresponsive. I start to feel like a character in these shows. Like they’re actually affecting my personality. For instance …

1) While I watched 8,000 episodes of Breaking Bad in, like, a week, Continue reading

6 Common Beauty Myths Busted – The Truth May Change Your Life Forever – Or Not

Knowledge is power (or something like that)

I do so enjoy beauty myths. Frankly, I’m a total sucker for them. Seriously, if someone told me (with great confidence) that I could look younger by applying a mask made with the sap of an oak tree, a smashed up Advil and some kitty litter, I’d say, “No way, that’s ridiculous.” and “Who has a cat?”

That’s why I’ve researched some prevalent beauty myths this week. The verdicts may shock you … into a coma … keep smelling salts nearby and read in the company of a friend or doctor.

1. White wine doesn’t stain your teeth. Continue reading

Gen Xers Knew How to Play Sick But Our Kids Don’t – So Here’s a Guide For Them To Stop Embarrassing Themselves

Children These Days Have No Clue How to Properly Play Sick - I'm AshamedLet’s be honest, we Gen Xers were skilled at playing sick, were we not? Our generation had to work hard for a sick day. Many of our parents worked and would have to take a sick day themselves, and let’s not forget, our parents were raised by hard core parents (our grandparents), who sent them to school no matter what. Hello, their parents were the one’s who walked five miles to get to school, up hill, in snow … so a sniffle or the plague wasn’t gonna cut it.

That’s what we had to contend with. Which is why, we learned early on that we had to be Ferris Bueller convincing or we were going to school (heck on occasion we weren’t convincing enough, even when we actually were sick!).

Yes, we truly perfected an art form and nowadays it seems our kids are merely phoning it in. Complaining about random aches, not committing to their performance, it’s embarrassing! Which is why I give their generation this:

8 Tips To Properly Play Sick – How to gain your parent’s sympathy and maybe even regain their respect: Continue reading

Just When You Think You’ve Had One of the Most Awkward Conversations With Your Child – You Have This One

awkward conversationsThis is the shocking follow up to last week’s post, in which I regaled what I thought was one of the most awkward conversations – the one where I explained to  J, (my son who turned 12 the day after) what “motorboating” means (with mock demonstration). If you haven’t read that masterpiece yet, it’s a great point of reference, as I was pretty certain I could not be more uncomfortable until this happened…

After reading said article, Mark called me into our room laughing. “Jenny, I think the joke is on you. You don’t really think the kids in school are talking about ‘motorboating’ do you?”

Me: “Yeah, I do.”

Mark: “You’re so naive… I DIDN’T even know what ‘motorboating’ was… I’m pretty sure they were saying master-bating and he misunderstood. And I bet that’s what your readers thought.” Continue reading

Tween Boys Still Need Their Moms – I Have Proof!

The Craziest Question I've EVER Answered is Proof Tween Boys Still Need Their Moms - Phew

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last night, on the eve of my son J’s 12 birthday, he called me into his room.  As you guys know, I’m obsessed with the fact that, as our sweet boys grow up they need and want us around less and less… I worry about the bond of Mothers and sons and struggle with the knowledge that they’ll eventually be stolen away by some hussy, I mean their future wives. (See – Moms of Boys are Jealous Shrews, for more on that.)

Let’s just say, I spend a great deal of time rocking in a corner reminiscing about reading J bedtime stories and hearing him rattle off (in one breath) all the things the Very Hungry Caterpillar ate (how he learned the days of the week) and watching him dramatically gasp for air as if it was sooo hard to talk so fast … and beam with pride, as if he hadn’t done the very same thing the night before that and before that and bef…

Needless to say, nowadays, when he calls me in to talk, I drop everything and run to his door.

Then I collect myself, take a deep breath and enter slowly and nonchalantly, as if I was passing by anyway. Continue reading