Battles ← Mommy Warriors

The Battle Over the Hot Water in the Shower

May

2013

If I have to hear my kids battle it out one more morning over who’s using up all the hot water in the shower, I’m going to explode. Everyday it’s the same thing, it’s a race to see who’s getting up first and getting in the shower for the hot water. In our house, the saying if you snooze you lose is SO appropriate. It’s getting so bad that my kids stay in the shower even longer than they need to just to piss each other off. When I’m downstairs in the kitchen, it’s like an all out war upstairs. ...

Spring Break Your Back

Apr

2013

Who ever came up with the term “Spring Break” clearly wasn’t a mother. We are 1 week and 2 days into our Spring Break, and it’s anything but a break. In the past 10 days we’ve gone to the movies 3 times (nothing I particularly wanted to see), made 3 dozen cupcakes (of which I ate too many), played endless rounds of championship “Go Fish”, gone for 6 bike rides (up hill both ways), broken up a dozen sibling knock-down fights (got clipped in the jaw in the process), cleaned up after countless art projects, chased after a lost dog ...

Homework without Tears

Mar

2013

I used to think I was the anomaly, that some how my 9 year old was the only kid who cried over having to do homework. I used to think that I was doing something wrong, that I was somehow creating more stress for him or putting too much pressure on him. That all changed when I was reading the latest “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” to my daughter the other night and saw a blurb about how Gregory’s mom had a reward chart on the wall that was entitled “Homework without Tears”. What’s this? I’M NOT ALONE!!!! Okay, albeit I ...

The Biebs Goes Down!

Mar

2013

A few years back my daughter had gone through a Justin Bieber phase. It didn’t last long but, she did get a life size cardboard cut out of him for a birthday a few years back. Since then, he’s been folded up in her closet just collecting dust. When I suggested trashing it, my sons came up with a better idea…use it for target practice! When I told them to go for it, than ran into the garage and armed themselves with airsoft guns, a bow and arrow, a slingshot and a pellet gun. Poor Justin Bieber didn’t stand a ...

When the Kids Don’t Want Family Time

Mar

2013

My husband and I woke up Sunday morning, after an evening of cooking and entertaining sixteen people and decided we wanted to go out for breakfast with the kids. I rolled out of bed and walked down the hall to the playroom where they were all hanging out playing video games. “Kids, Dad and I are taking you guys to breakfast. Can you all get dressed, make your beds, brush your teeth. We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.” But as appealing as it sounded to my husband and me, it was the antithesis of appealing to the kids. “I ...

Trying to Stay Calm When Things Get Frightening

Feb

2013

I’ve always believed that my kids feed off of my energy. If I’m in a good mood, they feel loved. If I’m in bad mood, they think they did something wrong. And if I’m stressed over something, they get worried. So when we had a very frightening experience Monday on a flight home, I tried desperately not to show my terror. I’m not a great flier. People can try to convince me all they want how flying is the safest form of travel, but it still doesn’t change the fact the two best moments when I fly is when ...

Mom, I’m Not Cold

Feb

2013

Yes, we have great weather here in SoCal but sometimes the temperatures do dip a little a times and the kids are oblivious to it. Yesterday morning as I (and the rest of the carpool) waited in my car for my daughter to emerge from the house, I had the heater on high to warm us up and to melt the frost on the windows. When my daughter finally made her way to the car, I noticed she has a thin little shirt on and no jacket. When I asked why she didn’t put a jacket on I got the ...

The Battle to Get My Daughter Out of the House on Time 1

Dec

2012

There is never a morning when my 14 year old daughter can be ready for school ON TIME. What on earth she does in that bathroom of hers blows my mind. Every morning it’s the same thing. I ask if she’s ready to go and I get the same the response, “not yet.” What that means to me is to go pick up the rest of the carpool and come back to get her. After I pick everyone else up, I have 5 boys in my car who are all complaining as we wait in the driveway for my daughter ...

Cup Hygiene, Do Your Boys Have It?

Nov

2012

Having three boys in the house can get a little gross at times. From the toothpaste on the bathroom wall to smelly socks under the bed, my boys are not the neatest ones around and their hygiene is, well, I just won’t get into the details. I do have a lot of tolerance for most of their gross things, after all I wiped and cleaned their little butts for how many years. But the one thing that really ticks me off is having to handle those nasty cups! They used to leave them right in their compression shorts and I ...

When It’s Time to Confront Your Child’s Weight Problem

Oct

2012

It’s a shocking statistic, but over 31% of American children are overweight, and almost 20% are obese. That is 1 in 5! Despite the statistics and the plethora of information on healthy diet and weight loss, the numbers just keep going up. And with young kids, the people ultimately responsible are the parents. It makes you wonder, what is going on? Are these parents in denial? Do they not care? Are they not strong enough to say “no” to their kids when it comes to another helping of food? It is easy to simply label parents of overweight kids as ...