Category Archives: Parenting and Family

Stories from Not Your Mother’s Book…On Being a Parent and Not Your Mother’s Book…On Family

Summertime blues…

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Yes, we all get them, those summertime blues. I did, for sure. I took some time away from the office to rejuvenate my soul and visit family. Thus, there were no posts from our wonderfully funny Not Your Mother’s Book (NYMB) series. Story postings will resume next week. NYMB books make the perfect gifts for […]

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June 12

“Badass in the Badlands” by Melissa Fuoss

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This story appears in the anthology “Not Your Mother’s Book…On Family.” Let’s face it. Traveling anywhere with your family when you’re a 12-year-old girl is straight up embarrassing. Just being in my parents’ presence was enough to make me roll my eyes in disgust. I might have survived the family vacation if we were going […]

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May 22

“Cowboys and Indians” by Susan Rose

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This story appears in the anthology “Not Your Mother’s Book…On Being a Parent.”  It warms my heart when I think about children and how literal their worlds can be. I remember watching the evening news when I was a child. A plane had been hijacked and the reporter said there were guerillas aboard. Wow, I […]

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April 07

“Seder Insanity” by Jamie Krakover

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This story appears in the anthology “Not Your Mother’s Book…On Family.” Jewish holidays were always a family affair growing up. Seder is a ritual feast that marks the beginning of Passover. Despite the absence of leavened bread, as in every good Jewish family there was no shortage of food in ours. If you went hungry […]

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April 03

“Bunny Love” by Tori Nichols

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This story appears in the anthology “Not Your Mother’s Book…On Family.” No parent wants to wake up to the terrifying sound of a child’s screams. As my feet thundered down the hall to our girls’ room, the sound of my heart beating in my ears nearly matched the intensity of the wailing. My husband beat […]

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March 26

“The Pussy Riot” by Kari Lynn Collins

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This story appears in the anthology “Not Your Mother’s Book…On Being a Parent.”  Yeah, you read that story title right: “The Pussy Riot.” Last Wednesday, I drove my grown son, Tom, to the Oklahoma City airport and said goodbye as he left for his new home—and new life—as a grad student in Boston. I’m not […]

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March 03

“From Soup to Putz” by Mike McHugh

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This story appears in the anthology “Not Your Mother’s Book…On Family.” One thing that I’ll always remember about Uncle Jack is that he could cook a mean pot of crab soup. Maryland style—the only way to do it as far as he was concerned—with lots of fresh vegetables, halves of backfin and claws still in […]

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February 04

“Huckleberry Hounds” by Kathe Campbell

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This story appears in the anthology “Not Your Mother’s Book…On Being a Parent.”  Whoops and yells echoed up and down Hannibal Street as our little children pedaled their bikes, hollering that their dad was about to finish the playhouse. My husband, Ken, had finally taken leave of the decking on our new home to concentrate […]

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January 20

“Doing It Right” by Lawrence D. Elliott

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This story appears in the anthology “Not Your Mother’s Book…On Family.” I walked nervously through the parking lot. My legs felt as wobbly as freshly cooked pasta and my heart pounded in my chest like a bass drum—it almost drowned out the clacking sound my cleats made on the decaying asphalt. I was about to […]

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December 26

“The Family Photo” by Shari Courter

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This story appears in the anthology “Not Your Mother’s Book…On Being a Parent.”  I should preface this story with the fact that my husband has always hated family photo day. It’s not that I loved it, but it was important to me. We used to have photos professionally taken, made into Christmas cards and sent […]

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