Raising Daughters

I was sitting in a restaurant the other day with a friend and noticed an older woman dining alone. Maybe in her late 60's, finger empty of a wedding ring; she sipped her coffee and alternated between noticing families that came into the restaurant and staring blankly outside. My heart, for some reason, reached out [...]

November is National Adoption Month, so I felt it a good time to talk about, well, adoptions! I feel this should be prefaced with the fact that I personally have no real ties to adoption. I was not adopted. My parents never adopted any kids. In fact, when looking at my family, the closest adoption [...]

I am a mom. It defines me, it drives me and it inspires me to be and do better everyday. I do all the things I am not supposed to. I put my kids first, consider them to be my best friends and drop anything I have planned in a moment so that they can [...]

Football season has started but for those who can't attend games, these homegate ideas will liven the experience for the whole family. I didn't grow up in a football loving family. We never turned on Sunday night football, and I don't think I ever went to a game with my parents or can recall them even [...]

October is National Bullying Prevention month. My hope through this article is that you will find the tools needed to stop bullying in you and your children's lives. For as long as I can remember, kids have been bullying others. From name calling, to stealing lunch money, to pushing and hitting it's been a sad [...]

'My daughter started at 9 and, I won't lie, I could not look at her in the eye the first few months. I just didn't know what to do. There had been no time, because I was in no hurry, to prepare her for it. To prepare me for it. It just showed up.' Melanie, mom [...]

As parents, one of the more fun things we can do is create magical memories around the normal parts of growing up. Losing teeth is one that I never really thought could be more than just exchanging a tooth for some money until I started talking to other parents about their tooth fairy traditions. There are [...]

Being a Tween Mom: Is This the Hardest Part of Parenting? There was a time in my life where I thought the stress level could not get higher raising daughters. I had three under three at one time. That should pretty much sum it up. The diapers, the bottles, the day that was ruined because [...]

**This conversation is brought to you in partnership with NATA. All opinions are my own.  #MyStoryWithNATA AD** Sign Up for the AtYourOwnRisk.org Newsletter NOW! She plays basketball on roller blades. She plays volleyball in the pool. She runs the most laps in the school fun run. She is athletic but sometimes clumsy about it. This [...]

It's time to give your best self to your family by offering yourself a little self-care and love. I was at a Lindsey Stirling concert last night and had the utmost pleasure when she took a moment to talk about how we all need to love ourselves in whatever form our life is. I kept looking [...]

It happened again. Three months after Parkland experienced it, 5 1/2 years after Sandy Hook and for the 22nd time this year. A school shooting rocked the quiet town of Santa Fe, Texas. It is the closest one to me thus far here in South Texas and the second worse mass shooting in Texas behind [...]

This is the ongoing, never ending, annoying and completely exhausting conversation we have in this house every day now. I am tired, tired, tired, tired of it. So, please, help me solve the issue. Should My Daughter Have Her Own Room? I have a 4 bedroom house that has two master bedrooms in it. The [...]