Dec 18, 2018 | Holidays, Humor, Moms & Dads, Parenting & Family, Raising Children
By Laura Simon Here we are, one week from Christmas, and I’m this close to telling my kids Santa isn’t real. I won’t do it, of course, because I know the day is coming when they’ll figure it out on their own and then I’ll be sad. But seriously, the man is becoming...
Dec 5, 2018 | Holidays, Humor, Just for Moms, Moms & Dads, Parenting & Family
By Laura Simon When I was a youngish mom of babies, I scoured Pinterest to create a heap of meaningful holiday traditions for my kids. (In case you were wondering, Pinterest was BRAND NEW at that point.) My kids were barely old enough to comprehend anything other than...
Nov 21, 2018 | Gift Ideas & Gift Shoppes, Holidays, Parenting & Family, Shopping, Shopping for Kids & Babies
By Laura Simon It’s that time of year again, and the requests for Christmas present ideas are pouring in from grandparents everywhere. The older my kids get, the less I want a heap of new junk in my house. Every year, I try to push the grandparents toward experience...
Nov 6, 2018 | Elementary Age, Health, Parenting & Family, Raising Children, Safety
By Laura Simon I really want to be a free-range parent. Something about that particular parenting style resonates in my gut. I believe it’s good for kids to be trained, prepared, and then allowed to navigate the world without adults hovering in the background. I...
Oct 26, 2018 | Humor, Moms & Dads, Parenting & Family, Raising Children
By Laura Simon I was digging through my minivan the other day, looking for something I told my children to put in a safe place, when I found all the socks in our house. I’m only slightly exaggerating. It seemed that literally our entire stash of children’s socks – and...
Oct 9, 2018 | Humor, Moms & Dads, Parenting & Family, Raising Children
By Guest Blogger Laura Simon Let me preface this by saying I want my children to love reading. I love it myself. Given the choice between jewelry and books, I’ll chose books every time. I don’t get rid of books…I buy more bookcases. I assumed my children were going to...
Sep 26, 2018 | Adult Health & Wellness, From the Heart, Health, Moms & Dads, Parenting & Family, Raising Children
By Laura Simon I suppose our hobbies find us when we need them, and that’s certainly been the case for my relationship with running. After I had kids, the sport that I loathed with a passion through my teens and twenties suddenly became a discipline that spoke to me....
Sep 11, 2018 | Children with Special Needs, Education, Education for Special Needs, Parenting & Family
By Laura Simon (with contributions from guest blogger Angela Fuller) My Uncle Lavelle had a seizure when he was a toddler that left him with profound, irreversible brain damage. The youngest of eight children, most of whom remained in the same small community, he was...
Aug 14, 2018 | Education, Elementary, High School & Beyond, Homeschooling, Middle School, Parenting & Family, Preschool, Raising Children, Toddlers & Preschool
By Laura Simon Summer break is already almost gone. How is that possible? Is it already time to start supervising approximately three-thousand homework sheets, countless eye rolls, and too many tears? Now, who wants to talk about supporting the learning process at...
Jul 30, 2018 | Adults, Humor, Just for Moms, Moms & Dads, Pop Culture, Books & Movies
By Laura Simon Every Monday, I make sure my three-year-old tornado doesn’t take a nap. I schedule activities that I’m certain will wear her and her older brothers out. We swim, run, wrestle, and climb a few walls. Meanwhile, I walk around with an extra pep in my step,...
Jul 17, 2018 | From the Heart, Just for Moms, Moms & Dads, Parenting & Family, Raising Children, Recreation, Sports
By Laura Simon When I was coaching swimming – many years before I got married or had kids – I knew exactly what kind of sports parent I was going to be. I knew I’d be supportive and present at the games, that I’d bring the cute and clever snacks, that I’d cheer at all...
Jul 2, 2018 | Education, Elementary, Homeschooling, Middle School, Parenting & Family, Preschool, Raising Children
By Guest Blogger Laura Simon “When am I ever going to use this after I graduate?” I heard this question countless times, from countless students, in the fourteen years that I taught English. In fact, if I’m honest, I asked this question myself more than a few times....
Jun 19, 2018 | Just for Moms, Moms & Dads, Parenting & Family, Raising Children, Toddlers & Preschool
By Laura Simon I found out the gender of my third child when a nurse called during my first bell English class. I’d taken a Harmony test a few weeks earlier because my doctor suggested it would be a wise choice given my advanced maternal age, which was all of 35. As...
Jun 7, 2018 | From the Heart, Humor, Just for Moms, Moms & Dads
By Laura Simon When I was new to motherhood, I kept reading about this mythological concept that my sleep-deprived brain couldn’t wrap itself around: the sweet spot. The sweet spot is the stage in parenting where your kids haven’t yet reached the angst of adolescence...
May 29, 2018 | Adults, By Stage, From the Heart, Just for Moms, Moms & Dads
By Laura Simon I’m a list person. I’m not sure there’s anything better than methodically checking tasks off a to-do list. Of course, I haven’t completed an entire checklist in at least eight years. Coincidentally, my oldest child is also eight. That’s what kids do to...
Apr 24, 2018 | By Stage, Parenting & Family, Raising Children, Toddlers & Preschool
By Laura Simon It’s been seven days since my three-year-old took a nap. And before that last nap, it had been seven days since the one before. This is my third – and last – kid, and I think I know what this means. Naptime is over. Sure, she’ll probably nod off in the...
Apr 9, 2018 | Humor, Just for Moms, Moms & Dads
By Laura Simon I forgot about trash day. I was busy and tired last night, and I failed to notice that the other neighbors had put their cans at the curb. Usually I hear someone rolling theirs out, but apparently our house was louder than normal, too. Anyway, as it...
Mar 30, 2018 | Family Time, Holidays, Humor, Moms & Dads, Parenting & Family, Raising Children
By Laura Simon I made it through seven Easters before I gave in. For all seven Easters, I happily re-used the same heap of plastic eggs and willingly filled them, one-by-one, with a combination of coins, chocolate, and the occasional dollar bill. My husband hid them...
Mar 21, 2018 | Humor, Just for Moms, Moms & Dads, Parenting & Family, Raising Children
By Laura Simon I keep hearing this myth that having kids will keep you young. I don’t know about that. Every day when I wake up, I discover that my gray hairs have invited more like-minded friends. At this point, they vastly outnumber the dark brown former occupants....
Mar 2, 2018 | Humor, Moms & Dads, Parenting & Family, Raising Children
By Laura Simon You know what would be nice? If my children woke up every morning with warning labels attached. See, I can parent pretty effectively in the areas that I can anticipate being an issue. I know to teach my children not to run in the road. I know I have to...
Feb 17, 2018 | Family Time, Humor, Moms & Dads, Parenting & Family, Pop Culture, Books & Movies, Recreation, Sports
By Laura Simon If you need me between now and February 25, you need only check the space in front of my TV. In general, we aren’t a TV-watching family, but I make an exception for the Olympics. Bedtime, screen time limits…it all goes out the window for two weeks. I...
Feb 1, 2018 | Education, High School & Beyond, Parenting & Family, Tweens & Teens
By Laura Simon Friends with teenagers, do you know what’s approaching? College. And in between your child and college is one MAJOR stepping stone: the admissions essay. I spent eight years of my teaching career in a high school classroom, and one of my roles was...
Jan 20, 2018 | Adults, Bereavement, From the Heart, Health, Moms & Dads
By Laura Simon This is perhaps not the best day for me to write a blog post. In fact, the safest thing for me to do is to hunker down in my bathroom and avoid contact with the outside world. Today is the eighth anniversary of my dad’s death. I’ve noticed that, whether...
Dec 8, 2017 | Adult Health & Wellness, From the Heart, Health, Just for Moms, Moms & Dads
By Laura Simon I like to call myself an accidental runner. I started out as a swimmer, primarily because when I swim, I can’t feel myself sweat. I hate sweat. Swimming allowed me push myself to the max without ever feeling particularly hot. But periodically, my coach...
Nov 23, 2017 | Holidays, Parenting & Family, Raising Children
By Laura Simon I was driving my boys to swim team practice when the car in front of me slammed on the brakes. Actually, he did it three of four times before pulling halfway into a turn lane and coming to a complete stop, with half of his car hanging into the lane...
Nov 18, 2017 | Parenting & Family, Raising Children
By Laura Simon Shortly after my third child was born, my neighbor, herself the mother of five children born in quick succession, shared a piece of advice that transformed my life as a mom. “I never, ever, bother trying to match socks,” she confided. “They come out of...
Oct 25, 2017 | Food & Nutrition, Food Allergies / Diets / Restrictions, Holidays, Parenting & Family
By Laura Simon (with input from Angela Fuller from Food Allergy Families of the Triad) I have a confession to make, and I hope you’ll all keep this a secret, OK? Every year, I start buying Halloween candy in late September. I buy at least six bags of my favorite...
Oct 11, 2017 | Education, From the Heart, Homeschooling, Moms & Dads, Parenting & Family, Raising Children
By Laura Simon When I decided to homeschool, I envisioned myself doing, well, everything. I’d discovered that most curriculum will pretty much walk the most clueless parent through the teaching process, so I turned my attention to extracurriculars. Art? Yeah…I can...
Sep 25, 2017 | From the Heart, Just for Moms, Moms & Dads, Parenting & Family, Raising Children
By Laura Simon When I got married, the pastor who officiated asked us to take a quiz to determine our love languages. It turns out that I am very much a “words of affirmation” and “gifts” person. Chalk that up to family history, my life as an only child, or my status...
Sep 15, 2017 | Moms & Dads, Moms on the Move
By Katie Moosbrugger Welcome back to a new Moms on the Move feature! We say all the time that one of the best perks of running Triad Moms on Main is the opportunity it gives us to meet fantastic moms all over the Triad. And today I am excited to introduce you Meka,...
