‘Tis the season for some spooky Halloween-themed family movie nights. Especially this year. Parents of younger children have tons of great flicks and shows to choose from. (Need ideas? See our popular post Family-Friendly Halloween Movies on Netflix for 33 titles to choose from.) But what can parents of teens watch as a family (that both parties might actually enjoy)? I recommend these 15 Halloween movies for teens on Netflix. Please note: Every parent (and teen) is different. What one family might consider the perfect Halloween movie to watch with teens, another might consider totally out of ..read more

This post is part of our ongoing “Adventures in Social Distancing” series. Technically, the kids and I were on spring break this week. We had been looking forward to this time off work and school for a while now. Weeks in advance, I put together a tentative list of fun activities and outings for us to choose from, such as a day trip to the nearby town of Yellow Springs and visits to local museums and parks. Heck, I even used special stickers to spell out “S-P-R-I-N-G B-R-E-A-K” on our family calendar in the living room. Special stickers! The arrival of COVID-19 just happened to coincide with ..read more

I started Working Moms Against Guilt with some coworker friends back when blogs were new and shiny and fresh (2006). My baby girl was just a few months old. Years flew by, as they do. Along the way, my contributions to the blog ebbed and flowed. Blogs became a well-established thing, with a whole industry built around them. Who would’ve guessed? My first baby grew and grew and grew, as did the second one. Then over the past couple of years, circa 2018 to 2020, I found myself benignly neglecting poor WMAG for an awfully long spell. I say “benignly” because I still had plenty of passion for the ..read more

I’ve been honing my personal time-management strategy for a while now, and I feel like I’ve hit a pretty good stride. I use Asana to keep tabs on all my projects and tasks, both professional and personal. Google Calendar serves me well when it comes to juggling my events and appointments. (See how I use more of my favorite digital time savers and tools in this post.) Where I’ve struggled is making a plan for today. Just today. Not the next three days, or week, or month ahead. I’m talking about a realistic, logical plan, at a glance, for this 24-hour period I’m living in right now. It sou ..read more

This post about easy meals to make on your family vacation is sponsored by Dream Dinners. All opinions are my own. “Taking a vacation” took on a whole new meaning once I had kids. So much work! stuff! money! planning! meltdowns! public restrooms! More than once I have vowed, “WE ARE NEVER GOING ON VACATION TOGETHER AGAIN!” at the height of my family vacation desperation. But I didn’t give up. Instead, I focused on which aspects of our trip stressed me (or us) out the most. One of the biggies: meals. Three times a day, we all need to eat. If the right food isn’t at hand, we all get hangry. Tru ..read more

Since I became a mother in 2006, I’ve spent an increasing amount of time, money, and miles as a mom taxi. But it wasn’t until last spring that I finally became aware of another, less tangible, but very real cost of all this commuting: The depletion of my soul. (Also known as: The Force, Chi, Life Essence, Suchness, Joie de Vivre… you get the picture.) That’s how I came to the conclusion that our family had to do some major life-rearranging. After all, the state of my soul was at stake. My early mom taxi days Post-maternity leave, I always worked in some capacity, which meant daily dropoffs a ..read more

This post is sponsored by Dream Dinners. All opinions are my own. Sitting down each night for a home-cooked meal, together as a family: Seems like such a simple, easy thing to do. Yet how often do we actually do it? As a kid, I routinely ate dinner with my mom, dad, and older brother at home. Meals and conversation with my immediate family, sitting around the kitchen table, felt like normal, everyday routine. Only now am I beginning to grasp how fortunate I was to grow up in such a stable, loving home, with this nightly tradition forming a solid foundation for my childhood. Once I grew up, ma ..read more

This post is sponsored by Dream Dinners. All opinions are my own. One little nagging question has become the bain of my existence ever since I got married and had children: “What’s for dinner?” You and I both know there’s a lot packed into that simple, innocent inquiry: What meals did you plan for this week? What ingredients did you buy at the grocery store in preparation for those meals? When are you going to start chopping, slicing, marinating, baking, grilling? What flavorful combination of foods will nourish our bodies and delight our senses tonight as we gather ’round the table for conver ..read more

Courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-USZC4-5123 You know the classic comic strip “The Family Circus”? Back in the 1980s, when people got actual printed newspapers delivered to their homes, I read the comics page every day over breakfast. Can’t say “The Family Circus” was my favorite—I was more of a “The Far Side” or “Peanuts” kind of gal—but my general takeaway was that family home life can be chaotic, haphazard, and messy. Exhibit A … “The Family Circus” comic strip, circa 1987.   The circus comes to town Decades passed, and I now had a family of my own. As I entered parenthood ..read more

This post was originally published here. What makes a relationship great, whether it’s with a manager, mentor, spouse, sibling, friend, or parent? I tried digging into my own database of relationships to identify which characteristics have brought a smile to my face, made me thrive, reach my personal best and inspired me to go deeper in that relationship. One theme emerged consistently: the power of emotional safety. What is emotional safety? I define an emotionally safe place as one where you know you are accepted for who you are and can express yourself without fear of judgment despite the ..read more