parenting advice – Are You Finished Yet?

Advice for a Double-Digits Daughter

Published on March 24, 2015March 24, 2015 by Kelly Suellentrop41 Comments

Dear Daughter,

Welcome to the double digits. Turning ten is considered a milestone, celebrating the first decade of your life. But becoming the mother of a ten-year-old for the first time, well, this birthday is kind of terrifying for me. And not just because finding a gift for you is a real b*tch…since you feel you are too old for toys, and I feel you are too young for just about everything else. (You also likely know the word b*tch and how to properly use it. Thankfully, age ten does not seem to come with the courage to say it in front of me, only the eyerolls that imply it.)
Continue reading “Advice for a Double-Digits Daughter” →

A Mother’s Advice for A 10 Year Old Daughter

Published on March 24, 2015 by Kelly Suellentrop41 Comments

Dear Daughter,

Be a Beck: Parenting Advice from The Grammys

Published on February 17, 2015February 17, 2015 by Kelly Suellentrop48 Comments

Perhaps the hardest part of parenting is figuring out how to ensure your children don’t grow up to be a-holes. Finding a hiding place to scarf down a bag of Cheetos before they sniff you out and ask you to share is a close second, but I digress. In our house, we follow the very simple yet effective motto of “don’t be a jackleg,” born from my father’s term for various plagues on society. We like to point out jackleg moves, then tell the kids to do the opposite: See that lady texting and driving? She’s a jackleg. If you ever do that, you’ll be a big fat jackleg. Don’t do that. So far, it has provided them with a pretty solid set of parameters for how not to act. But I worry we focus on the negative a little too much. My discipline repertoire could really use some positive reinforcement and a model my kids can strive to be, not avoid.

Then Kanye West went and acted like a jerkwad when Beck won Album of the Year at the Grammys. And I thought to myself, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Continue reading “Be a Beck: Parenting Advice from The Grammys” →

Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Jacklegs

Published on October 29, 2013November 23, 2013 by Kelly Suellentrop33 Comments

Lately, my children have been testing me. Well technically, “testing me” is a constant state of being for them, but lately they just seem to be doing it on steroids. And that means it’s time to review some discipline tactics I’ve long had in my arsenal but forgot were there. I was looking over some materials from a “Love and Logic” course my husband and I took when my oldest was a toddler. Among the neatly bullet-pointed parenting ideas was Continue reading “Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Jacklegs” →