Parenting- A Balancing Act

For the past five years I have been attempting to stay carefully balanced in the center of a parental seesaw. On one seat rests my children's independence and creativity -- this side is strong and heartily managing its position. On the opposite side sits obedience and respect for authority, which is desperately attempting to gain momentum. I teeter in the middle, trying to keep both harmoniously balanced, not wanting either to fall.

My toddler is constantly testing the seesaw's equilibrium point by forcefully jumping on independence's seat and refusing to budge. When she does this I sometimes feel the need to creep in the opposite direction, inching my way towards respect.

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Why I am Not an Attachment Parent

Halfway through my second trimester with my first daughter, my husband and I went to dinner with a couple who deemed themselves seasoned parents of a 5-year-old. "There are two types of parenting," the husband informed us, "Attachment or detachment parenting. You must choose one."

Not knowing what either term meant, nor little else about babies, I picked the obvious answer, "Oh, we definitely will be attached!"

Now, five and a half years later, I have learned that these veteran parents were wrong -- absolutely, completely, dead wrong. There is so much more room in the realm of parenting for different styles to be incorporated. And, I was wrong too, in the end I am not an "attachment" parent, yet still I am very far from detached.

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The Case for Public Schools

In the last few months, I have probably seen the inside of more classrooms than in my entire 18 years of schooling. No, I haven’t started a new job in education or signed up for community college courses — I am in the midst of applying for my daughter’s kindergarten year at the San Francisco Unified School District.

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Lessons I Learned from My Transgender Nanny

One evening, nearly two years after I first hired her, Y and I sat chatting at the end of a workday, as we often did. While the girls played at our feet, she told me the news; Y had decided to start hormone therapy and begin the process of transitioning to a man.

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