Author Archives: Julie Cole
Ode to the Single Parents
Julie Cole in For the love of parenting, Just Between Us - 5 comments - posted on Feb 21st, 2012It’s quite common to hear someone say “I’m a single parent this week” when their husband/wife/partner is out of town due to work obligations. I certainly know that experience; Daddy-o is away on average four days a week. It’s no easy feat for a mama of six and it certainly takes its toll – but however tricky, you won’t catch me referring to myself as a single parent. Why not? Out of respect for all the real single parents out there. While I may be temporarily the only parent on location, I am not a single parent. Here’s the difference: … Continue reading
What I Learned While on Crutches
Julie Cole in Just Between Us - 2 comments - posted on Feb 15th, 2012So I managed to do my ankle in, which landed me in an Aircast and crutches. I know what you’re thinking and for the record, I was not walking and texting. In fact, I was attempting to walk and talk at the VERY same time and managed to go over on my ankle. It’s a good thing I wasn’t chewing gum or I may have ended up in a full body cast. Clearly this cast/crutches thing is not an ideal situation for a multi-tasking mama. To further complicate the matter, Daddy-o was out of town for the week and the … Continue reading
My “Number One Son” with his life-long buddy. They met at “Moms group” when they were a couple of weeks old. Twelve years ago I gave birth to my first beautiful baby. When he was a few weeks old, I was invited by a local midwife to a neighbourhood centre to meet other women who had also just had their first babies. It was my introduction to the “moms group”. Moms groups get mixed reviews. Some say that having a same-aged child in common is not enough to form a social relationship. Others report that these organizations are a breeding … Continue reading
Outing Santa
Julie Cole in For the love of parenting, Just Between Us - 1 comment - posted on Dec 29th, 2011Good big brothers don’t expose the Santa lie to little brothers. I spoke last year about the difficulty of outing Santa to my son. He was at an age that most kids no longer believed, so he needed to know – I didn’t want his ‘believing’ to potentially embarrass him among his peers. I took the opportunity to spill the beans about Santa to him last June. The timing was good since absolutely no one was talking about Mr. Claus. My son was shocked, but generally it went over well. I positioned it in a way that he felt a … Continue reading
Talking Penn State with the Kiddos
Julie Cole in For the love of parenting, Just Between Us - 0 comments - posted on Dec 16th, 2011It’s a sad day when you sit your kids down to warn them about being too trusting of coaches and mentors. Last weekend, the whole family was in the truck and Daddy-o needed to dash into a shop. The rest of us waited in the vehicle, talking about capital cities. By the time he returned, we were in a big conversation about Penn State. He shot me the “How the heck did that happen?” look. As it turned out, the conversation went in a direction that provided an opportunity for this discussion. Besides, I had the undivided attention of all … Continue reading
This past weekend I was supposed to go on my first “girls weekend” in three years. Instead, I was sick so lounged on the couch with children piled on top of me. But, I did pull up one of my old posts and reflected upon “The Rule”. How much do you talk to your friends about your kids? My ninety-two-year-old grandmother has given birth to a lot of babies. She had babies in the 1930s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. She was collecting the baby bonus and old-age pension at the same time. Grandma is as wise as she is old, … Continue reading
You’d think the statement “It’s not fair” would be commonly heard around our house. Strangely, it’s not. Or at least it wasn’t. I’m not sure why we had the good fortune of escaping it for so long, but it has recently become a part of our family’s vernacular. It’s actually kind of surprising the kids didn’t think to use it before. I suspect there are plenty of occasions in our biggie-sized family that they could have. Like on movie night when I put out one big bowl of popcorn and it’s every kid for him/herself. It never crossed my mind … Continue reading
By the time I had my sixth kid, I figured I had this parenting thing wrapped up. Well, this cheeky toddler has knocked me square off my parenting high horse. One of our babysitters describes him as an adorable weirdo. One of his weirdo things is that every night for the last six months, he has insisted upon falling asleep on the family room floor. I later transport him to a suitable floor upstairs when I head to bed. Maybe it’s not a big deal, but for this “establish good bedtime routines and habits” mama, this sleeping on the floor … Continue reading