parents
The boundless love a parent has for their child is matched only by their capacity to embarrass them.
Special Advice for Daddies and Children
Today is Father's Day. To others, it is just June 17, 2018. To me, it is a day to say HAPPY DADDY'S DAY to the greatest Dad on the planet-mine! Unfortunately, I will be standing at the foot of my parents' grave and telling my Dad to have a Happy Daddy's Day. I have to believe in my heart that he will hear me.
By Maurice Bernier8 years ago in Families
My New Journey Into Stay at Home Momma-hood
What comes to mind when you hear the words “stay at home Mom”? Do you picture her in a robe and slippers, binge watching her favorite show while sipping a nice glass of red? Do you envision her drowning in a dog pile of children, not having showered in days? Quite honestly, my experiences thus far have proven it’s kind of a combination of both.
By Jean River8 years ago in Families
Mom and Me. Top Story - June 2018.
Full House: How Living With My Mom Has Kept Me Sane I moved out at the ripe old age of 29. Some say this is too old and experienced to be moving out and experiencing things. In our South Asian culture, where the laws are strict and deter children from moving out, I was a rebel with a cause. I had met a new man and he happened to live on the other side of the country. After a couple of years of texts, phone calls, one trip in Las Vegas to make sure the other in fact existed and was not a bot (Capchas included), I decided to cut all the clutter and make it official. Again, I was bold, brave, and an Indian girl set on busting through the doors of how it's been to create new ways of living fearlessly, for the culture. How naïve I was. About six hours in, I knew something was amiss and I wasn't welcome. After about three months, he told he had found someone else and I was left to fend for myself. For four years. The idea of this makes me shudder, as does Captain Morgan spiced dark rum, which kept me from losing my marbles and jumping off my 24th floor apartment. In March of this year, after several failed attempts at finding someone suitable, and a pretty long stint, by millennial standards, at a soul crushing corporate job, I booked a one way ticket back home. What did home hold for me? My younger sister, my dark black (with some greys) shih tzu, and my best friend; my mother. Our relationships over the years had been a roller coaster; one filled with co-dependence and, at the end, the realization that we needed to completely re-define it and ourselves to move forward. Her struggles with mental illness, divorce, #widowlife, ailing parents, psycho relatives, and everything in between had taken a toll on my young childhood, so the majority of my twenties were spent trying to transform her into the mom I knew was hiding underneath the medication and manic episodes. If I could just help her see the woman I saw, I knew I could get my mom and maybe some of my childhood back.
By Seema Kapoor8 years ago in Families
The Perks of Being a Stepmama
I can only imagine how difficult it must be to have another woman in your child’s life take on the mom role when you never asked for her in the first place. However, you have to understand that I never asked to fall in love with a man who already had a kid, and along with that, baby mama drama. It just sort of happened 🤷🏽♀️ and I’m not going to apologize for it.
By Diareni V.8 years ago in Families
Happy Father's Day, Daddy!!!
Before ANYONE says anything on June 17, 2018, allow me to say something very important. Whether you fire up your computer, pick up the phone or even visit (I hope not. I do not like visitors.), PLEASE refrain from saying HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to me. I will not take it very kindly. I am not a Dad in any sense of the word. Sorry. That is something that will get me VERY angry.
By Maurice Bernier8 years ago in Families
You Hate Yourself, but I Hate You More
Before you dive too deep into my past, I must warn you that this piece is an emotional one, and it is a true story. I don't get the opportunity to discuss my childhood much. I mean, upon meeting new people, I assume that the last thing they want to hear is my sob story. I don't have too many close friends that I am comfortable carrying on personal and disturbing conversations with, and I learned firsthand that my experiences cannot be trusted with the men that I engage with, as it's the first thing they love to turn to the moment I upset them. And let's face it, therapy isn't cheap, and the thought of having to pay someone to listen to my problems is depressing all on its own.
By Jeannie McDaniel8 years ago in Families
Odd Wo(man) Out
“A daughter is just a little girl who grows up to be your best friend.” Well, that wasn’t true for my mother and I. I always knew that my mother loved me. She did after all raise me to be the smart, beautiful, strong, and amazing woman that I am today. However, I never had a close relationship with my mother. I am my mother’s only biological daughter. But when she met my father, he had two children, a son and a daughter. When I was born, my mom wanted to make sure that I had a relationship with my older siblings no matter how far away they were. She took in my siblings and cared for them like they were her own. She was always good at that. She always looked out for people and she was always someone that people could depend on. I got that trait from her. But there were a lot of other things that I did not get from her, such as her affection and attention. She gave most of that to my sister. This made me envious of my older sister and as you can imagine, it put a strain on us growing closer. We didn’t get to be each other's best friends as sisters are supposed to be. Instead, I grew up hating her because she had my mother wrapped around her finger. Even to this day, my sister and my mother are closer than I am with either one of them. My sister and I’s relationship did get better. I started to feel like I could go to her and confide in her. My sister is the only relative that I have that I have ever told about my suicidal thoughts. Who knows if she ever told anyone but she was the only person that I was close to at that difficult point in my life.
By Shanita Marshall8 years ago in Families
How I Live With a Disability
Hello folks, welcome to another article here on Vocal. It's been awhile for me. I last wrote in March with a great article talking about driving which got a nice award for it being on the front page on Vocal’s site in the appropriate category. Today, I want to take a different approach to an article and talk about living with a disability and what was done to support me both in the technology side, as well as life in general.
By Jared Rimer8 years ago in Families
The 5 Stages of Becoming a Step-Parent
Entering a new relationship is never easy, but entering one when your new partner has a child already seems to be an atomic bomb of emotions and trials. Suddenly, you are faced with a small person, who even if you have known them all of their life, is now the tiny dictator of your home life. Suddenly, you have to take on a different role, the role of "You will test me, and I will not let you break me, I am an adult, I can do this." No amount of you telling yourself you are an adult can prepare you for this, no amount of coffee or chocolate will help you either. If anything, you will lose that chocolate in your new secret hiding places you are now having to find for sweets.
By Emily Wiggins8 years ago in Families
