Survival Guide: Shakori Hills

We spent 48 hours (exactly) at the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance over the weekend. This year, unlike those in the past, we camped for Friday and Saturday night. I like many things about Shakori, and one of the things I love most about it is how safe it is for children. It is the perfect venue for your child (of all ages) to spread their wings a bit and experience a bit more…

• Posted 7 mon. ago.

(Not so) controlling

A month or so ago we had our second parent-teacher conference. There are no real worries in a non-academic kindergarten, no fears that Flipper's reading skills are lagging (since reading isn't taught) or that her addition sums are skewed. These conferences, along with doctor check-ups, always make me feel like some sort of impostor, like a fake parent. They make me feel much, much older than I th…

• Posted 7 mon. ago.

(Im)perfection

Parenting provides some big and little lessons. Usually, I forget the ones I learn until I relearn them about two or three million times. Or, they are too minor, and so fade into the very, very back of my mind, never to be seen or heard from again. But every now and then, something happens, or you little person says something that rings so true, or you connect the dots in a way that you know you …

• Posted 7 mon. ago.

Guilt, Out Loud

I must confess that I don't feel too much parental guilt. I have a hard time relating to mothers that are constantly filled with angst over this and that, wringing their hands over teeny tiny decisions that, in the long run, probably won't make a huge difference in how their child turns out as a grown-up, a process that I think we can control less than we want to believe.

• Posted 7 mon. ago.

What Goes Around ...

This pin is in my wallet; I have had it for 21 years. I added the shiny holographic sticker after a Grateful Dead show. (Of course). It came pinned to my Christmas stocking and it has always been with me through multiple moves and pocketbooks and backpacks and wallets. My mother gave it to me. Not only do I hope I never lose it, I hope I never forget it. Thanks to a recent encounter, I have fallen…

• Posted 7 mon. ago.

It really is HER party

Flipper's current "best friend" is a little boy. He is a bit older than she is, and while they don't always play with each other at school, he comes over here on a regular basis to break up her lonely weekends and they are a joy and a treat together. Many young children - and older ones too - have opposite gender best friends.

• Posted 8 mon. ago.

Rihanna and Chris Brown: Some things never change.…

Not much has disappointed me more lately, or made me worry so far into the future, than the reactions - I think it is referred to as "fall out" - from the whole Rihanna/Chris Brown nightmare.

• Posted 8 mon. ago.

Dog people ... but not forever

• Posted 8 mon. ago.

Pretty is as pretty ... does?

We are back, and reentry was hard. We left a breezy, warm 74 degree day and returned to a cold, windy, still-winter North Carolina evening. Upon arrival at home, Flipper walked in, burst into tears, and said, I don't want to be here!!! How awful. Florida and Georgia were fantastic. Saw more animals (particularly birds) than I expected, has transcendent day with manatees, discovered new places to…

• Posted 8 mon. ago.

Florida Without Disney

Flipper and I are doing what we do best together: travel. We flew to Jacksonville, Fla., where we are spending five days exploring the Okefenokee Swamp and Florida's Forgotten Coast. Blessedly forgotten, I might add. We are not going anywhere near Disney, and we never will.

• Posted 9 mon. ago.