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Parenting Insight? Like Everyone, You’ll Learn to Trust Me
Always one for offering
an alternative point of view, I’d like to introduce my new column, “Kids
All Around Me”.
I’m not your typical
parent living the average family life. I’m actually a forty-something,
single mom living in an apartment with my teenage son, three cats and a pet
mouse (the last of three mice we adopted last summer – the other two are in
plastic bags and cardboard box caskets in our freezer waiting to be buried
in the spring).
I’m not kidding. This is
my world and, honestly, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’m rarely bored
and few would consider me dull.
So, a parenting column? I
know this stuff, really. You’ll learn to trust me. Everyone does.
See, one’s understanding
of parenting involves more than just the raising of one’s own children.
I believe we are all part
of larger families, circles of friends and communities that expose us to
different kinds of situations and people. Few have a more eclectic
experience in this regard than I do.
For starters, I also
happen to have a sister with two young sons who is living the American dream
in the Detroit area with her husband, dog, cat, beautiful home and two cars
(no mice, ever). I have another sister who is living with her seven-year-old
daughter and husband in the trailer park of the small town in which we grew
up. My brother, his wife and their two young children live on a farm in
northern Michigan along with a couple of horses, cows, chickens, cats and
goats. I have a thirty-something friend who just had a baby and decided to
return to her high-pressure job. I have an almost-thirty-something friend
who just had a baby and decided to leave her job and be a stay-at-home mom.
Last but not least, to cover pretty much all the bases, I have a friend who
just recently found out she’s pregnant and has to come to terms with the
surprise. She’s just beginning a career she loves and isn’t at all sure
she’s as thrilled as she “should” be.
Parenting is complicated
and far from simply trying to decipher right from wrong, appropriate and not
appropriate. I think my relationships with friends and family have helped me
understand many of the gray areas. In addition, I’m currently the parent of
a teenage genius and used to be the step-parent of my ex-husband’s three
boys who were around four, six and eight years old at the time we were
married. Parenting experience. I’m full of it. (Wait, that didn’t come out
quite right.) I’ve earned every hidden gray hair and ever-so-charming line
around my eyes.
I also learned from some
of the very best. My grandmother was awesome. She was smart, feisty and
taught me to believe anything was possible. My mom is awesome. She had me
when she was young and I helped her make a lot of mistakes! We learned many
lessons together. I think the best thing she taught me was that there’s
really no one way to do anything. Something could work perfectly for you but
may be totally inappropriate for someone else. She taught me to do what was
right for me and never judge anyone for their choices in doing what happens
to be right for them. (Hence the dead mice in my freezer.)
There you have it. Kids
All Around Me. I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences, sharing some
advice and getting your feedback.
With my own column, do
you suppose I could refer to myself as an expert? I can hear my son already:
“Yeah, nice try, Mom.”
To offer feedback on this column,
click here.
About Author:
Her favorite sweatshirt
reads “That’s Ms. Liberal, vegetarian, tree-hugging, hippie freak to you,
buddy”. That pretty much tells you everything you’d want to know.
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STRESSED OUT BY DEBT? WE CAN HELP. 
Darcey
Blain resides in Rockford, Michigan with her son, Max, and various pets. Her
mother instilled her with an intense love of words and reading. She began
writing short stories and poems in elementary school, but later turned to
the more practical administrative field as she also enjoyed good food and a
roof over her head. She eventually found her way back to the writing field
by accepting the position of managing editor for North Star Writers Group.
Editing and clarifying the work of others is definitely her strong suit, but
she couldn’t hide her desire to create and write any longer.