Here, There, Everywhere

In the past 24 hours, I have been here, there, and everywhere – virtually and physically. Yesterday morning, an article of mine appeared on Motherlode,  the parenting blog of The New York Times – THE NEW YORK TIMES! The article talks about church and spirituality and why I am religious-ish. Below is an excerpt, but you can read the full article here.

Helping children develop that sense of spirituality requires intention and connection. For my family, the intention and the connection are best accomplished within a liberal religious community (Unitarian Universalist, in case you’re wondering). For others, spirituality might be taught best within a traditional religion, or entirely outside the context of religion; for some, spiritual connection might be obtained through long hikes in the forest, volunteering at a soup kitchen, or reading poetry.

But without something external putting spirituality in front of us weekly, I worry that my intention of sharing my spirituality with my children may go unfulfilled. Opportunities for spiritual connection can so easily go away. And just like parents cannot home-school their child on subjects like math, science and grammar without actually teaching math, science and grammar, I’m not sure a parent can raise a child to be spiritual without actually teaching them how to do so. It takes more than just good intentions; it takes an intentional effort to be spiritual and then letting our children bear witness to our own spirituality.

Then, this morning, I was over at Scary Mommy saying THAT THING that parents are too afraid to saying:

Pretty early on after my first son was born, I learned there are certain things that, as parents (especially as mothers, I think), we aren’t supposed to say…and over the course of the past eight years – I have come to learn that there are certain things that parents feel but just can’t say. There are secrets we are supposed to keep…Well, I say ENOUGH of all this parenting silence. I’m tired of the pretending. I’m tired of the loneliness. I’m tired of ignoring the elephant in the room. I’m tired of the secrets.

 Read the full article here.

And finally, I was also on the Washington Post this morning talking about the over-glorification of Mommy and how it hurts us all. Below is an excerpt, but you can read the full article here:

As many people have observed, current culture seems to demand that mothers be all in, all the time – especially when it comes to school work, extracurricular activities, and domestic duties. And although I suspect that some of these demands may actually be internal pressures that we mothers put on ourselves – stresses that could be minimized with an attitude of “good enough” here and there – I also can’t help but notice that along with this “all in” mommy problem, there is a countervailing tendency to glorify the role of Mommy, which, in a roundabout way, expects mothers to be “all in” emotionally as well.

 And then in the midst of it all, I went to my first book signing yesterday afternoon. My publisher – 200 Publishing – hosted a book signing/wine tasting event. It was great to see some familiar faces (including a surprise by my parents!) and to meet some new people too.

And if you’re looking for a last minute gift idea – maybe even for yourself – nothing makes a better gift than a book. Order your copy of Open Boxes: the gifts of living a full and connected life today on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Orders are shipping (despite Amazon’s “out of stock” designation).