TiffinTalk Blog
Can't App This Featured
There’s no app for a signed romantic card tucked into the bathroom mirror (or left on the dashboard). No e-card can replace that. There’s no app for a rose on the pillow. (Or the cat that got to it first . . . ) There’s no app for a candlelit room. There’s no app for the wet dog nose trying to nuzzle in on your nuzzling. There’s no app for the sensation that the kids are safely sleeping or reading or playing . . . for just a little bit longer and you know your door is locked . .…
If Cell Phones Were Honest Featured
Some phones have auto reply choices for those times when we can’t pick up the call. Mine has a choice of: I’m on my way. Can I call you later? Sorry I can’t talk right now. <custom> I, for one, would like a bigger selection including: Really? Now? Bathroom break. Honestly, you don’t want to hear this. I may call you back. I may forget. Give it a few days. But the text I really want to select will stop the caller immediately with this: I can’t talk right now. I meant to turn my phone off but I was…
I want to get some! (Cards, that is.) For couples who ask each other, “How was your day?” and hear the answer, “Fine.” Far too many times . . . For couples whose together-time has become routine and monotonous . . . For couples who spend more time alone together mesmerized by their devices . . . It’s simple math: Lovers: 2.Provocative, romantic, and intimate cards: 69. From any position, it’s a win-win. Heart2Heart dares all those end-of-day casual, oftentimes unintentional interrogations to be actual fun, loving, affectionate conversations. Face-to-face. Eyes. Without distracting devices.Touch. Without the screen.Heart2Heart. Without missing…
Just last week I saw Santa in Trader Joe’s. As in my Trader Joe’s in my small town. It almost makes him my Santa. Almost.You’ve probably seen him, too. He’s been in malls, on street corners, in parades. Maybe he’s visited your town, too. Your Santa.But, how fun it was to see him shopping. With a cart. And – in teen speak – like, everything. He wasn’t in his usual Santa sitting position, greeting and waving. I am sure he was the real deal. I mean the real Santa would need to shop, right? So it’s sort of like seeing your teacher…
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Elisabeth Stitt, parenting coach and owner of Joyful Parenting, ended a blog post with a powerful all-capped question: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? While the post was about helping our children with that question, I think her blog was secretly written for parents often silently asking that question of ourselves. Thank you, Elizabeth, for asking grown-ups what they want to be because I rethink and reevaluate this for myself frequently. With respect to our kids, what I do know is this: Often we need to remind them that their answer is allowed to change many…
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Parenting Lies Featured
In a previous life, I was a teen. It’s hard to admit. But it’s the truth. I’ve told my daughters this. Me being a teen and all. Just like them. And typical teens that they are? . . . They refuse to believe me. As if I am lying. “When have I ever lied to you?” I ask. Then I quickly shut up, because the ice under my feet is feeling mighty thin and I definitely just heard it cracking. Does a willful act of fictional omission count as a lie – even with the best of parenting intentions? What…
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If your summer goes by the college academic year and not by the traditional calendar, then it will come as no surprise that summer is coming to an end regardless of the actual dates. And life as you finally got used to it, at least for these past few months, is also coming to an end (again). The chaotic schedule that you just got used to dancing around? Done. The arguments over bathroom use (and cleanliness)? Done. The frustrations over whether chores were done, or rather, not done. Also done. My daughter is packing up. She’s got a spreadsheet for…
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Enter, stage front and center*, the child-now-young adult home from college for summer break with a carload of “schtuff” to be unloaded and then repacked (with even more absolutely necessary "schtuff") in just 3 months. Oh joy. Tis the return of the prodigal son/daughter/brother/sister. Possibly in plural form. You can’t wait. No. Hold on a second . . . Yes. Yes, you can. Others – including pets – can’t wait either. Actually, they can, too. Everyone is feeling the return with growing anticipation and with rising confusion. Excitement or fear? Happiness or frustration? It’ll be a shift. An adjustment. There…
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I’m old enough to be a mom and blessed enough to still have my own mom close by. Here’s how being a mom and having a mom works: My teens don’t listen to their mom (me) and I, in turn, don’t listen to my mom. It’s not intentional. It’s a mom thing. It’s a kid thing. The truth of it is: Moms do know best. They are brilliant. They have experience. And they know (and try to accept) that their children actually do hear them even if they are not listening in the moment. Or maybe children are…
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If you haven’t read it already (and you haven’t just eaten), you might skim the last blog about the vermin-vomiting dog. It’ll get you in the right dog mind. Or left one. (Is there actually room for two?) Unexpectedly, I’m riffing on the service dog. Turns out that animals (and kids) actually do provide a fodder for stories that I never thought I’d tell. Those poop stories I listened to when I was not a parent – the very stories I swore I would never, NEVER, be reduced to even whispering aloud when I became a parent – were…
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