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Showing posts from August, 2019

BR Parents Blog: I'm 38. What Do I Want to Be When I Grow Up?

The only call I’ve ever felt certain of was the call to be a mother, and it’s specifically the call to be the mother of my two daughters, ages seven and three. But my professional call, what I’m supposed to be “when I grow up,” has been much murkier. Other than perhaps writing, nothing feels like something I’m supposed to be doing the way I felt I was supposed to be a mother. Is that just how things are though? After my first daughter was born, I came back from my maternity leave (short-term disability–oh brother) to work part-time from home. I was a strong enough employee, and my job was small enough, that I could manage most of it even with part-time hours–a disaster for me really and a huge benefit to my then employer. Once my baby started walking around 10 months, I quit completely and fully embraced the stay-at-home mom life. A privilege I fully recognize and appreciate. While she was young, this was pure bliss. I was so happy to be caring for, nursing and lovin

BR Parents Blog: Sleepaway for Mama: Leaving My Daughters Overnight for the First Time

In more than seven and a half years of parenting, I had never left my children overnight until recently. Other than her recent trip to pony camp , the only time I was away from my older daughter was when my younger daughter was born. I stayed in the hospital for several days, but she was able to visit. I’d never left my three year old at all. Part of it is attachment parenting, part of it is not really anywhere to go and no one to leave them with. An opportunity arose within my church to serve as a district delegate to the state’s annual conference. There’s unrest in The United Methodist Church, and my husband was supportive of my desire to volunteer. He was willing to take over the primary caregiving for the four days I’d be away in Shreveport. There were jokes about me finally taking time for myself or that I should relax now that I was away from my children. There really wasn’t any time for myself during the conference, which was non-stop with worship and busi

BR Parents: August 2019

As Community & Education sections editor, I wrote pages 16 to 25 of the August 2019 issue of Baton Rouge Parents Magazine. See the layout on the magazine's website . I wrote P athways to Parenting: Children and Broken Bones and Exceptional Lives: Finding Purpose After Abuse .

BR Parents One Amazing Kid: Emma Monroe

Lots of little girls dream of owning a pony. Fifteen-year-old Emma Monroe ’s dream came true when her parents, Todd and Jessica, bought her Bailey, a grey Welsh pony mare. Bailey was four years old when Emma got her as a surprise Christmas gift, and conventional wisdom said Bailey was too young to compete. With a lot of hard work, Bailey and Emma proved that wrong when they qualified for Pony Finals 2018, a three-phase competition judging the pony and its rider. Read the rest on the Baton Rouge Parents Magazine website .

BR Parents Exceptional Lives: Finding Purpose After Abuse

Growing up in Arnaudville, Louisiana, Twahna P. Harris always knew who she was. “I was never one who cared what people thought of me because I had my own identity,” she says. “I knew what I wanted to be in life, and I was driven.” That all changed when, as a 21-year-old college student, Harris found herself in a domestic abuse relationship. “I didn’t run to domestic violence, I woke up in it,” she says. “I would have never thought, and there it was one day, a slap across the face. And I was in total disbelief.” That slap led to mental, emotional and sexual abuse. Domestic violence, or intimate partner violence, is a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship used by one partner to gain or maintain power or control over the other. Read the rest on the Baton Rouge Parents Magazine website .