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I thought of all the magazine article I'd read on mothers who worked and constantly felt guilty about leaving their children with someone else. I had ...more

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I became a firefighter because I wanted to save people. But I should have been more specific. I should have named names.

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The best parenting advice I ever got was from a labor nurse who told me the following:1. After your baby gets here, the dog will just be a dog.2. The ...more

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We pretend that we know our children, because it's easier than admitting the truth--from the minute that cord is cut, they are strangers. It's far eas...more

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I wondered how long it took for a baby to become yours, for familiarity to set in. Maybe as long as it took a new car to lose that scent, or a brand-n...more

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Was it the act of giving birth that made you a mother? Did you lose that label when you relinquished your child? If people were measured by their deed...more

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We're [parents]) always bluffing, pretending we know best, when most of the time we're just praying we won't screw up too badly.

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Parenting is really just a matter of tracking, of hoping your kids do not get so far ahead you can no longer see their next moves.

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We are all, I suppose, beholden to our parents - the question is, how much?

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But kids don't stay where they're supposed to. You turn around and find her not in the bedroom but hiding in a closet; you turn around and see she's n...more

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(24/7) once you sign on to be a mother, that's the only shift they offer.

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I would have given anything to keep her little. They outgrow us so much faster than we outgrow them.Brian Fitzgerald, talking about his children.

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Babies don't come with instruction booklets. You'd learn the same way we all do -- you'd read up on dinosaurs, you'd Google backhoes and skidders. And...more