I am the type of mom that might *appear* to have it all together. I work full time at a high-level position. I run a not-for-profit advocacy program and a part-time PR company. I have an obsession with keeping my house clean. My oldest is attending a wonderful college in Utah. My youngest is smarter than I am to the point that I rely on Khan Academy to help him with math homework. And I'm Mrs. California America 2021. But come on, we all KNOW I don't have it all together. I'm

A friend of mine sent me a Yahoo article where a mom opens up about all the reasons she regrets being a mother. The title alone will send some shockwaves through you, or, perhaps you are like the author and you will be privately or publicly agreeing with the mom before you even read it. For those of you who haven't read it, you can do so here . But a quick summary is that this mother thinks if there is a God, but she doesn't believe there is, she imagines He gave her an autis

I'm scrolling my Facebook newsfeed this morning, delaying getting out of bed, when I see a headline that makes my blood boil: As a mom who is worried about inclusion, tolerance and respect, I can immediately empathize with the idea of not wanting children to be left out of foursquare on the playground. As someone who was teased, picked on and called horrible names all through elementary schools, I know how much it hurts to be on the outside of the popular kids club. I remem

I was a single mom for a long time before I met my husband and that meant a tight income, working a lot of hours and very little free time. Add to that I used to HATE cooking. So that meant way too many dinners of ordering pizza or going through a drive-thru. While I still occasionally have Chick-fil-A, I'm not sure the last time we ate McDonalds or Wendys (Wendys still has a bomb Twitter account though). We've had Arbys once in the last year. If we're on a road trip, we're m

I don’t think I’ve met one single person who had a perfect life or anyone who wouldn't secretly change something from their teenage years if they could. Some of us had a harder few years than most and some had it easier, but I'm skeptical that anyone can truly look back on their teen years and say, “Life was so perfect, I wouldn’t change a thing!” The truth is, teen years are some of the hardest, and if I could go back and tell my 16-year-old anything that would have made it

“Welcome to 6 months of 14 days to flatten the curve.” I saw that on Facebook recently and while I tend to be an optimistic and positive person, this one got to me. Maybe because of where I am emotionally lately and Facebook algorithms have the ability to read our minds and feel our body language, I’ve been inundated with posts that mirror how I feel right now. To simplify: overwhelmed and depleted. I am a firm believer in protecting others. So at the beginning of COVID, I wa

Did you know that school personnel identify 52% of all identified child sexual abuse cases classified as causing harm to the child?

Growing up in the '90s with a computer in my home, I was an early adapter to email and the internet. Sometimes, I think I know so much about technology just to realize that my children have me beat! I guess that's the benefit of growing up with smartphones! But there are people who are better at the internet, smartphones and just technology in general than you and me and our kids: pedophiles. As a journalist, I covered police departments as they were trying to train their off

This op-ed originally appeared in The Baltimore Sun . Among survivors of sexual assault and abuse, there was real hope that the media attention over the sentencing of USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar , who sexually abused more than 150 children, would inspire significant change. But just a few short months later, we see no change has been made in one of the places recently spotlighted by the #MeToo movement: Hollywood. Last week, just a few months after Mr. Nassar's wi