A lovely reader wrote in with this dilemma. Let’s call her Patrice. Patrice writes:
 I can’t concentrate since my husband and I had another argument about my son (from a previous relationship). The issue is this…Is it wrong for me to give small daily rewards to my child to encourage good behavior?  I say it’s working - so what’s the problem? His beef is it’s “bribery” and kids are supposed to just be good, without expecting any reward.  
He fails to recognize my son does have some type of developmental issue, exactly what I don’t know. …

A buddy of mine is looking for a gift to give her sister, who is due any day now. She wants to get her something that is exclusively for her - baby will get his own separate gift. She asked me to think back to when I had my crew and what I had that really made the difference for me.
Truthfully, I told her, I just remember being really hungry and really tired. Like, I wanted to eat and then promptly pass out. All this diaper changing, feeding, burping, not …

Every single day I get web hits from someone searching for “cute maternity clothes for young moms.” EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. Now, I’ve done a couple posts on it in the past, but nothing to make me the expert in maternity clothes options for the 20something (or younger) mama.
So I figured it’s time to revisit that topic (sexy maternity clothes) with an updated look around the ‘net to see what I can find. Journey with me, will you?
Bella Band
I’ve been hearing about the Bella Band for years now and even though I never had the chance …

I’m currently writing a book on young motherhood. Perhaps you’ve heard about it by now.
In writing this book, I realize that simply writing what I know and what I think isn’t going to cut it. I only have one viewpoint and the book (which is a mix of “Girl, tell me about it” and “I wish I knew this earlier”) would really benefit from the voices of all the fabulous young moms I’ve come to know and love over the past year.
 
I plan to gather 75-100 young moms to …

Every once in a while I check my stats to see what people type into the search engine that gets them to my little ol’ website. If I see anything that sounds urgent, but that I haven’t really covered, then I write about it.
Today I saw this query: “im a mom my life is over” Now please tell me this is a name of a song somewhere or an episode title of a TV show, because I would hate for people to be sitting in front of the computer, crying …

I have two kids. One boy, one girl.
I’m done.
Not only does it make us a nice even family of four (so someone will always have someone to sit with on a roller coaster or at a restaurant booth), but I have both genders, so I’ll be able to experience everything.
But for me, two is enough. Honestly, I’m terrified of the kids outnumbering us, when I’ll have more kids than I have arms. It takes a special kind of mom (parent) to effectively manage her time so that each child feels as special and …

When I’m in the car with my kids, I try to make it a point to listen to the jazz station. (Once I get this new car, then maybe I can actually play some CDs or hook up my iPod, huh?)
Some days I forget and then all of a sudden, I hear Lil’ Wayne talking about…hell, whatever he raps about. I really don’t know.
I quickly flip the station and throw a glance at the babies in the backseat. My kids are only 3 and 1, so I don’t feel like they need to …

This week is going to be full of “Ask the Young Mommy readers” posts, because, well, I like hearing from you. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - you all make my blog worth writing and worth reading. Thank you so much!
So here’s today’s question: How busy are your kids?
I ask because I’m signing my daughter up for her first class. She’s almost 3. I feel bad that she hasn’t been in anything yet, because every other mom I know either had their kid in swimming lessons …

I always talk about how “stuck” I am being a young mom with regard to friendships, but I’m stuck with the fashion too. Like, WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO WEAR?
I’m 23 but I have babies. And a husband. And a mortgage. And childcare bills. I’m don’t have oodles of cash to throw at the nearest clothing store.
I don’t have disposable income. My income gets disposed paying bills.
I admit, I’m not a real frumpy mom. Since my last post about the childless chicks upstaging me, I’ve made the effort to do better.
I’ve …

I wrote a post on another website about my experience this summer taking care of my two kids while my husband worked 12+ hour days.
I wrote it to say that I was in awe of the single moms who took care of their kids and handled all of the responsibility all of the time. I meant it in an inspiring way (go ahead and read it for yourself) but I got a lot of crap from single moms who felt insulted, declaring that they didn’t need my pity.
One particular comment …

So a friend-of-a-friend recently found out she was pregnant. Wonderful news, right? I think so.
But apparently, my friend is already thinking about how to tell her boss. It’s still pretty early (not too many people know about it) and according to the friend, her boss hates married women and women with families.
FAN-tastic. (Catch the sarcasm?)
So she wants to know: How to break the news?
Well, for me, it was particularly awkward.
I had JUST accepted a full-time position.
My boss has really pulled for me to get this position and this salary.
Another co-worker in …

 I like to work. There. I said it.
I like working on a project, seeing it to completion, getting big kudos and tackling the next one. I like putting this degree to use.
I love to write. If I didn’t write, I would die.
On the other hand, I do love my kids. Love ‘em more than anything.
I know we could get by on just one income. We really could, even with this new mortgage. But I worry too much about the what ifs: What if something happens to my husband? He’s fired …

I love these posts the most because I usually get the best responses. I’m blessed to have so many wonderful, intelligent, resourceful moms stop by. I’m in awe of you all sometimes.
Here is the latest dilemma a reader has regarding potty training her son:
My little guy is 3 years old and while he shows all the signs of being ready, he just likes his diapers. What can we do? Is there anything that worked really well for anyone else?
Well, I’m currently potty training my 2.5 year old and I have …

This Wednesday’s TweetChat topic - “Surviving the first 5 years of motherhood”
This will be a two-part chat, with this week covering through pregnancy to the terrible twos, and next week finishing up discussing potty training, preschool, terrible threes (lol), reading, kindergarten, etc.
It begins tomorrow (Wednesday, June 24) at 9 p.m. EST. Invite all the young moms you know! Here are some of the questions for this week’s chat:
Which trimester of pregnancy was the hardest for you? How did you manage?
Labor stories! Share your personal tale in 140 characters!
The first few weeks …

Just a reminder ladies!
The TweetChat is tonight, (Wednesday) at 9 p.m. EST. We’ll be answering all the questions you’ve wanted to know about sex drives after baby. As always, we promise to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth about motherhood!
To join in, log-in to www.tweetchat.com with your Twitter username and password. (Not on Twitter? Please join, if only for me! I’m working on another solution, but in the meantime, Twitter’s it.) Enter #youngmoms as the room name and join the conversation.
We usually go from 9-10, with a …

A friend of mine from high school opened up this question to me. Let’s see if we can help her out:
“I am starting my first “big girl” job in about a week and a half. As a young professional who doesn’t have much money starting before my first paycheck, where the heck can young women get nice, quality clothes for a relatively reasonable price?”
Simple enough question it seems. But I realized I couldn’t really help her out. I’m struggling with this issue myself. I’m tired of running to Old Navy …

My blogger friend Jenn runs the blog, Baby Makin Machine, where she ponders over whether she is ready to become a mom. She’s our age (23) and has been married for almost five years. The simple fact that she has created an entire blog to chronicle her journey to motherhood lets you know she’s serious.
She recently posted about why people choose to have babies earlier (like us) versus people who wait until their 30s or later. In writing my reply, I realized my comment might make a good post …