Repost: Parents in the news: Reminders that you're not so bad

I've contributed to the Orlando Sentinel's Moms at Work blog since 2010. The blog is changing content management systems and my old posts will no longer be available to the public, so I'm reposting them here, in the order that they were originally posted.


March 28, 2012

Sometimes, when I'm feeling overwhelmed or questioning how I'm doing as a parent, I search for news stories about people who are obviously doing much worse as parents than I am.

Call me shallow, but it makes me feel better. Maybe some of these stories will do the same for you, and will be just the thing to let you know today that you're doing OK:

• An Easter egg hunt in Colorado has been canceled because organizers say parents were too pushy at the event last year
• A mom who put her overweight 7-year-old daughter on a diet so restrictive that the mom actually made scenes in public about food and drinks meant for her child has won a book deal to talk about how she did it
• An Illinois couple are accused of forcing their 12-year-old son to do hundreds of pushups and eat screws as punishment
• While playing in a tennis match, Australian professional tennis player Bernard Tomic got so annoyed with his father that he asked an umpire to remove his dad from the stands
• Moms who participated in the Lifetime television network relative show 'Dance Moms' actually permitted their daughters to perform a simulated nude fan dance on camera

Yep, I'm feeling better about myself already!