Swim Lessons: Reflecting on a Childhood Rite of Passage

June 26, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Cultural Reflections, French Culture, Reflections on Parenting

Growing up in Southern California, swimming was as integral to my summers as the guarantee of scalding my feet on hot sidewalks. My mama enrolled me in swim lessons at age four, but I clung to her leg with ferocity when I saw that lessons meant joining dozens of unfamiliar kids in the shallow end of an Olympic-sized pool. A male lifeguard tried to cajole me into joining them, but when it became apparent that I wouldn't budge, my mama gave him permission to pry me off her leg and toss me in. By the end of the summer I advanced enough to manage a mean bellyflop off the high dive.

Joy Cho & Martha Stewart on Work/Life Balance & Raising Creative Children

June 23, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Home Management, Reflections on Parenting, American Culture

Reflecting on Keynote Speeches at Altitude Summit 2014

Bonjour, les amis! I returned Friday morning from the Altitude Summit conference in Salt Lake City, and it was just as inspiring and informative as I'd hoped it would be. My highlights were dining with Gabrielle Blair of Design Mom (did you catch us on Instagram?), gaining practical insights about blogging, and hearing keynote speakers Joy Cho (of Oh Joy!) and Martha Stewart of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

Daddy Doesn't Speak French: How He (Still) Supports Our Bilingual Children

June 19, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Education, Reflections on Parenting, French Language Learning

My husband grew up speaking Thai at home, but he's most comfortable speaking English because he was raised in the U.S. (This comfort factor is why he chose to speak English to our children.) His French knowledge is limited to what he's learned in hearing me speak it with our kids, and yet he still manages to support our children's French acquisition in ways I truly appreciate. Here are five awesome ways he supports our children's bilingual development:

Co-sleeping and the Family Bed: Why I'll Miss It

June 17, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Reflections on Parenting, American Culture

Today I'm flying to Salt Lake City for the Altitude Summit summer conference--a meet-up for bloggers and designers. I didn't expect to attend because of the cost, but a corporate sponsor gave me a ticket after one of my posts for Every Mom Counts.* I'm so incredibly grateful, and I can't wait to meet Gabrielle Blair of Design Mom and to hear speakers like Martha Stewart and Joy Cho. But as excited as I am to go, I expect I will miss sleeping with my family the most.

That sounds a bit odd, I know, because we Americans (and okay, the French too) are not a family bedsharing culture. Unlike most of the world, we generally give our children a separate bedroom starting from early infancy. While preparing for motherhood, I didn't have any reason to think my children would be raised any differently. My husband and I bought a crib and figured our little one would use it at some point, if not right away.

When Camping Isn't Roughing It: Tips for A Fun Family Experience

June 14, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Cultural Reflections, Home Management, Reflections on Parenting

Friends, I just booked two nights of tent camping at a lakeside campground on Mt. Hood, so this will be our third summer in a row with a camping trip. I have many friends who simply stopped camping when they had children--after all, they didn't camp much before children, and the early years of parenting can seem rough enough. But honestly, if you haven't camped in a while, or if you haven't yet gone camping as a family, you ought to know what you're missing.

Our Family's Bilingual Journey: Regrets & Current Successes

June 06, 2014 by Michele Cherie in French Language Learning, Reflections on Parenting

Since she was two years old, my daughter has generally spoken English to me. Before then, she spoke a fair amount of French words, but it seemed that as soon as she learned an English word from Daddy or an extended family member, she'd stop using the equivalent French word. She did continue to use some French nouns, but the predominance of English as her main language happened rapidly.

Lately I've wondered if pretending not to understand English would have prompted my infant daughter to speak French with me. I've heard this can be a successful technique--but my children always seemed to grasp that I understand English perfectly well since I speak it with my husband and everyone else.

Eyes Wide Open: What Children See & Recognize

June 03, 2014 by Michele Cherie in American Culture, Contentment, Cultural Reflections, Reflections on Parenting

My five-year-old daughter and I sat in blinding sunlight yesterday and read a picture book that deeply impacted me. The Man With the Violin follows the story of little Dylan, who notices many things that his mother doesn't. One day he hears a musician in the subway playing beautiful violin music, and though he wants to stop and listen, his mama rushes him on. There's more to the story, since it's based on this American cultural experiment:

Exploring A Parents' Work: Childhood Enlarged

May 27, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Education, Learning Resources, Reflections on Parenting

My husband finished up his track & field coaching season this past weekend, culminating with the state competition in Eugene, Oregon. I've always been impressed with the caliber of my husband's coaching--he's been able to consistently coach amateur athletes to impressive levels of performance for roughly fifteen years now.

Now that this track season is officially over, my children will be thrilled that my husband is arriving home earlier, and I'm relieved to know a whole summer of family time is around the corner. But even though track season is a challenging time for my family, I'm truly grateful for the experiences it gives my children. Children learn so much from exploring their parents' work. Through visits and hands-on experiences, they gain far more than knowledge about a single career niche.