The pretty lady herself
A while back, I had my new friend, Julia Sherwin, come over and made her hang out with me. This wouldn’t be so weird, except that I shoved a camera in front of her face and made her vlog with me. The thing that killed me, and know that I was sold on Julia for good is that she took it all in stride without blinking. And get this–we’re still friends!
As our friendship has grown over the past year, Julia’s fame has skyrocketed. This gal now maintains an active forum on her Facebook page, does a weekly radio show, and was just interviewed as a parental consultant on the news this week! She does all this while continuing her newspaper column and maintaining all of her responsibilities as a very cool, involved mom to her three kiddos.
I’m so proud of all that she has accomplished, so I asked her to come back and visit with all of you again. Please say hello to Julia, check out her work, and make sure to follow along with her Facebook community.
Welcome back, Perspective on Parenting!
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Mom of the Year readers, please let me introduce myself! I’m Julia Sherwin, creator of Perspective on Parenting. I met the brilliant, sweet and quick-witted woman behind Mom of the Year last fall. In this short time, we’ve formed what I know will be a lasting friendship. I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for Meredith, and I really don’t quite know how she does all that she does with a 2- and 5-year-old underfoot.
Like Meredith, I’m also a writer, but I don’t have the gift of being as clever or as funny as she. I have a background as a newspaper journalist, and I’m currently a parenting columnist for Chester County’s largest daily newspaper, The Daily Local News. I write a bi-weekly Perspective on Parenting, which is published in the Sunday Living section. As a mom of three with a passion for writing, this was the gig for me.
In April, I also started co-hosting a morning radio talk show at WCHE 1520 a.m. each Friday. So now, no matter what, I know I’ll be able to engage in adult conversation outside the home at least once a week!
I do write all my columns from home, often locked behind my office door while my 4- and 6-year-olds swap super hero costumes and my 9-year-old tries desperately to get me interested in the latest episode of “Jessie.” Most days are pretty crazy, which is one of the reasons I decided to write about my parenting shortcomings and successes on a regular basis.
To keep the parenting conversations going on a variety of topics that I find interesting and relevant, I regularly pose questions to my Facebook page fans. This sometimes stirs up some controversy, especially concerning the issues that parents differ on—which can boil down to almost everything. In fact, that’s just another reason I chose to begin documenting the many challenges of parenting that I’ve experienced. The thing is, I’m totally comfortable telling others that I don’t have all the answers, but you can bet I’ve read or written about a lot of the questions. What I do know is that I love connecting people, talking about almost anything and raising my children!
Thanks for reading and following along!
Watch Julia’s news interview about finding reliable summer sitters below and check out how savvy she is:
To get to know Julia better, please check out her Facebook page. You can also follow her past columns on her blog, and she’s on Twitter too. Thanks for visiting, Julia!
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Frugalistablog says
Nice to meet you Julia!
Okay, I’m going to test you off the bat: my 11 year old sleeps on the floor in my room because he’s scared to sleep alone. He watched a scary movie at a friend’s house. This has been going on for 2 weeks. Any suggestions?
Sorry Meredith for grilling your guest so soon and I didn’t even offer her a beverage yet!
Anonymous says
Hello there, and thanks for writing! Wow, that’s a tough one. At least he’s sleeping on the floor and not IN your bed, which my son is in favor of doing. First, I’d recommend talking to your son about the movie he watched and what about it freaked him out so much. Was it something that could really happen? Probe him casually, and not necessarily at bed time. If he’s reluctant to tell you, it may be a good conversation for the car, where he can’t walk away, burgle won’t need to make eye contact with you if he’s embarrassed about his fear(s). Once you two hash that out, he may feel great relief. Keep me posted on how it goes!
Julia Sherwin says
Hello Frugalista Mama!
Thanks for writing. I LOVE being put on the spot. After all, I do live radio, so this is a breeze.
First off, kudos to you for having him sleep on the floor and not actually in bed with you like my son (who is 4) prefers. The bigger they get, the more they seem to kick in the wee hours of the morning.
I’d recommend talking to your son, asking him specifically what scared him about the movie he watched. Was it something that could happen in real life (fire, natural disaster, murder)? If so, you can assure him that, as his parent, you’ve taken measures to ensure his safety, etc. What you say will likely depend on the content of the movie he watched. If it was something absolutely fictitious, I think you can get him to reason a bit better, especially as an 11-year-old. A few years back, my daughter (who was only 7 at the time) saw a scary kids movie, and she struggled getting to bed each night. It was the Spiderwick Chronicles, and there was a scene about goblins being under the bed. Once we talked about it and even laughed about it, the fear for her seemed to dissipate greatly.
As a boy, he may be reluctant to talk to mom and may even be embarrassed about his fear. I really suggest talking to him more casually, maybe when driving in the car during the day so he can’t walk away. In the car, he also won’t need to make eye contact with you, so he may be more forthcoming about his feelings. Try to talk to him at a time that’s not right before bed, so that the fear isn’t reignited, so to speak, right before bed.
Good luck, and keep me posted!
Frugalistablog says
Ooh, excellent ideas! I talked to him earlier and he seems to still be freaked out. But I will approach it how you suggested and not at bedtime!
Thanks!
kim @ attract a man says
yeah, personally for me i dont even watch movies 2-3 hours before bed time.
i’m an adult and i dont like those negative vibes, the music, the suspense,really gets to my emotions.
god bless,
kimi
Julia Sherwin says
Kimi,
I’m a news junkie, so sometimes I have a hard time getting to sleep after seeing certain segments/stories. The violence against children is hard for me to stomach, and it seems like there’s so much of that lately. Whether it’s the middle east or Texas, toddlers left in hot cars, etc., I need to learn to balance what I view before bed, too.