The Best of the Rest of the Web: Rainy Dates, Hugging It Out, and Fixing a Bullying Situation

From our February issue, a selection of thought-provoking, laugh-inducing, and just plain interesting facts and quotes from the web and the world of parenting.

“It is never the responsibility of the child to fix a bullying situation. If children could do that, they wouldn’t be seeking the help of an adult in the first place.“

—PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center, which provides a gold mine of resources for parents and children alike—real-world, take-action tips that you can find at pacer.org/bullying/resources

Rain Rain, Rain
“We had 64 reasons not to go on our planned date night a few weeks back. The sky was sagging to the ground with gray clouds wrapped around us like loose-knit sweaters. There were soot-colored puddles pooling at every street corner. The buckets of raindrops crumbled my curls and made a fancy outfit null…. But…. It had been 23 days since our last date night and that number seemed more powerful than 64, so instead of taking a rain check we embraced our rainy da{y}te.”

—Manhattan mom Andrea Stanley, who admits that “being exhausted as parents and as people” is sometimes a valid excuse for skipping date night—but not always, on her blog, Stories from the Stoop (andrea-stanley.com)

Smart Cookie
“Not long ago, our [4-year-old] daughter A looked up from her drawing at the kitchen table and said to us thoughtfully, ‘You know, it’s okay to be shy.’ She paused, then added: ‘And different.’ I think the wisdom’s going to come from [our kids] to us, rather than the other way around.”

—Lower East Side Dad, who has chosen to remain anonymous on his blog for now to avoid embarrassing his two young daughters—that is, until “they’re a little older and start bringing boyfriends (or girlfriends; I’m a New Yorker after all) home to meet the folks”; check him out at lowereastsidedad.blogspot.com

“Common sense dictates: If your calendar looks busy, it is….What you can handle as a family is a personal decision. But if you find that your child’s feeling the effects of over-involvement, it’s time to take stock.”

—Liza Burby, mother of two girls, founder of Long Island Parent, and a popular parenting writer and community advocate, on her blog, From One Parent to Another; read more at blogs.nymetroparents.com/category/from-one-parent-to-another

Mom and Daughter Hugging

Hug it Out!

“…when [my kids were little] the hugs and kisses were as plentiful as Florida sunshine. I hate to say (and much to the chagrin of new mothers everywhere), it doesn’t last very long…so soak it in while you can. I mean the truth is, we want to have our cake and eat it too, right? We can’t wait until our kids are independent, yet we still want HOD (Hugs on Demand).”

—Rene Syler, a.k.a. Good Enough Mother, a Westchester mother of two who breaks this news “not to burst your bubble, but merely to help you devise a game plan”—to sneaking in hugs from your teens; find out how at goodenoughmother.com