11 Things in Your Kitchen Right Now That’ll Kill You!
Wheat is one of the deadliest foods that kill. It can give you “wheat belly;” making you bulbous and inflamed …
Category: Kids & Parents
The Effects of Divorce on Children
How My Parents’ Divorce Turned Me Into Jason Bourne The effects of divorce on children often makes them into fantastic spies. My parents divorced
How My Grandma Took a Stand & Decided to Leave Her Church of 40 Years
This Story Is in Honor of National Grandparents Day & LBGT Rights In 1988 at the height of the AIDs epidemic and near-hysterical homophobia,
Inspiration From a Teacher With My Daughter When an “Active Shooter” Terrorized UCLA
“As we sat together in silence, I called each of your names, and in the quiet of that room, where the tension was still thick with not knowing, I wanted to say your names over and over again.”
He Answered the Door With a Gun
What happened in the hot tub stays in the hot tub. Let’s just say I did not lose my virginity there, but the Kraken had been unleashed …
Talking To Kids About Pornography (7 Bullet Points)
“Pornography is affecting young boys’ brains, turning them into misogynistic aggressors who might objectify and assault girls in the course of what they consider to be ‘normal’ sexual practices.”
The Unexpected Way Her Father Humiliated Her
“The other night, I caught you putting your boobs on the table.” “What?” (She saw that?) …
A Colleary Christmas 2015 (The Back Waxing Edition)
“Okay, I told Henry he could write his part of the letter, because there was a good chance I’d run amuck …
How to Handle the “Sex Talk” With Kids
“Mom, how old do I need to be before I can have sex?” Oh, crap. I am suddenly thrust into a very important conversation with the question-asker, my 9-year old daughter, that I WAS NOT expecting.
My 7 Best Summer Memories from 1975
“If any of his four granddaughters (not-a-one grandson!) complained about the fish guts, he’d yell, ‘Shad-up and do it! You catch ’em, you clean ’em, you cook ’em, I eat ’em.’
One Father Says Goodbye to His Daughter. Stunning.
“Her room smells of alfalfa even though she has taken the rabbits.”
My Daughter Has Made an Unsettling Transformation
My daughter has become a cat. She turns 13 years old in six days, but she began the shift to coy feline about two months ago.
When The Man You Loved Changes Forever
She did all the things besotted mistresses do. She waited for her phone to ring, she called his home and hung up when his wife answered.
Advocating for Public Education
I want your child to come to our neighborhood middle school, Emerson Community Charter. So there’s my agenda right out there in the open. And
How I Made My Daughter A Better Athlete!
I stalked left field like a panther, my stride sinuous. Predatory.
Can You Guess Which Movie?
Sunday night I took a hard, violent fall, kinda pin-balled down there. Hit a lot of railings, broke a lot of shit! …
A Plea to the Overachieving Mothers!
I’m a terrible mother! For all I know the drama kid’s really staying at school till four playing craps against the side of the handball court with a coupla middle schoolers named Vinnie and Jett …
The Colleary Family Christmas Letter
Nobody contracted ebola, nobody was kidnapped by the FARC in Colombia, nobody gambled away the nest egg, nobody became a horcrux for part of Charlie Sheen’s soul.
Banishing the “Wicked” in Stepmother
She had platinum blond hair worn in an Aqua-Net bouffant, thick black eyeliner and a figure Jayne Mansfield would’ve killed for. At night she peeled her false eyelashes off like she was undressing her face.
10 Things NOT to do on Your Child’s School Field Trip
When the Bossy Docent yells at a child for pulling a pine cone off a tree, yelling, “Leave this land exactly as you found it,” do not whisper to your child’s teacher …
Do You Press-Gang Your Kids?
“Well, I know you haven’t brushed your teeth yet. Please go do that.” He looks at me horrified. That’s not why he came to see me. He wanted retribution not a chore. That’s what I do to my children. Ultimately I seem to turn every interaction into a nag.
Zen and the Art of Sailing During A Small Craft Advisory Warning
I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to barf. I didn’t want to get salty. I didn’t want to smell feces. I didn’t want
“Dear White Moms” is a Must Read
Racism: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular
Daughters: 10 Reasons You Should Not Have Sex in High School
Dear Daughters, You’re at an age where your father and I have little control over the choices you make when you aren’t with us.
My Kids Don’t Rebel Against Me, I Rebel Against Them!
12-year-old Clare looks at me as I’m getting ready to go to the gym. Clare: Shannon, you can’t wear those shorts. Me: I am not
