mom and daughter looking at each other while talking

Dear Mama: You Are Not Messing Things Up, Parenting Is Just Hard

“You have permission to make a ‘lazy’ dinner. You have permission to use screen time so you can get things done. You have permission to drink a cup of coffee at the kitchen table because you just can’t handle one more second of playing ‘pretend.'”

‘My abuser is a free man. Free to prey on more innocents, free to destroy more lives. I’m not willing to be silent anymore.’: Abuse survivor candidly shares journey of pain and resilience

“They say when people drown, it’s silent. Nobody around them can see them, hear them, or help them. The person drowning is slipping further and further beneath the surface, slowly suffocating. That’s what it felt like. I was drowning every day, suffocating, desperate for a breath, watching to the world around me carry on, with no idea that I was dying. But no matter how hard, I always choose to keep going.”

‘Today, I counted down the minutes until bedtime. You tested me at every turn, whined and screamed. And me? I lost my cool.’: Mom learns to cherish difficult toddler years

“But no matter how many things go wrong in a day, how imperfect I am, how bad your behavior was, when I watch you peacefully sleeping, I want to breathe the entire day in, even the bad. I want to take in your littleness and keep it forever. Because you’ll always be that newborn who snuggled right into me, and stole my entire heart.”

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