by Cecilia Hilkey | parenting
I didn’t think we needed to talk to our kids about drugs and alcohol until they were in high school or college. I was wrong. I also mistakenly believed that parents don’t have that much influence over whether their kids struggle with substances or not. I didn’t know...read more
by Cecilia Hilkey | parenting
Gemma Hartley is a writer, reporter, mom of 3, and she is the author of Fed Up: Emotional Labor, Women, and the Way Forward. We sat down with her to talk about emotional labor–the largely invisible but demanding, time-consuming, and exhausting “worry work”...read more
by Cecilia Hilkey | empathy, parenting
Do you get triggered when… you see your child on a screen for the Nth hour?your child has a meltdown or shouts, “I hate you mommy!”?your kids fight with each other?you see that your child’s homework is still unfinished?your partner is sitting on the couch while...read more
by Cecilia Hilkey | parenting
We often hear from parents that disagree about how to parent. The questions we get asked often sound like this… a mom wants to be understanding and empathic when a child is struggling, but the dad thinks the child needs to “toughen up” or “get over it”. How do...read more
by Cecilia Hilkey | communication, parenting
In our culture, we so often ask each other, “How are you?” And we so often give surface-level answers like, “I’m good” / “I’m fine” / “I’m busy”. As parents, we want to know how our kids are doing and feeling. Their feelings are a window into their soul, their deepest...read more
by Cecilia Hilkey | parenting
A few years ago after a tough day in middle school, our daughter boarded the noisy school bus that would take her home. She flopped down in the seat. I imagine she had the facial expression that she so often wore in those days… a thin veneer of teenage nonchalance...read more
