What Frozen II Taught Me About Coping

Text: What Frozen II Taught Me About Coping as a Parent Photo: Screenshot of YouTube video of Frozen song with snowflake

“Just do the next right thing,” Anna sobs as she pulls herself up rock by rock towards the entrance of the cave she’s stuck in. Watching Frozen II on the big screen, I was too enthralled by her crisis to think about how her song related to me. But later, when I was re-listening to the song with my kids, the power of that message hit me. I choked up a bit as I watched the bouncing ball bop atop the words on the sing-along YouTube video.

I too have sat on the floor and cried “I don’t know what to do.” I too have stared miserably in the distance, incapacitated by the seeming lack of a path forward.

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Doing Hard Things Together as a Family

Photo: Large space-ship looking object hanging from the ceiling in a darkened room; Text: Doing Hard Things Together as a Family

“Noooooo,” my older son yelped as we got near the front of the ride, backing away.

My first reaction was annoyance. I thought, “We’ve talked about this for weeks, if not months, and you’re going to back out now?” We were about to get on Space Mountain at Disneyland, my favorite roller coaster in the world. Riding on the one at Magic Kingdom when I was in third grade captured my imagination and sparked an unexpected love of thrill rides. My son – who loves roller coasters – had been desperately looking forward to it. Or at least he had until right then.

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Happy Third Birthday, LIttle Bird

Photo: Young boy in a sweatshirt with bear ears with his back to the camera; Text: Happy Third Birthday, Little Bird!

My younger son has always been little, despite wanting to be big. He shoved his way into the world three-and-a-half weeks early, being born at a mere five and a half pounds. He didn’t pass zero percent on the growth chart until he was a year old. And he’s the baby of the family. So my nickname for him is Little Bird.

Little Bird just turned three years old.

In the spirit of Sandra Boynton’s classic board book Little Pookie, where the small pig’s mom tells them 10 things she knows about them, here are ten things I know about Little Bird (as written to him, as in the book) on the occasion of his third birthday:

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Selecting the Choices Behind Our Children’s “Normal”

Illustration: A little girl running outside with two women in the background; Text: Selecting the Choices Behind Our Children's "Normal"

“You’re going to see [classmate] today. You should really use sunflower butter,” I say to my kids, who are making “peanut butter” and jelly sandwiches. My older son has a classmate who is severely allergic to nuts, so I’m being cautious.

“Sunflower butter!” my three year old exclaims, not being put off at all by the change in PB&J plans. When I was a kid, I wouldn’t have any idea what sunflower butter was, much less accept it out of hand. Yet, for them, switching is perfectly normal.

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