MSI Press Blog

  Introduction Parenting is hard.  It’s not “I would rather be hiding state secrets in a POW camp” hard, but it’s definitely “my most cherished fantasy is about taking an uninterrupted shower by myself” hard. It’s hard because you are a parent 24/7 without coffee breaks or vacations. It’s hard because it isolates you away from your friends, sometimes your family, and occasionally any semblance of adult human companionship whatsoever. It’s hard because you always put the needs of others above your own, often without thanks or even acknowledgement. (If all three of these statements are true at the same time, it’s called “having an infant.”) Even worse, not only is parenting diabolically challenging, but it also has the outside appearance of being easy, fun, and less challenging than a “real” job.  Yes, many non-parents attempt to compare the act of childrearing to any other job. However, until they find a job where it is impossible to quit, you aren’t paid, and your boss is allowed to wa

  Excerpt from Clean Your Plate! (Bayardelle) -  Don’t Be a Quitter Your kids want to try out ice skating. They’re jittery with excitement for their first class. They come home glowing and talk of little else for the next week. They ask for new ice skates for Christmas, they start saving up their allowance for new gloves to wear during their lessons, and you start Googling how to be the parent of an Olympic ice skater. As the weeks turn to months, the excitement slowly starts to wear off. After a few weeks, they no longer look forward to classes with as manic a level of excitement, and after a few months, they start outright complaining or asking not to go. If this is your first rodeo (i.e. the first sport or extracurricular your kid has tried), it’s probably no big deal. You let them stop and pick another activity because you don’t want to drag them to something they no longer enjoy. So, they decide try soccer. You see the same manic excitement and the same letter to Santa requestin

  The following excerpt comes from Parenting in a Pandemic , an award-winning book by Liz Bayardelle. Although the pandemic is past, thankfully, at least for now, some of the topics in this book are generic and apply at any time. Chapter 3: Bouncer Parenting is filled with many moments of intense emotional connection. Other times you get to watch your precious little flower unfold as they learn new things and master new skills. There are other times when it’s really just crowd control. Don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe that parents should be as engaged as possible and attempt to make every moment into a learning experience, but show me a parent who swears they’ve never just wanted their kid to sit quietly for a few minutes, in one room, without wrecking anything and I’ll show you a darned liar. Newborns are stationary for a few blessed months, but after that kids are irritatingly mobile. Babies crawl everywhere and possess a mystical ability to find the single solitary lego left on