December 2014 - Motherlode - The Network of Care

With Deployment Looming, How Do You Measure a Year?

I remember us, the day our daughter was born after my husband's return from Iraq, telling our families that he wouldn't deploy again "until 2015." Read More...

Published Tue, Dec 30 2014 7:29 AM by Motherlode

Filed under: parenting, Christmas, New Year, United States Defense and Military Forces, Deployment Diary

Read This Before You Buy Another Holiday Gift (or Goat)

We cannot use seasonal charitable giving to put a fig leaf over the ways our passion for cheap clothes and toys contributes to the problems we try to help solve with our donations. Read More...

Published Mon, Dec 22 2014 6:40 AM by Motherlode

Filed under: parenting, gifts, Philanthropy, Highlights, Heifer International, Leonard, Annie, Oxfam, GoodGuide, Greenpeace

Eleven, With Down Syndrome, and Still a Santa-Loving Little Girl. Maybe.

My daughter is still a little girl, with a stuffed Piglet and Velcro-fastened shoes. For years, she's dictated her letter to Santa to me. This year, things were different. Read More...

Published Wed, Dec 24 2014 5:32 AM by Motherlode

Filed under: parenting, Christmas, Santa Claus, Down syndrome, Highlights

Charities That Inspire Kids: St. Baldrick’s

The St. Baldrick's Foundation inspired two young people to give their passion, and to write in about it. Read More...

Published Fri, Dec 26 2014 5:20 AM by Motherlode

Filed under: parenting, Cancer, Philanthropy, Youth, Highlights, Charities That Inspire Kids

Charities That Inspire Kids: Sal’s Shoes

Sal's Shoes collects used shoes from families to send directly to children who need them. Read More...

Published Sat, Dec 27 2014 5:55 AM by Motherlode

Filed under: parenting, Philanthropy, Highlights, Volunteers and Community Service, Charities That Inspire Kids

Quandary: Helping Younger Children Love to Give as Well as Get

Younger children can be more focused on the possibility of having all their Hanukkah or Christmas wishes granted than on choosing or making with others in mind. Read More...

Published Mon, Dec 08 2014 10:49 AM by Motherlode

Filed under: parenting, advice, Christmas, Hanukkah, gifts, Highlights

‘Are You Going to Give Him a White Name?’

When I was four months pregnant, a friend asked this question casually over lunch. I hadn't yet thought of it that way. Read More...

Published Wed, Dec 17 2014 11:34 AM by Motherlode

Filed under: parenting, discrimination, Race and Ethnicity, Names, Personal, Highlights

A Foster Teen’s Holiday and Uncertain Future

We have mentored a foster child through many "homes" and placements, and she has spent many holidays with us. This year, she's bonding (we hope) with a new family. Read More...

Published Sun, Dec 28 2014 5:39 AM by Motherlode

Filed under: foster care, Children and Childhood, Teenagers and Adolescence, Highlights, Los Angeles (Calif), Mentors

When It Takes a Dentist’s Chair to Disconnect

If I could lie in a dentist's chair for several hours, why not a lounge chair? Read More...

Published Wed, Dec 31 2014 6:09 AM by Motherlode

Filed under: parenting, Work-Life Balance, Highlights

Saving the Images of a Perfect Childhood and Deleting the Rest

For my daughter’s fifth birthday, I put together a book of photos that I thought captured her short life. And then I realized that every picture I had chosen made it all look perfect. Read More...

Published Tue, Dec 23 2014 9:22 AM by Motherlode

Filed under: parenting, Christmas, Photography, Cameras, Highlights

Weekly Quandary: Would Santa Say ‘No’ to an iPad?

My 8-year-old boy/girl twins have decided they're only asking Santa for one item this year: an iPad. Each. I'm pretty sure Santa will say no. But should he? And how? Read More...

Published Mon, Dec 01 2014 7:56 AM by Motherlode

Filed under: parenting, advice, Christmas, iPad, Holidays and Special Occasions, Highlights, Tablet Computers

Parents in Europe, Talking to Kids About Sex

When parents in European countries have the birds-and-the-bees talk with children and teenagers, it's with less judgment and more trust. Read More...

Published Wed, Dec 10 2014 1:50 PM by Motherlode

Filed under: Highlights

An Aging Parent’s Frustrations, Heard but Not Absorbed

For years, I've been listening as my once-vibrant father transfers his frustration with his chronic ailments onto me. But when I hang up the phone, I hang up his dissatisfaction, too. Read More...

Published Mon, Dec 01 2014 11:25 AM by Motherlode

Filed under: parenting, Elderly, Highlights, Home Health Care, Elder Care

Charities That Inspire Kids: Water for South Sudan

When middle schooler Grady Beauregard heard a boy around his age describe his life in Sudan, it inspired Grady to reach out to others and find out what he could do to help. Read More...

Published Tue, Dec 30 2014 10:21 AM by Motherlode

Filed under: parenting, Philanthropy, Highlights, Volunteers and Community Service

The Appeal of the Parent-Child Rom-Com

In movies where adults fall for children, parents, nonparents and children alike see an idealized version of what they want in their own family relationships. Read More...

Published Mon, Dec 29 2014 1:17 PM by Motherlode

Filed under: Movies, parenting, Highlights, The Sound of Music (Movie), About a Boy (Movie), The Switch (Movie)

December 2014 - Motherlode

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