Kate Austin-Avon

25 Sep Talkin’ bout my generation

Posted at 20:51h in Discipline, Family Time, Generations, Parenting 0 Comments

Born in 1982, I'm on the cusp between Generation X and the Milliennials, which TIME Magazine recently called the “Me Me Me” generation of lazy, entitled narcissists. Raised by hippies, I did grow up in the era of Mr. Rogers, talking about my feelings. I knew...

11 Sep In the face of tantrums

Posted at 21:01h in Discipline, Family Time, Parenting 0 Comments

My parents used to sing the Rolling Stones song, “You can't always get what you want,” to me when I was little, and I hated it with a fiery passion. I get where they were coming from now that I'm parenting a two-year-old, though. In the...

22 Aug Terrible Two

Posted at 20:31h in Family, Family Time, Love, milestones, Time 0 Comments

My son Henry turned two on August 22. On the eve of his first birthday, I went through his tiny baby clothes and heaved profound guttural sobs over the loss of my little newborn son. I remember him seeming so big compared to his first onesies, and...

14 Aug Pinterest Pressure

Posted at 20:35h in Art, Family Time, Parenting 0 Comments

I often think to myself, “One of these days I'm going to look up some charming ideas on Pinterest and spend the day with my son Henry making bumblebees out of pool noodles and painting every surface in the house with chalkboard paint.” I place...

09 Aug The Syrup Incident

Posted at 16:10h in Parenting 0 Comments

We have some outrageous family lore on both sides of my family tree, like how my uncle Johnny ended up in the upstairs apartment painting the walls for the tenants when he was three, and how my dad at 18 months toddled across the railroad...

25 Jul Manic Mondays

Posted at 21:06h in Discipline, Family Time, Parenting 0 Comments

We like to take our toddler Henry to the Monday night City Band concerts in City Park. But I'd be lying if I said he peacefully enjoys the music. While he listens, he also pokes his fingers in the irrigation control valve covers, smacks the metal...

17 Jul Potty talk at my high school reunion

Posted at 20:23h in Family Time, milestones, Parenting, Potty Training 0 Comments

Last month at my 15th high school reunion in Woodstock, Vermont, I had a chat with my class's valedictorian. She's nowhere to be found on Facebook, so this conversation was a genuine catch-up — that is to say, we didn't have to pretend we had...