Tag: Child

Yesterday, I published a story about the awful state of children’s welfare in Tennessee. It’s a piece I spent three days working on, trying to help readers connect some dots and understand how truly corrupt and hypocritical our lawmakers can be. It’s easy enough to read separate...

Every single post I’ve seen about Ruby Franke’s arrest has at least one person echoing the same sentiment in the comments. It’s always worded a little differently, but it’s something along the lines of, “I didn’t know it was THAT bad.” This makes me ...

A big story out of Utah this week is the arrest of and criminal charges filed against LDS Momfluencer and YouTube star Ruby Franke (2.4 million followers) and her live-in “business partner” Jodi Hildebrand on multiple accounts of intentional aggravated child abuse (against Ruby...

I was reminded of this sentiment when I watched the movie, “Amsterdam,” and it prompted me to reminisce about my childhood with nostalgia. The purity of emotion that children possess can be truly humbling. It made me wonder: What changes as we grow into adulthood? When do we ...

It was three days before Christmas when my twenty-year-old son came out to me as a transgender woman. I was in the bedroom wrapping a gift. He came in and stood against the wall across from me while I was trying to cut wrapping paper. Luckily, I don’t tend to be an overly reactive person, s...

You might have already heard of climate change being called the ‘threat multiplier.’ It’s a phrase coined nearly two decades ago by an American federal agency to capture how it amplifies cracks, imbalances and injustices already present in current society. ...

Recently I wrote a piece stating that we need to have more compassion for the parents of autistic kids, and I stand by that, but that doesn’t mean that parents don’t need to do some inner work and learn how to change some of their behaviors. When we act poorly as parents we need to ho...

I was reminded of this sentiment when I watched the movie, “Amsterdam,” and it prompted me to reminisce about my childhood with nostalgia. The purity of emotion that children possess can be truly humbling. It made me wonder: What changes as we grow into adulthood? When do we ...

Get up. Eat breakfast. Have fun at school. Do your homework. Take a bike ride. Read a book. Kids may not have the most difficult to-do lists, but not every day is pleasant. Even my most easy-going seven-year-old child feels low sometimes, whether it is changing friendship dynamics, irritation when t...

When I grow up, I want to be just like my 7-year-old daughter. She’s happy, full of joy and wonder, and she sees the world as a place filled with infinite possibilities. As I watch her play every day and explore the world around her without a care, I’m reminded of my childhood, when e...

I love to see happy children enjoying as much good in life as possible. I like to see appreciative beings, sharing, loving, aware of abundance. Children trying to spread plenty amongst many is a delight. Clouding this is a disturbing trend of waste I see these days. Not just in children but...

*Updated December 2, 2023, to break up into four smaller parts for easier reading. This was my first Medium article, so I needed to be better versed in organizing posts. Have you ever thought of clothes differently when they’re produced in America? I’m here to give you an inside sc...

Recently, I discovered that the epistle of First John is powerful. Reading it several times, I underlined words that were repeated, connected the thoughts, and correlated them with the gospel of John; thus, mining a few more nuggets of truth each time. Yet, I never got the sense that I’d got t...

I really do. They usually say it in reference to my older daughter who has a disability. They usually do not have a child with a disability. I receive the comment in situations like when someone has witnessed me funnel every ounce of patience into my soul to quietly calm my kid down at a store wh...

When she was in elementary school, her same-age friends would carry her around like a doll. I don’t think they ever minded their small stature — in fact, I think being petite is now part of their identity. Just before she turned 11, my child came out as genderfluid...

It can be stunning when your child has “the talk” with you to announce they’ve been questioning their gender. Maybe your child wants to change pronouns, their name, and their outward appearance. It’s normal to feel a range of emotions after such a proclamation, from fea...

Even in the 1970s and 1980s as a small child, I could see how the world was skewed against women and girls, and it made me mad. I never felt as if I was second to any of the men and boys around me, and I thought it was ludicrous to be treated as if I were. But being mad like that all the time is ...

Children are precious and innocent, and as the adults in their lives, it is our duty to keep them safe from harm. We trust other adults in our lives with our children’s safety, from family members, clergy, school teachers and babysitters. When that trust is betrayed and our children’s sa...

The child is allowed to choose their own name, pronouns, hairstyle, and clothes. They periodically check in with a psychologist to find out whether this still feels like coming home, or whether it’s last week’s craze. That’s it. That’s all they do at such a young age.&nbsp...

Just a few days ago, Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the United States Supreme Court after being accused by Dr.Christine Blasey Ford of sexual assault. I’m writing this because I am aware now more than ever that I have witnessed history. Just like I asked my mom where she was when Anita Hill ...

As I was writing a recent article titled, “I Have Been Unknowingly Living With ADHD My Entire Life”, I composed it off the top of my head, letting words flow out of me as they came. The article was not only for my readers to gain perspective on being suddenly recognized as neurodivergent...

Religious teaching differs from other parental teaching in that some parents use religion as a means of manipulation. Having grown up in a religious family where addiction and codependency were present I witnessed the potential for manipulation in parental religious teaching first-hand. What f...

As I was writing a recent article titled, “I Have Been Unknowingly Living With ADHD My Entire Life”, I composed it off the top of my head, letting words flow out of me as they came. The article was not only for my readers to gain perspective on being suddenly recognized as neurodivergent...