Do you feel like you hear about anxiety in kids and teenagers more than ever before? I just don’t remember hearing about my friends or classmates dealing with anxiety when I was growing up.
Granted, I know there was considerable stigma surrounding mental health back in the day, so surely there was plenty of it happening, considering all the brown plaid that parents were dressing their kids in, and I guess we didn’t hear about these struggles because people just didn’t talk about it.
Trouble continues in a local neighborhood, where a mother is accused of allowing her daughter to walk down the street carrying her elf with bare hands in front of all the other children.
It all began last week when the incoming-text-notifications of eight moms’ phones and that of one stay-at-home-dad rang out simultaneously from an angry group text, initiated by Kayla’s mom, Patricia, stating that “FYI, the kids just got off the bus and there’s a little girl walking in the middle of the pack, carrying her elf. IN HER HAND, right out in the open where all the kids can see.”
A flurry of texts ensued, with everyone trying to figure out “who the hell is it?” and causing a data bottleneck that ultimately knocked out the nearby cell tower.
“We all suspected that it was that one lady’s bratty daughter,” one mother said, “because that woman always gives in to her child, and sure enough, my neighbor texted to confirm it after pulling out her binoculars.”
Do you feel like you hear about anxiety in kids and teenagers more than ever before? I just don’t remember hearing about my friends or classmates dealing with anxiety when I was growing up.
Granted, I know there was considerable stigma surrounding mental health back in the day, so surely there was plenty of it happening, considering all the brown plaid that parents were dressing their kids in, and I guess we didn’t hear about these struggles because people just didn’t talk about it.
Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to interview the smart and hilarious Toni Nagy, writer and comedian responsible for creating sketch comedy videos based on current events, which were - at the time of our interview - all very COVID-19-centric.
Weren’t we so cute when we thought all we had to deal with was a global pandemic?? When our heads could stay firmly planted in the ground and remain blind to systemic racism?? Hahahahaha, adorable!
Books based in the WWII era are like catnip for me, because I can’t believe there isn’t more time separating us from the treacherous events that occurred. Complex stories of unexpected relationships and the painful decisions people were forced to make seems like they couldn’t possibly have happened only 75 years ago.
They should have happened centuries ago, before our world had become civilized.
A few weeks ago, my friend told me about a children’s book contest hosted by the Emory Global Health Institute. The submissions they were looking for were to be targeted toward kids ages six to nine years old, and the purpose was to explain the virus using science-based facts.
You know I’m all about the mental health side of things, and helping calm anxieties when I’m able to, so I chose to frame my submission from that standpoint.
If I hear the phrases, “uncertain times,” “trying times,” or my most dreaded, “unchartared territory,” because FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT’S HOLY, it’s un-effing-CHARTED, I AM GOING TO SET MYSELF ON FIRE.
orry for all the yelling, but sweet fancy Moses, can we come up with new terms?
And is it too much to ask to GET RIGHT the ones we’re over-using??
When I was growing up, my parents would take me to the library and set me to work going through reels of microfiche films to help them work on our family genealogy project. They taught me how to look up census records, and birth and death records, but I became fascinated with all the stuff in the middle.
I wanted to find out about what my ancestors did between those two events. The dates on their vital statistics records announced that they were born and then died.
As we enter our 49th week of quarantine, I thought I would--- Hm?. What’s that? We’re only on **checks notes** week one?
Is this a joke?
Our new quarantine meal plan consists of mostly Ruffles and Cadbury mini eggs, so even though we’re only ten days in, I’m up 32 pounds and drunk, thanks to starting a drinking game based on hearing the words, “I’m bored.”
We got our e-learning email from my son's teachers this morning and I am SO HAPPY to see that - in our school district, anyway - they’re making the focus about REVIEWING what the kids have learned this year, as opposed to learning new material.
This is fantastic news for all of us, but especially for those parents who still have to work outside the home and worry about how to help their kids with schoolwork, and for those of us who are just overwhelmed in general by the responsibilities of teaching our kids.
A few weeks ago, I read the February book selection for Jenny Lawson’s - you may know her as “The Bloggess” - book club, The Fantastic Strangelings.
The book, titled American Sherlock, written by Kate Winkler Dawson, was recently launched and it’s right up my alley: **I’m counting these off on my fingers for drama** it has your history, it has your true crime, and it has - and this truly is catnip to me - pictures!
Spring break is one of our family’s favorite times to travel, mainly because the weather is just right. You know how I hate to be hot, but I also hate to be cold.
I’ve pulled together some of the posts I’ve written in the past about spring travel, and I’ve even included one to help get your moody-ass teenager on board with one I wrote listing out books to inspire your teen to want to travel.
Years ago, a small group of friends and I created a highly coveted book club.
It was highly coveted because we kept it small and made a big to-do out of our “meetings,” which were more social event than straight literary business.
We also incorporated just the right amount of neighborhood gossip.
A few weeks ago, Mark treated me to a trip to California as part of my birthday celebration.
The first half of the trip was in Santa Barbara, where we took part in the My Favorite Murder’s My Favorite Weekend event. I’ll share more about that part of the trip later, because it definitely deserves a post all its own.
For now, I want to tell you about the second half of the trip, where we drove down the coastal highway of California in our rented Jeep, with the top off, looking effortlessly cool, like a couple of West Coast locals.
With the cold snap that just blew in, and seeing all the skeletons hanging from the eaves of homes around town and pumpkins plunked in front yards signals my brain that it’s not only time to start shopping for a new fall outfit for my Bitmoji, but that it’s almost that time of year for entertaining, which - as you know - I have a love-hate relationship with.
Groups of people make me panicky, and the thought of being in a group of people makes me panicky. And thinking of panicking while in a group of people makes me panicky.
So, yah. Parties.
In case you’re new here, I’m a raving, rabid fan of the Texas Conference for Women, and I blather on about it here and there throughout the year, especially right around now, because it’s when the event happens each year.
The Conference’s 20th anniversary was last Thursday in Austin, as usual, and it was my fifth consecutive year attending and my first serving on the Social Media Team (with capital letters, to indicate its importance).
My Big Birthday is just one month from now and there’s a fancy party in the works, courtesy of Mark and my girlfriends, to help me celebrate.
When I say “fancy,” I mean that it’s going to look to the outsider like we had a party planner involved, and that we spent half the year having “our people” call “their people.”
But - in case you are new here: that’s not how this works. (I’m doing my hands up and down the length of my body when I say, “this.”)
As my son came off the ice yesterday following his hockey game, he looked at Mark and me, shrugged up one shoulder a bit and gave a, “meh, what are you gonna do?” expression.
They’d lost another game - they've had plenty of experience losing this season, which has been hard on the team’s morale.
Except for my child’s.
He still comes off the ice with a smile.
“It would be nice if he was just a little more competitive,” he’ll say.
Kristan (Braziel) LeBaron is an author, writer, marketing professional, and the voice of the blog, Bring Mommy A Martini. Mom to two hilarious boys: one in college and the other in middle school, she writes “real mom” stories on life with anxiety & depression, and choosing happiness as a daily practice. She lives outside of Austin with her two sons and two lavishly kept dogs.
This is a question I often hear, and it’s one that I also hear and see answered incorrectly. The short answer is: yes. Colleges must provide accommodations through section 504.
In case you don’t know what a 504 Plan is or what it does, here’s the full definition, per the U.S. Department of Education.
In a nutshell, it is this: a written plan that ensures that a student who has a disability identified under the law receives accommodations to ensure the student receives the same access to academic success as everyone else.
It levels the playing field for students who have a disability - no matter how large or small, and no matter if it’s permanent or temporary.