“Years ago, I was married to a different man who cared more about material possessions than his family. We had a big house with an incredible view, nice vehicles, a boat in the driveway. We were, in fact, the Joneses. But inside the front door, life was filled with drug abuse, infidelity, and violence. Two children who never saw their father, or only saw him screaming at their mother. From the outside, we were the envy of neighbors and friends. Inside, it was a nightmare.”
‘Don’t worry about the Joneses. They might happily trade in that 6-bedroom home for exactly what you have.’: Mom reminds us to be grateful for what we have, ‘if your little place is filled with love and warmth, you’re already rich’
‘Your son cut class today.’ I got the phone call no parent expects. ‘Excuse me?!?!’ I was LIVID.’: Mom comforts teen son battling depression, ‘we should treat mental illness the same as physical ailments’
“My first thought was, ‘They have the wrong boy.’ My son loves school! Frustrated, I yelled, grounded him. Then, the next morning, I heard it. Sobs coming from the shower. ‘Mom, I’m not feeling okay.’ He told me he felt extremely depressed. That it was so bad he contemplated killing himself and had skipped class to find a quiet space to cry alone and breathe. Instantly, I felt a pang in my heart.”
‘When they flinch from the stapler dropping, it’s because they weren’t sure if you’re throwing it at them.’: Foster mom pens powerful note to teacher warning of her children’s trauma
“They come from a really, really hard place. The kind of abuse you think can’t be real. They duck for cover. You’ve heard of fight or flight? There is also freeze. One of my kids responds with ‘freeze.’ Her eyes grow wide and her voice silences. It’s how she’s trained herself to survive. My kids need to know you are safe.”
‘His teacher suddenly jumped on the desk. He started walking across each one, to make sure every single eye was on him.’: Teacher gives important message to classroom about equality
“I’ll never forget when he had them throw their history books on the ground and tell them how they got it all wrong that day, and made choices that would come back to haunt them.”
‘I didn’t know then, as he held me in his arms, that less than 5 years from that night he would be dead.’
“I didn’t know this moment would be one of the few. When our babies fell asleep, and we’d have enough energy to dance in the kitchen, suds still on my hands from the dishes as he would pull me away from the sink when his favorite song would come on.”
‘Don’t want to sell anything, bake anything, buy anything or avoid fundraising of ANY kind? We feel the same way!’ Mom shares school’s hilarious ‘OPT OUT’ PTO paper we all need
“WHAT A BREATH OF FRESH AIR! My very first thought was, ‘Someone finally gets it. Sign me up!'”
‘In one swift moment, I will be forced to let go. I will loosen the white-knuckle grip on my son’s childhood, and let him go.’
“Today, after an emotional tantrum, my 5-year-old son curled up in my lap and buried his head in the crook of my neck. I felt his pain and sadness laying over me in a blanket of emotions, and I found myself crying too.”
‘Some kids at school want to cry sometimes.’ I felt a tug deep in my chest. I started to see where this was going.
“‘Shall we put these up on the fridge when we get home?,” I asked. You paused, reluctant to answer me. ‘No, I don’t want to.’ You said quietly, your usually steady voice shaking a little.”
‘Out of NOWHERE, a bird flies at me AND LANDS ON MY CHEST. And then I scream. THE BIRD HAD LATCHED ONTO MY SHIRT WITH ITS FEET’
“I want you to picture this. A quiet pool. Cool moms lounging in the sun. People talking about how hot it was. And then out of nowhere, a grown woman piercing the silence with screaming, swatting at a bird flapping on her chest, squawking in her face. Just picture it.”
‘My good friend Thomas sits here’: Selfish man learns eye-opening lesson from foreign student
“The last thing I want to do is give a guy who barely speaks my language high fives at 8 in the morning.”
