For a bit of a giggle for older adoptive parents who have grown kids as well, this story may provoke a chuckle or two.

All about young-ish moms hoping for grandma to help out, and how many grandma's are too busy doing their own thing ... raising children in our case ... to pitch in as some of our kids think we should.

Starting off with a "general image of what a good granny is: apple-cheeked with a bursting biscuit tin and oodles of time to spend with her precious grandchildren", it's a tale of disappointment for some that follows.

Sadie... more

Is it because I'm old, or because it's deplorable? You make the call ...

This story bugs the heck out of me, makes me squirm and want to throttle someone at the same time, and scares the padooky out of me just thinking of the ramifications.

Here's the open:

At the recently opened Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Cinderella's castle in Walt Disney World, hordes of young girls in ball gowns jostle every day to get their hair coiffed, their nails painted and their faces plastered with make-up to imitate their favorite princess.

Really? Parents... more

Always the grandest of Love Thursdays, Thanksgiving is the American holiday I miss the most. Although we have a local version of most of the others ... 4th of July being a notable exception ... there is still always an "American version" that I miss while others celebrate in the fashion they're accustomed to. Thanksgiving, though, goes right over the heads of the Seychellois and Brits that I live my life with and around these days, and by missing the point completely I think they really are missing out.

This will be my 14th consecutive non-Thanksgiving, and like most when they finally roll around this one has me wondering why the heck Mark and the kids and I didn't pack up about a... more

There is a new resource for those 'sandwich generation' people, so many of whom seem to be older adoptive parents; you know the ones -- little kids on one side, aging parents on the other, you in the middle trying to see to it that both are cared for properly, have all the attention they need, their medical issues attended to, their futures as bright and healthy as possible.

Caring.com is a brand new online facility that's been in the works for some time now. It's been ... more

Three out of four of my children have birthdays on the 10th of a month. This month, the 10th was on Saturday and the birthday was Sam's.

Yes, my baby boy is now a five-year old kid, and although in one direction that sounds young, it seems darned grown up in a whole bunch of ways, and a baby he most certainly is not.

Home at just 13 weeks, I still miss every one of those days, and although he was certainly well treated, cuddled, fed and loved, almost every one was spent in an orphanage. That is reality, and nothing ever can or should change his path ...... more

Not as it is needed, or will be appreciated, but for everyone living the life of a Boomer, and those poor souls that have to follow our act, here's something to add to your list of worries ... inflation.

In this article in the Washington Post, you can read all about how your well-considered plans for financial comfort in your old... more

With me not all tongue-in-cheekily contemplating the likelihood of having my son in bed with my husband and me until past the point that he's driving and shaving, the headline in this article, "Still Sleeping with Mom and Dad", and the accompanying photo showing a 23-year-old and his 21-year-old sister huddling under the covers between mattress-hugging parents caught my eye.

Little did I realize, however, that a complete read of the story and the comments it inspired would end up giving... more

We are just back from our weekend break on Bird Island, and although the whole weekend long I had thought my Monday Older Parent Blog would be all about how parenting at my age differs from how I did this when I was much younger, an entirely different slant presented itself during the course of the trip.

First, a little history:

This was our second visit to Bird; our first was in 2003 when Sam was ten-months-old and Cj wasn't even a glimmer ... although I have to think that she was already writ... more

Ack! I'm an environmental nightmare, and I've not until the very minute given it more than a passing thought. It's this report that has me choking on my green tea this morning, and giving some thought to changing.

Me! Miss (or Mrs.) Environmentally-aware, former-hippy-chick, green-as-anything, outraged-over-waste, blah-blah, blah, is no longer part of a solution, but a major contributor to a problem. I live in a tropical paradise and what am I doing? I'm trashing... more

Perhaps it is only due to a good case of denial or delusion, but I honestly do not often have the fact that I am really old to have kids as young as mine flit across my consciousness. It's not that I convince myself that I am a springier chicken than I am or go out of my way to trick other eyes into seeing me younger than my chronological age, I simply don't think about my stack of years very often and tend to go about my parenting ... and my life, for that matter ... much like I have at the other ages I've been so far.

When I'm out and about with my children, I'm... more