Mother Angst

While my daughter can always count on me for excellent book suggestions, I’m not so skilled at coordinating outfits, so I leave her to it with the clothes. One night…

A few years ago, while visiting a potential school for my soon-to-be kindergartener, I found myself beside a glass door that had a sign: Faculty mailboxes and workroom, it read.…

Because there is no lanyard-making team or origami league, I sign my seven-year-old daughter up for soccer. Her solitary pursuits eclipse the group ones — art, piano, and that all-encompassing…

According to Jewish tradition, I’m required to teach my child how to swim. Really — it says so in the Talmud, the ancient text of Jewish law and customs. At…

You’re “It,” I used to say when he came home from work. His hand would sweep through his curly, mocha hair, his wide shoulders slumped with exhaustion, which I chose…

We’re having a breakthrough discussion about an ongoing problem, my seven-year-old daughter and I. At this moment, she’s calm and open to talking with me. “You know, if used responsibly…

My daughter hangs out with a toothless gang. They sputter and spit, their tongues often fill the empty spaces in their grins; they eat apples with the sides of their…

“Who’s your best friend?” well-meaning friends or relations sometimes ask my daughter. Please don’t ask her that, I want to tell them. She has many friends, which isn’t a problem,…

I’ve been informed that my grandchildren will come via adoption. “Oh, really,” I say. “Why?” “No kissing,” my daughter replies. “Kissing is just too gross.” And she puckers up her…

“You’re the best mommy I ever had,” my daughter told me the other night as we snuggled together at bedtime. Which got me thinking about her past-lives mommies. Did they…

Recently, my husband let my daughter draw on his face with a felt pen. When she did it at age two, it was just plain funny. At six, though, not…