Education

What’s another school year without a mother taking justice into her own hands?

Last month, a mom in Minnesota was banned from her son’s campus and bus stop for a whole year because she confronted two boys on her son’s bus who were allegedly hitting him. She went on the bus one day and told the two bullies to “keep your hands to yourself!”

Think it harsh punishment? At least she didn’t get arrested. You’ll recall last year a dad did the same thing, confronting kids on a bus who were teasing his daughter who had cerebral palsy. He got arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, false imprisonment, and disturbing a school function.

by Julie Chen Allen

I used to rag on Moms who sat their kids in front of the screen. As karma (or irony, if you prefer) would have it, I became one of those Moms myself. Sort of.

One of the hardest things to break is a long running habit.
Yesterday I went cold turkey on something that I have been doing for … um … well hold on let me get out my calculator. [tap-tap-tap] for 15 years. Yikes, I actually didn't realize that I had been doing it for that long. For the last 15 years I have been making monthly (or near monthly) payments to my student loans.

Sometimes the thing that seem common are often the most amazing. A winter sunset over the Austin Hills. The birth of a child. The child's first steps and their first words. A spider web in the sunrise sunlight that is coated with a morning dew. All of these things are extremely common, but under the right circumstances they are the most profound, beautiful and amazing.

by Julie Chen Allen

It has dawned on me that I may be an over-achieving mom – over-parenting mom – or some such thing. Whatever you would call a person who finds a flaw and tries to fix it, only to be faced with the reality later that perhaps the flaw isn’t so bad at all and maybe the person is just a freak instead. Hi, that’s me. Case in point: the Summer Math Tutor. I made the kids go to the math tutor twice a week throughout the summer.