Betsy McMillin

by Betsy McMillin Most days I really enjoy my kids, my job as mom.  I am, for the most part, amused throughout the day by what they say and do, and am emotionally on a pretty even keel. Then there are those other days.  I call them…

by Betsy McMillin Parent says: "Great job cleaning your room kiddo!  Oh man, if only you did everything this quickly and thoroughly!'" Ouch. May as well give the kid a big hug then punch the kid in the gut. Such back-handed compliments…

by Betsy McMillin I am celebrating today. As well as mourning. My tiniest tot, my sweet two and a half year old, fell asleep and slept in her own "big girl bed," all night.  Okay, so her bed is right beside ours, but baby steps, right? I…

by Betsy McMillin I have gotten a lot of great, positive feedback from The Entitled Nation (March 20, 2011), a lot of people seeing themselves and their kids, even when they didn't want to. I wish I could say that my kids are not as…

To all mothers: Happiest Of Mother's Days! You have earned this day, so spend it how you want to: with your own sweet kids, a day off from your sweet kids and out with your best mom friends, with your own Mother. Happy Mother's Day to…

"Up to the table everybody!  Dinner time!" Do these words make your kids slink off in the other direction, muttering, "I'm not hungry" or "yuck!?"  Do you make additional dinners routinely to please non-eaters?  Do you have a child on the…

I have written about our kids being entitled, (March 20), enabled (March 27), having poor manners (March 6). Every day I am reminded how easy our kids have it, how much is given to them, and how little we ask in return. There is a way to…

My salad days, When I was green in judgment. —William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act i. Sc. 5. Sometimes I catch myself in a "parenting moment," and I don't recognize myself. How can that mom who is giving her two-year-old candy on…

We parents are a gullible lot, suckers. Forever searching for the latest study, the cure-all answer to our problems. We get sucked in by marketing scams, too many short-sighted studies, and questionable advice. How many copies of Amy…

A typical day for my best friend of 40 years, who just happens to be a secretary at a public middle school, goes something like this: Student comes in to office, needs to use the phone. "I need the phone. I forgot my lunch." My friend…