Emily Roark
Why Kids Need Sick Days
When I was in high school, students who had perfect attendance did not have to take finals. Of course, teenagers get sick as everyone else does, and this means that kids were coming to...
Three Years Later: Is the Pandemic Forever a Part of Us?
Three years.
It’s been three years since we hoarded toilet paper, sanitized groceries, made masks from scraps of cloth, and stayed inside to stay safe.
One year ago, things started to feel semi-normal again. My kids...
How I Squeeze in “Adulting” Once the Kids Are in Bed
I look at the clock—8:27 pm. One of my kids is sound asleep, another is reading in her bed, and the third is babbling in her crib. She yells "Mommy" every so often to...
10 Cheap and Easy Dinner Ideas
As moms, there's not much we appreciate more than a cheap and easy dinner. If your kids are anything like mine, they act like they are famished the second they get home from school,...
5 Ways I Combat the Winter Blues
Every October, I begin to dread the changing seasons. The shorter days, the darker nights, and "falling back" are not exactly my favorite things about the fall and winter seasons. It only seems to...
Why Words Matter: My Negative Experience with a PE Teacher
I moved to Indiana when I was in sixth grade. I moved to a school where 6th grade was the highest grade, and the kids were cliquey and already knew each other. I didn't...
Mourning When You’re a Mother: Life Must Go On
Bad things don't stop happening when we become moms. There are sicknesses, deaths in the family, accidents, and national tragedies. These things will always happen, and we will always find ways to deal. You...
7 Things We Don’t Tell Moms About Having a Larger Family
When I left the hospital with my second and third babies, no one handed me a guidebook for getting through life with multiple children (of course, the same can be said for having my...
It’s Not My Season
Before I had kids, I imagined myself as a mom who wakes up before her kids. I would wake up at 5:30 am, work out, get ready and eat breakfast, before any of my...
The Ups and Downs of Room Sharing
My husband and I have three kids in a three-bedroom house. If you do the math, you know that two of the kids must be sharing a room. Before having our third baby, this...
If Not For the Pandemic, Would We’ve Continued Growing Our Family?
"Four kids." Ten years ago, when my husband and I sat side by side in premarital counseling and the counselor asked each of us how many kids we desired to have, I said four.
When...
5 Television Shows for Little Kids that You’ll Also Enjoy Watching
In an age of limited screen time, I'll be the first to admit that my family and I love watching TV. My kids don't have tablets, so TV is their only screen time, and...
We Were Not Meant to Consume So Much News
Everywhere we turn, there is news. It’s on our phones, it’s on TV, it’s on our Google Homes and Alexas, it’s on the radio and in podcasts. Unless you live a completely technology-free lifestyle,...
I Wasn’t Ready, But I Had to Let Her Go
In the days leading up to the first day of kindergarten, I agonized over everything. “Will she get motion sick on the bus?” “Will she be able to find her classroom?” “Will she be...