Being a mom is the best thing I’ve ever done, but it’s a tough job day in and day out and certainly not a job for sissies. And if you’re a mom who works outside the home, it’s a superwoman feat to get lunches made and kids hustled out the door by 8 am so…
At a time when many people in Spain are having a very difficult time finding employment, there is still plenty of work for everyone in the home. And as this video shows, with the perspective of time, one can easily recognize the positive impact of raising well our children: industriousness, constancy, responsibility, will power, and…
Many of us can probably recall putting on the occasional ‘sick day’ performance (ahem) to stay home from school. My mom would bring me chicken noodle soup and make me all cozy. It ranks up there as one of my favourite childhood memories. Now I’m nursing my three kids through the flu. (Isn’t there a…
Recently, a possibly tragic event took place: a highly educated young woman I know got married. Radiant in her delicate lace dress, full of joy and optimism about the future, this blushing bride was not yet aware of the reality of her situation: that she has been groomed through her many years of education to…
During her two maternity leaves, Tara Piurko maintained a lifeline to her hard-earned career as a lawyer in Toronto through an innovative buddy program run by her firm, McCarthy Tétrault LLP. Through the program, she and a selected work buddy regularly met for lunch, with her baby in tow. In weekly calls, Ms. Piurko received…
Forget the old adage about staying away from religion and politics, if you want to get an emotional conversation going, raise the question of “When is the best time to have kids?” Because despite the cliche that really, there is no “perfect” time to have a baby, the crass question of whether it’s “better” to…
Bringing any new baby home is challenging, but when you adopt a child from another country, the language and cultural issues make the transition period even more complicated. As well, many older children have a harder time adjusting to their new families and cultures than an infant might, and need all the love and support…
Could children actually help your career and professional life? I know, it sounds unlikely, if not impossible. From the “mommy track” to off ramping, downshifting or just disappearing, the primary cultural and media story that we hear is that family sidetracks (or de-rails) a woman’s career. As the best selling author Chimamanda Adichie discusses in…
My husband and I both work full time outside of home. We have one son, now in first grade. A couple of years ago we began a tradition in our little family that my parents actually started with me and my four siblings: date night. No, not date night for mom and dad. Date night…
Natalie MacMaster, wife, mother and virtuoso Cape Breton fiddler, was profiled in our blog this summer. She commented at the time that “it’s important for [their] children to have their mother and father doing what their gift is, and doing it really well. Doing it in moderation, but so that they see and hear it.”…