Lifetime Moms

I’m a firm believer in beating the heat by refusing to participate in it. Sometimes, a little air conditioning goes a long way. I live in Maryland. From June to mid-September, it’s a semi-tropical swampland. There are bugs and mosquitoes, and most of all the wet blanket of heat that makes each dash to the minivan feel like a steam-bath.

So during what I think of as the “Carseat Buckle Burning Months”, my style is less a graceful coexistence with the heat and more of a starlet being chased by the paparazzi sprint away from it. Here’s a few of our top hits:

Oh, sure, YOU may be ready for some barbeque, long Saturdays by the pool, and the never ending glare of the sun: but how about your house? When it’s time for that first trip to the beach, how fast can you dig out your buckets, water shoes, and shovels?

From first glance at those pink lines, we strive to give our kids every possible advantage and competitive edge. We take the vitamins, do the pre-natal Yoga, and hang those black and white mobiles over newborn cribs to fire up those little neurons.

After all, who doesn’t want their offspring well equipped to grab the world by the tail? But what if the most powerful arrow needed in a child’s quiver is a simple confidence that he or she can hit the bull’s eye?

I’ve seen a trend in the last 10 years that I’m not sure how I feel about; it’s the death of independence in kids and teens.

While on one hand, I’m glad that parents are taking more active roles in helping their kids make good decisions. On the other hand, I’m very disappointed to see more and more kids turn into young adults who don’t know how to make a decision for themselves or take action without the backing of their parents.