It’s the Friday after the first week back to school, and my mom said something to me today that had nothing to do with my kids. Five kids in that first-week chaos. Two of them still tiny, still nursing, still needing me every couple hours. Three of them adjusting to new teachers, new schedules, new everything. And me, somewhere in the middle of all of it, running on the specific kind of fumes that only the first week back gives you. My mom is a psychoanalyst. She’s spent her whole career studying how we talk to ourselves, and for my whole life, she’s been quietly teaching me how to do it better. These are the things she says to me. Not to Zoe, not to Thea and Nathan, not to Benny and Dash. To me. On the days I’m the one who’s overwhelmed. You know that phrase everyone uses — “but that last slide, though”? Yeah. That one’s mine tonight. Parents who just survived the first week back — which one of these do you need on repeat this weekend? 🤍 ↓ #gentleparenting #consciousparenting #...