In typical ‘90s kid fashion, I grew up keeping a diary of my deepest thoughts, fears, and dreams. And, in continuing that millennial stereotype, I also grew up with the nagging fear that my parents would one day invade my privacy and read my diary. Now, as an adult and parent myself, my thoughts on the matter aren’t so cut and dry. If my kid wasn’t speaking to me, and I worried something was going on, would I go to the most honest source of information? And, of course, technology has kicked out the idea of a diary entirely, with...
The Scary Mommy Guide To Talking With Your Teen About TikTok Safety
When I was a teen, back in what now feel like caveman days, my family got a dial-up internet connection. Email was the new frontier then, and web pages were mostly just blocks of text against a backdrop of bad clip art. My parents were learning about the internet in real time along with me, and as far as I remember, they never set rules or talked to me about online safety. Fast-forward to the present, when my own 13-year-old is asking to join TikTok and I’m suddenly aware of how ill-equipped I feel to protect him. After all, we...
I Was Ghosted By A Friend, Then Gave Her A Second Chance. I’m So Glad I Did.
— Oliver Rossi/Stone/Getty Images It’s hard to make friends later in life, but I’d made a great one in my 40s after a mutual friend connected us. We had a lot in common — both divorced and dedicated to our fitness and career goals. The first time we met, we bonded instantly and became close, fast friends. For two years, we talked weekly and made a lot of time to spend together, which isn’t easy when you’re a single mom and live 45 minutes away from each other. We meant a lot to each other. She helped me through a...
For JoAnna Garcia Swisher, The Car Is A Confessional
— Ariela Basson/Scary Mommy; Shutterstock Like many moms of school-aged kids, JoAnna Garcia Swisher [Sweet Magnolias, Reba] spends a lot of her time in the car. Her daughters — Emerson, 11, and Sailor, 8 whom she shares with her husband Nick Swisher— are always off to somewhere. School, horseback riding lessons, cheer practice (“I’m officially a cheer mom!” she tells me on Zoom), but she doesn’t seem to mind too much. In fact, she relishes this time. “Honestly, it’s my favorite time with the kids, and I talk to so many moms and dads that feel this way too,” she...