The WM Parenting Connection

By Denise Bertacchi, Stay at Home Mom Expert

• Wear sturdy shoes. Although pick-your-own farms are designed for city slickers like us to visit, it’s still a working farm. Be prepared to tromp through uneven fields to find your farm fresh bounty.
• Bring a camera. You know why.
• Ask about prices. Pick-your-own fruit is generally priced by the pound, and you can’t put it back on the tree! Little kids get so excited picking that they can rack up a big bill before you know it. If you’re worried about coming in under budget, give the kids a limit and tell them to only pick the best looking fruit. I know, I once bought $40 worth of apples!
• Know what you’re going to do with the fruit. There’s a good chance you’re going to come home with WAY more fruit than you can eat in a week. Plan to fix a few pies or other recipes that can use up your fruit; or plan to share the kid’s harvest with grandma, neighbors, or strangers walking down the street.

"I just want my kids to love who they are, have happy lives and find something they want to do and make peace with that. Your job as a parent is to give your kids not only the instincts and talents to survive, but help them enjoy their lives." ~Susan Sarandon

Here at The WM Parenting Connection, we believe that there is more than one way to raise a child. Each and every one of us has a unique parenting style, and that's why we feature so many different bloggers, topics and guest posters.

But ultimately, we collectively believe that most good parents want just what Susan Sarandon wants--to raise our kids to become happy, healthy, successful and productive adults. With that in mind, we blog here every day, sharing our own stories, offering advice and insight on the various stages and issues that come along with parenting our children, running our households, maintaining our relationships and just about everything else that comes along with the territory.

We're here to let other parents know that they're not alone, to share advice and wisdom gained from our own varied experiences, and to provide important information that parents need to know. We don’t tell you what we think you want to hear–we tell it like it is: the good, the bad and the ugly sides of parenting.

Now, it's your turn!

We want to know what you like about The WM Parenting Connection--and what you don't like. We want to know what you want to hear more about. What kinds of topics are interesting to you? What do you need to know? What do you want to read?

After all, dear readers, this is YOUR blog! We write it for you, our fellow parents--and we want to be sure we're providing the kind of material you want and need to read. 

We want to know what YOU think, so please vote in this poll and leave a comment below with your thoughts and suggestions! Thank you for reading, and thanks in advance for your input!

by Kat Foust: Single Parenting Expert

The other day, a friend of mine told me that she had a conversation about the future with her boyfriend's son. He wants to be a professional dirt bike rider. She told him he better have a backup plan just in case that one didn't work out. I cringed when I heard that.

I've always been someone who couldn't stay at a job I hated. I just couldn't do it. I've also switched from one extreme to the other. For instance, I went from purchasing to plumbing in one year. Yep, from heels to steel toed boots. Why? Because I wanted to. I did that because there were so many things I wanted to learn and I never thought I could be a success at the things I already knew and wanted to do. I'm 37 and it just dawned on me that I have done well at things I didn't put 100% into, so why should I think I would be a failure if I put more than that into something I loved. The answer is that part of the equation is due to my upbringing.

I don't want to be that mom. I never want to say "You can't" or "It won't work". I may not like what my son wants to do for his future, but I like the fact that he gets to choose what he wants. After all, who are we as parents to tell our children that their dreams are only ever going to be dreams? Why can't they be a reality? As a single parent in trying economic times, I have struggled at various times to even find a job. Most of the time I have worked for myself. EVERY time I have worked for myself, someone was there to tell me that I couldn't make a living at what I was doing. EVERY time I was a success in what I chose, with many of my choices having to do with my son's schedule.

My point is that dreams are only dreams if that's what we choose for them to be. I say that we should encourage our children to follow those dreams and make those choices. IF those dreams fail, then I guess they will be right where they were before they even attempted to realize their dreams. Only now, they will have fond memories instead of questions in their minds about how things could have worked out.

I have just returned from a day trip to Howth, a seaside village near where we live. It was glorious.  The sun shone down, there was street music, markets and a multitude of other things going on.

There was only one thing wrong and that was that I drove there.  I drove there while my husband cycled with all 42lbs of our little boy on the back of the bicycle.  There was no way that I could have cycled that journey without keeling over during it. I am not fit enough.

I am disgusted with myself.  I am now as heavy as I was when I was nine months pregnant in 2007.  I cannot believe that I have let things go this far. I have developed back problems too and the doctor said that losing a bit of weight would help.

When I look in the mirror, I think I look okay but others have commented on my weight gain and my clothes are too tight. It took me ages to find something to wear to go out last night and I really wasn't happy with anything.  We went out for a meal and for the first time ever, I passed on the dessert.

As a fortysomething Mum,who needs to have lots of energy to run after her toddler, this state of affairs cannot go on. I have mentioned it in blogs before but have done nothing about it.  My little man starts kindergarten tomorrow for three hours each morning so now I have NO excuse.  I need to get my ass out walking and cycling to shift this flab and become forty something and fab! I need to get my eating habits under control.  I need to stop making excuses about middle age spread and forties flab!

Any suggestions to help on my journey would be much appreciated!