Before I begin, I do want to acknowledge the unsubtle plagiarism of the title of this post, but it just encapsulated the feeling perfectly. I woke up yesterday completely on the wrong side of the bed. I could not, as my mother suggested, simply get back in and make sure to get out on the… Continue reading Rivki’s No-Good, Very Bad, Awful Day
Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands. Anne Frank When I am having a bad day, making many parenting mistakes, despairing of the example I’m setting, this quote gives me encouragement. When I am feeling proud… Continue reading Out Of Our Hands
“The more possessions the more worry,” Pirkei Avos 2:7 I’ve noticed a trend among my friends, both in real life and online: People are decluttering. They’re going through their closets, garages, storage spaces, that one room where everything gets dumped (for us, that was our guest room. We can’t exactly have guests right now so… Continue reading Less Really Is More
“Im ein ani li, mi li? Aval im ani rak l’atzmi, ma ani?” “If I am not for me, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I?” -Hillel (Pirkei Avos 1:14) We all have own strengths, the things that come naturally to us, that we might even excel… Continue reading Being Your Own Advocate
School has been officially closed since March 17. Here in Ohio, we’ve been staying at home and social distancing since March 23. Not surprisingly, we’re all a little tired of it. But, of course, we are all doing our best to make the best of it, and we take our social responsibility seriously. The kids… Continue reading A Breath Of Fresh Air
Most parents have hopes and dreams for their children. We want them to be happy, to be emotionally balanced and successful in their lives, in their relationships, in making a living, in finding a place in a community. To get married, start a family. To find the same connection to G-d that we have. Most… Continue reading Ten Stages Of Parenting A Challenging Child
Okay, that’s an exaggeration. I actually do have some things done, a result of me finally learning to double kugel recipes and also bake kugels in smaller containers (my family never, never finishes a 9×13, even when we have guests, and the leftover inevitably are tossed, but it took me years to just put the… Continue reading It’s Almost Rosh Hashanah And Almost Nothing Is Done
Yeah, I’m channeling the original lyrics of Kermit singing “It’s not easy being green,” just adjusting it to my own needs. I was so close to posting three weeks in a row, but, alas, I was pretty sick last week (totally overdid it the week before and suffered the consequences) and did not have the… Continue reading It’s Not Easy Being Creative
A frequent permissive point I make about living the life of a creative mother is that choosing to serve cereal for dinner is a perfectly valid option. It’s a sort of battle cry for overwhelmed mothers of small children. We are tired, we are beleaguered, we don’t have neither the time nor energy to make… Continue reading Alternatives To Cereal For Dinner
I had lunch with a friend today. It was splendid, absolutely something I should do more often. My two-year-old finishes his playgroup around lunchtime, so I picked up him before I went to the bagel shop to meet my friend. He’s a happy, busy little guy, and while we waited for my friend to come, he… Continue reading Why Going Places With a Toddler Is Actually The Best
Rivki Silver ~ thoughts & music 