Mariah Dolenc

Mariah Dolenc: Woman, Thinker, Writer, Creator

parenthood

What If My Child Makes Choices I Don’t Like

Lessons in Parenthood: Week 17 You have little children, you love them, you have hopes and dreams for them, you wonder what they will do with their lives, what will the become? Do you ever wonder about these things? What if they turn out do something you absolutely hate? It’s possible. What if they make […]

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Celebrate The Small Things

Lessons in Parenthood: Week 16 “Olivia, did you pick up those clothes you left on the ground?” *silence* “Olivia?” I looked over to find her sitting in front of the dog’s crate carefully working on reattaching the door, which she had initially removed. Normally I would have gone over and told her to leave it […]

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How To Discipline Without Punishing

Lessons in Parenthood: Week 15 I don’t believe in punishing children. I don’t believe in making them feel bad about themselves or what they’ve done. I believe in construction. I believe that punishment only serves as a way for me to vent my anger and frustration while I tamper with my child’s ability to use […]

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Recovering From Birth Can Feel Traumatic

Lessons in Parenthood: Week 14 I feel adequately recovered from birth to be able to talk about this. Not so much physically recovered as emotionally. There’s really no absolute way to know how your birth and postpartum journey will be. Every woman and every birth is different. My first and second births were dramatically different. […]

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My Child Owes Me Nothing

Lessons in Parenthood: Week 13 My husband, Luka, gets credit for this week’s topic of conversation. We are nearly adjusted to having a new baby and we’ve started to have some normal conversations again. One night last week, while having dinner, Olivia left the table, and quietly laid down next to Leia and gently cuddled […]

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Knowing Where To Draw The Line

Lessons In Parenthood: Week 12 This is a big parenting question I’ve been asking myself: where do I draw the line? When do I say “yes” and when do I say “no” and when do I ignore it all? Are there certain things that should just always be non-negotiable? When do I cut her a […]

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How To Find Balance In Parenthood

Lessons in Parenthood: Week 11 Just one of these days I would like to drink my tea while it’s still hot. Maybe 18 years from now that will happen. This week’s blog comes a little late because I was all caught up birthing a baby. Our newest family member, Leia Rosalia Dolenc, was born Thursday, […]

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Guilty Pregnancy Parenting

Lessons in Parenthood: Week 10 Most of the time, my focus in these weekly blogs is centered on something that my child did that gave me cause for thought or change. I take some time for reflection on what happened during the week that I should write about. This week I figured I would write more […]

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A Person’s A Person No Matter How Small: Respecting Who Your Child Is

Lessons In Parenthood: Week 9 To illustrate this week’s theme I have to tell you two stories and the first goes like this: Olivia and I were at the park and there were kids a bit older than her playing soccer with their dad. They also had a frisbee on the ground that they weren’t using […]

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Why I Don’t Want My Kid To Obey

Lessons in Parenthood: Week 8 Whenever someone pushes the ideal of an obedient child I think, “No thanks, I’m not trying to raise a robot.” When I was a kid I remember obedience being one of the most desirable traits for a child. Somehow an obedient child was equal in meaning and value to a […]

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