New Contributor: Have You Met Molly?

Hey Portland Mamas! My name is Molly and I live in what we affectionately call The Treehouse with my two sweet girls, my  husband of 10 years, and our two cats. I am parenting with intention, I’m feeding my clan with careful intention and I’m also trying to keep my house in order. It’s super tricky to do all three things. Especially when what I really want to do is laze about in the park talking with my most exceptional tribe; The Mamas. Possibly drinking a glass of wine and eating some yummy cheese and only half parenting because I know there are many of us half parenting so that means it’s kind of like whole parenting. Ahhh, but I digress. And, also, just so you know, that half parenting I just referred to is not in conflict with the the intentional parenting I mentioned before. Sometimes I intentionally half parent. It’s good for my girls and for me. 

I love a tidy house. It makes it easier for me to be calm and to feel like I have some semblance of control over my life. It’s nicer when things are pretty. Everyone feels better. My girls are gentler on our house and fewer toys get broken when they are put away in the proper boxes. I do less nagging and exasperated sighing when the laundry is in the closet where it belongs and the beds are made. I sort the toys by type and I know how many of each thing should be where. Some call this annoyingly type A. I call it organized. 

I think outside is almost always better than inside. I used to live in Alaska where the adventures were bigger and much, much chillier. Even in the summer. Now that I’m a mama, the adventures are smaller,  but no less exciting. I’m grateful that I live in a place that makes it easy to get out. We spend most weekends (even the rainy ones) playing in the out of doors. I believe this is good for our bodies and our spirits. 

Before I chose to be a full time mom, I was a behavior specialist. I have a degree in education and I worked with a lot of kids with a lot of different challenges. I was full of so many “fail-safe” strategies, and I was certain, as most of us are before we have children, that I had it dialed. It turns out, parenting my own kids is infinitely more difficult (really, so much more difficult!!)  than telling other parents how to parent their kids. I’ve backed off from most of the things that I was certain about. Because really, it’s so much trickier and very little is for sure, and almost nothing works with every kid, and nothing works every time. Ever. Not even the sure stuff.  

But the following things are true: Our children should feel safe and happy and strong. We are here to help them navigate the world with kindness and confidence.

You can follow my personal blog at www.halfasshomemaker.com