One of my big take-aways from BlogHer’12 was that a more specialized blog might be more successful. I tend to jump all over the place on this blog, writing about motherhood one day and things that annoy me the next, sharing my photography and my struggle with depression. I love that about this blog, and I hope you do, too. None of that is going to change.

Instead, I’m starting a second blog! (Actually, I guess it’s a third blog, since my first blog was a book blog that I’ve since abandoned… Meh, whatever.)  A lot of the speakers at BlogHer’12 had more than one blog, so I’m thinking this is a viable alternative.

My new blog is The Happy, Healthy Home. It will focus on total family wellness, with an emphasis on the idea that happy and healthy parents raise happy and healthy kids. We can’t sit around wallowing in our bad habits and yet expect our children to form all kinds of amazing and totally productive, healthy habits. We have to be role models. We have to be the person we want our children to become.

I’m really excited about this new project. I plan to post over there about twice a week and to keep posting here everyday-ish. Please check out the site and let me know what you think! Here’s something to get you started:

“Adeline, my nearly 21-month-old daughter, and I are sitting on the floor in her room playing. She throws a book at the wall and laughs.

“Please don’t throw things like that,” I tell her.

She looks at me and considers for a moment. Then she picks up another book, throws it at the wall, and looks at me questioningly.

“Adeline, I told you not to do that.” There’s a slight edge in my voice now.

She smiles mischievously and does it again. This time she looks at me with a little bit of fear and a little bit of challenge. I’m angry now: she is intentionally defying me. A hundred thoughts flash through my mind in a moment as I decide how to respond.

I know the conventional wisdom: she’s testing me. She’s testing the limits. She wants to know if I mean what I say and if she really has to listen to me when I tell her not to do something. She wants to know how far she can push me. I believe all that is true. But I think there’s more to it than that. [Read more...]“