I grew up listening to stories about relatives pretending to bite my chunky baby thighs because they looked like drumsticks and my mother's constant reminders that she weighed 80 pounds when she got pregnant with me. As an eight-year-old I stood five feet tall and wore my mother's jeans because it was cheaper than taking me shopping in the women's petite section. I was binge eating while hiding in the pantry before I knew that the term even existed. And I was a full-fledged bulimic by the time I was 15.

Mother’s Day is today, which is a day to celebrate, right? We take Mommies out to brunch and give them flowers. Kids hand-craft macaroni necklaces to adorn Mommy in her Sunday dress. We kiss, hug, send cards, and jam up the phone lines as we remember our own mothers. In a perfect world, Mother’s Day would be a day we could all celebrate.

But, as some of you may know, we don’t live in a perfect world. For some, Mother’s Day is a day people want to dig a hole and crawl in. It’s a day they wish they could fast forward through. It’s a day that makes them cringe as they watch all the happy people bustle about wearing white orchids and smiling with happy children carrying balloons.

I’m Blessed

Last weekend, an essay appeared in The Wall Street Journal by Amy Chua titled, Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior -- an excerpt from her recently published book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (Penguin Press 2011). The piece caused quite a dialogue in the halls of Owning Pink when blogger Suzanne Bouffard brought it to our attention, and we knew we had to bring the conversation to the mainstage. "Can a regimen of no playdates, no TV, no computer games and hours of music practice create happy kids? And what happens when they fight back?" Check out our Roundtable on the topic as well!

This piece was constantly flying across my radar this week, but it took me awhile to read it, between chasing my 11 month old around our snowed-in house and working at my developmental psychologist job. I feel compelled to respond both as a parent and as a researcher – and then as someone trying to find the balance between the two.

Happy Saturday Posse Party! It is my pleasure to introduce Amy Kessel of Mamamorphosis to the main stage. Amy is a rockstar life coach and so much more. Check her website and coaching services here,and enjoy this post on what it means to stop and acknowledge all of the amazing things you are and do, every day...

Well done, you!

I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge myself for all my accomplishments today. Wanna know what I did? I woke early, meditated for a few minutes, took the pup outside and smelled the clean oceany air, made tea, cleaned the kitchen, chanted the Gayatri Mantra, cleaned the bathroom, had toast, went to my rockin’ dance class, took the recycling to the recycling center, picked up the kids and brought them home, made lunch, cleaned up, did laundry and sat down at the computer to write this post. And it’s only 2pm.