“Honestly, I’ve asked myself the very same thing. Now I understand. As a family, we have to have boundaries. We had to make the difficult decision to have him moved.”
‘I could never give them back! It would be too hard.’ It’s not about the ending, it’s about the middle.’: Mom who lost infant daughter shares thoughts on foster care, ‘Loss is part of life’
‘I know it is the best thing I have ever done for my family. Divorce is not a tragedy.’: Mother of two reflects on the positives stemming from her divorce
“I was with my husband for 13 years. I’m 30, which means our relationship began when I was only 17. At the time, we were madly in love. However, there were so many drastic changes from when I was 17. I needed to make changes in my life. One day, though, we just sat down and had a talk about how unhappy we both were.”
‘There is a 90% chance your baby will be born with Down Syndrome.’: Couple prepares for rare Down syndrome Diagnosis, ‘we knew a diagnosis didn’t change our love for this little life inside of me.’
“I had no idea just a couple of days later, we would experience a loss and pain we were never prepared for. Our loss made us stronger. ’Your scans showed a high probability your baby will have Down Syndrome.’ How can I be a good mother when I hate being pregnant? I just didn’t want to be pregnant anymore.”
‘You should’ve used birth control’ was not something I was ever prepared for as a mom. This complete stranger looked at us in disgust.’: Mom of 10 turns the other cheek on bitter Instagram commenters
“This wasn’t the first time I was met with bitter and awful remarks at the size of my family. I took a deep breath and put my phone away for a while. I’ve grown a thick skin at the words people use to describe us. But this one stung. She didn’t know we lived in two tiny trailers in our backyard while our home was being rebuilt after the fire.”
‘Amazon: Thank you for your order!’ I glance down at the photo and price. $430?!?! ‘What’s this? I didn’t order anything?’ SHEER PANIC. Then, I connected the dots.’: Daughter mistakenly orders from Amazon without permission
“My first thought was, ‘Did I buy this in my sleep?!’ It was already in transit to my house. It was too late to cancel the order. Then, I got it. An email notification. I went into full blown panic mode with no off button.”
‘No, mommy. You obey ME!’ My son was LOSING. HIS. MIND. Tears were flowing, arms flailing. He threw his sandwich on the ground in protest. All I could think was, ‘I’m failing.’
“Mom shamers lined up with judgemental eyes. The grocery line was never-ending. My friend and her sweet, well-behaved daughter began quietly cleaning up their lunch. ‘If you do it this way, they wouldn’t be acting like that.’ Within five minutes, I raised my white flag.”
‘The police said, ‘If she gets caught using drugs, THEN it’s our problem.’ My sister was missing and vulnerable. I just wanted her back.’: Woman searches 20 years for addicted sister, ‘In looking for her, I lost myself’
“I heard my mother shout, ‘Your sister is missing! We have no idea where she is!’ I got on the next plane, determined to find her myself. Because of her mental state and drug addiction, it didn’t seem to matter to others. We were told, ‘Maybe she doesn’t want to be found.’”
‘THIS is real life’ Mom’s emotional plea when ‘you feel like you’re going insane’ as a parent
“THIS is the dark side of parenting they don’t tell you about in books.”
Ten true things about the first year of motherhood
“Postpartum bodies are squashy and wobbly and dimpled and stretched and foreign and embarrassing and difficult and painful and gorgeously imperfect, and they tend to stay that way for quite awhile. You made a human. Now make your peace.”
‘There’s no way I’d give them my expensive lunch meat. I’m going to buy Jif for when they come over.’: Woman ‘horrified’ by the conversation she overheard in Starbucks
“I was horrified. This woman in her Lululemons, drinking her expensive Starbucks latte was complaining about feeding children?! Then she went on to say that she wants to teach a kindness class in her daughter’s class. Which I found even more confusing. I was that neighborhood kid. I relied on my neighbors to help me because my parents (who worked hard and are wonderful) sometimes couldn’t.”
