The Alternative Press
Your Neighborhood News Online
Showing articles in Blended
-
My Daughter
May 16, 2013Not long ago, I became a stepmother to three wonderful kids, a girl and two boys. I have two boys of my own, so I’m no stranger ...
-
I Took My Child to Work and I Loved It
May 13, 2013I recently experienced my first “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.” I owe my resulting glow to Gloria Steinem, who ...
-
Stepsonshine
March 18, 2013A wonderful thing happened…it wasn’t forced, it wasn’t solicited, it wasn’t egged on by an adult hoping a chi...
-
Surgery Surprises for Same-Sex Pseudo Spouses
January 19, 2013About two weeks ago, my girlfriend G had surgery. It wasn’t an emergency procedure, thank goodness, so we had plenty of time to ...
-
The Most Super of Cuts
November 26, 2012Four weeks ago, my oldest son Blue had his bar mitzvah. If you’ve been through this with your child, you’ll surely recall ...
-
Love and Sunscreen
October 1, 2012Our family spent a week this August on Lake Norman near Charlotte, North Carolina. We were a full house of sixteen: G, me, our five ki...
-
Oh, He's Gay
July 20, 2012It’s often the little moments during an impromptu mother-son wiffle ball game that demonstrate just how much a ten-year old know...
-
Grow Up (actually, not yet!)
July 5, 2012Be careful what you wish for. How many times has that proved true? Aesop really knew his stuff. Often, when I see my kids’...
-
Take Me Back to the Stone Age
May 29, 2012Like many of us (or is it just me?), I have a complicated relationship with technology. It’s part infatuated-with-these-toys and...
-
The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But?
April 28, 2012I love writing these Blended columns. The act of writing is cathartic and it helps me understand, celebrate and vent about what’...
-
Get a Move On
April 11, 2012Now that summer has arrived in March, walking home from school is ideal, particularly to the mom who doesn’t feel like cutting h...
-
My Compliments
March 16, 2012The idea of a compliment is simple: you give one, the recipient feels good, and you feel good for having perpetuated goodness. Then, y...
-
Let's Talk About Autism, Baby
February 16, 2012A five-minute ride home from a Saturday afternoon basketball game turned into a fascinating exchange about autism. By way of backgroun...
-
Open, Open, Share, Share
February 2, 2012We humans are bound together by similarities. Most of us have two arms, two legs, one heart and hair that comes out better when we ski...
-
Union County Spelling Bee
February 1, 2012Who knew a fourth grade spelling bee had the makings of Shakespeare? We had comedy, tragedy and fully realized characters strutting th...
-
Limits and Boundaries and Borders, Oh Please!
January 11, 2012‘Tis the season of excess – over eating, over spending, over giving and over doing. For those of us in interfaith househol...
-
Looking for Gratitude in All the Wrong Places
December 23, 2011I had this idea for Thanksgiving. It’s not unique, really. I’m sure many families do it. I wanted all 22 of us to sit arou...
-
Sing It Loud
November 25, 2011G and I love music, I mean really love it. She does her Sugarland thing and I have Neil Young and we listen to a lot in between. O...
-
What Do They Know, Anyway?
November 10, 2011I’m often told that my kids – all kids - know a lot more than I give them credit for. They sense things. They feel things....
-
Movies Are Stranger Than Life
October 28, 2011We generally go to the movies to escape real life, to lose ourselves in a soft chair with a cupholder and live a fantasy. Luckily, tha...
-
Food Borne Pickiness
October 17, 2011I thought adults, including me, were the only ones with food hang-ups. Kids love food, right? Sweet food, salty food, food t...
-
Call This Family to Order
October 5, 2011With so many inhabitants wandering our halls, we’ve been advised that a great way to bring everyone together and hash out discor...
-
Monday PM Mayhem
September 21, 2011School is here! School is here! The first few days of the school year, everyone was getting their legs, figuring out where to go and adju...
-
Chores Wars
September 15, 2011I bet my background is similar to that of lots of other women I see darting in and out of the coveted parking spots in my New Jersey town...