Female in Motion

Everybody Loves Raymond was a TV show about grown children and how they related to their over-involved parents. "Stand back and watch me!" I declared to my mom. We were in the backyard of our home, and I was trying to perfect a daring swing set gymnastic maneuver. At nine years old, I thought Evel Knievel could learn things from me. It took a few tries, but I got the trick right, as Mom cheered. When my daughters left home, I was happy for them. It was time to test the independence they had been practicing for the last 19 years. They are living their own lives. I knew I would always be their mom, but the active phase of parenting was over. My new role is as trusted advisor. I'm not very good at parenting my adult daughters yet, but I'm learning.  I don't give advice unless they ask for it. Fixing every situation for them is not what they need. I watch how they handle it and cheer them on. If my kids need to talk to me, I'm here. Sometimes, they do. W...

This is Socks and her four kittens. We fostered them in 2010. Yesterday, The Hubster and I had the opportunity to care for a newborn infant during worship service at our church. Her family joined our congregation just a few years ago, so they didn't know our daughters. Baby Katie's mommy was a little hesitant to hand over her little one until I explained that we raised two baby girls and they were healthy grownups now. It's true, The Hubster and I raised two moral, hard-working, independent women. They are both good people, and we are very proud of them. I was very young, just 21 years old, when I first became a mom. We had a lot of victories and some valleys, too. Being a mom is an incredibly hard job, if you do it right. I made a lot of mistakes in parenting.  Here are three big things I did wrong:    I did way too much yelling.       I modeled poor self-esteem to them.     I held on too tight as they started to matur...