Speak Your Mind
Dear That’s Life, “Use your words!” is what I say to my children when they are frustrated and upset over trivial matters. It is often a greater issue that is aggravating, but not something they can readily articulate. I have also used that line with some adults, when something needs to be said, and instead [...]
April Fools!
Dear That’s Life, While I am not a fan of silliness, it does have its place in life and often offers a healthy break from the doldrums of every life. Silly is how I would describe myself as I walk into Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, becoming absolutely giddy when I see Mickey himself. I am, [...]
Stuck to the Roof of My Mouth
Dear That’s Life, As a parent, you try and expose your children to all of the good that life can offer, which often comes in many different forms. It may a trip to a museum, getting some ice cream after school for no reason at all or just some quality time alone playing ball. Maybe, [...]
Bad Mommy Strikes Again
Dear That’s Life, I have had my share of ‘bad mommy’ moments in my life. Those are the times when I do not think I am necessarily doing the best or right thing for my children, but I do it anyway. I’ve never done anything like buy a padded bikini top for my young daughter [...]
Is Purim Over Yet?
Dear That’s Life, At the risk of being stoned by a masked and angry mob for saying this: I do not like Purim. I enjoy the megillah, love the story with its hidden meanings and appreciate the miracles, but on the whole if we skipped it, I’d be fine. As a child I relished the [...]
Spanbrew
Dear That’s Life, When we first hired our babysitter over a decade ago, we encouraged her to speak Spanish in our home. Not to do it exclusively, but rather intermittently include Spanish into her daily conversations with our children. It was like our own Rosetta Stone foreign language program, except without all those $24.95 payments. [...]
Glory Lasts Forever
Dear That’s Life, Being a younger sibling is no fun. You go to bed first, drive last and are referred to as “so and so’s baby sister” for the rest of your life. I have never enjoyed it, especially the ‘not winning anything’ part. No game of scrabble, hockey, basketball or anything else. I could not [...]
The World is Defrosting
Dear That’s Life, You are not going to believe this. There is grass in my backyard. I know – it is hard to believe, but it is true. The nice weather we have had for the last couple of days has thawed out the neighborhood, revealing toys that serve as a reminder the last nice [...]
The Unsinkable Taste of Cheerios
Dear That’s Life, It was never my intention to raise a bunch of food snobs. It is actually not what I had planned at all. However, it is exactly what happened – almost. A self-declared foodie, I was never interested in making “kid food” when preparing dinner. If my husband and I were having poached [...]
Does It Ever End?
Dear That’s Life, I’m convinced that chulent multiplies. It regenerates. As much as you eat, more grows back. You can not run out of it and it is never finished. No one has ever said, “I’m sorry – we are all out of chulent.” It just cannot happen. No matter how much or how little [...]
Big Love: Woodmere Style
Dear That’s Life, With my youngest in the cart, I saw someone at Costco with whom I had not spoken in years. Noticing the overflowing mound I was pushing, including fruits, vegetables and loads of milk, he asked me if I as shopping for the month. I shook my head. “For the week,” I explained. Scanning the amount [...]
Fergie and Josh
Dear That’s Life, The Super Bowl is as American as apple pie. Care or not who won, which commercial was the funniest or who was MVP, it just does not matter. It may not even matter to some whether or not the vocal talent hired to sing the national anthem sang it properly or if she even knew [...]
I’m Comin’ Home
Dear That’s Life, It is nice to go away, but it is even nicer to come home. Getting home, however, was not as easy as it should have been for many travelers who flew the coop this winter break. The snowstorm which hit the area impeded the return of many travelers, including the Wallachs and [...]
Prepare for Take Off – It is Going to be a Bumpy Ride
Dear That’s Life, There is a distinct difference between a vacation and a family trip. A vacation is when you go somewhere, wile away your cares, skip the laundry and sit on a beach drinking a mai tai. Okay — maybe I’m projecting. It does not have to be exactly like that, but a vacation [...]
Wallach, Party of Eight?
Dear That’s Life, Mid-winter vacation gives families many opportunities, including the chance to do things and go places which are out of the ordinary and away from the everyday norms. Travel plans vary but day trips provide the opportunity for a change of scenery without having to pack a bag or pay the overweight fee [...]
…Was Paved with Good Intentions
Dear That’s Life, The road to hell was paved with good intentions, although I am not trying to imply that hell was where we were going. There are unpredictable bumps along any path, regardless of how much planning and prepping you complete. Sometimes you wish things would work out exactly the way you plan – [...]
So Close, Yet So Far
Dear That’s Life, Everyone needs a day off every once in a while, and that includes kids as well as adults. Having been blessed with a large family, we try and spend ‘alone time’ with each of our children at various times. It may be ‘Mommy/child’ time or ‘Mommy & Daddy/child’ time. Either way, whether [...]
The Power of Television
Dear That’s Life, There are numerous reasons why we, as parents, should limit the amount of television our kids watch. Besides the obvious ones, it also seems that on a daily basis, someone tries to convince me that there is a new product – or toy – that we need to buy for our house. My [...]
A Call in the Dark
Dear That’s Life, Like all parents, we may be woken in the middle of the night by one of our children for a variety of reasons. Someone could have had a nightmare or someone could have had an accident. Both are real possibilities and both have to be dealt with in their own way. I [...]
