Kveller – Mom Advice & Community for Jewish Parenting, Relationships, Babies, Pregnancy, Toddlers, Raising Jewish Kids

Jewish Stuff!

Home Delivery

Get Kveller By Email

Eat Already!

Baked salmon garnished with asparagus and tomatoes with herbs

19 Shabbat Recipes for Families with All the Allergies

11 Delicious Ways to Use All the Food Your Kids Waste

RECIPE: Challah Pizza Roll-Ups

Home made Chicken Rice Soup - from above Horizontal

Instant Pot Chicken Soup Recipe That's Just Like Bubbe's

8 Jewish Comfort Food Recipes You Need for the Hard Times

More Recipes

Carla Naumburg, PhD, is a clinical social worker and writer. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post,The Huffington Post, Parents.com, PsychCentral.com, The Jewish Daily Forward, and Psychology Today. She is the author of two books, Parenting in the Present Moment: How to Stay Focused on What Really Matters (Parallax, 2014) and Ready, Set, Breathe: Practicing Mindfulness with Your Children for Fewer Meltdowns and a More Peaceful Family (New Harbinger, 2015). Carla grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the Bay Area of California, and she currently lives outside of Boston with her husband and two young daughters. You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

This Classroom Job in My Kid’s Kindergarten Made Me a Jewish Day School Believer

Carla Naumburg

For some parents, sending their children to Jewish day school is a given. Perhaps they went to day school and want that same experience for their kids, or perhaps they didn’t and wish they… had. This was not the case with my husband and me. He’s a day school grad who felt no particular need to continue that legacy. As the product of a completely secular upbringing, I have often wished for a stronger Jewish education, but I wasn’t sure if that was enough of a reason to justify… >> Read More

back to school

The Truth Behind Those Perfect “First-Day-of-School” Photos

Carla Naumburg

I lost it with my kid yesterday. My mom-meltdown happened just minutes before I herded both of the girls outside for our annual first-day-of-school ritual. It went a little something like… this: “Ok, you stand here, no, not there, over there, OK, good, now you get next to your sister. Closer… closer. Wait. Stop. Not that close. Get your hands off her! You, calm down. She only poked you once and it wasn’t that hard. OK, now you hold this sign, and you hold this one.… >> Read More

humor

Humor Is Your Secret Parenting Weapon

Carla Naumburg

A 1980's styled young woman with leg warmers, off-shoulder shirt, side ponytail and sunglasses hula hoops on the sidewalk in front of her home in the suburbs, a bright blue sky overhead. She smiles and laughs with a happy look on her face; she's jumping mid-air. Horizontal with copy space.

Sometimes I put a pair of cotton princess underwear on my head before I wake up my daughters in the morning. Sometimes I recite their breakfast options in a ridiculous French accent. I smear bubbles… across my face while I’m giving them a bath and tell them absurd stories about the day their father and I selected them from the discount rack at The Baby Store because that’s where babies come from. I open my mouth to yell at them and end up launching myself across the living room with… >> Read More

free range parenting

How an Anxious Jewish Mother Became a Free-Range Parent

Carla Naumburg

I am not built to be a free-range mother. I am anxious and over-protective by nature, and my years of experience as a social worker have only increased my awareness of everything that could happen to… my daughters, from sexual abuse to traumatic brain injuries. If I had my way, my girls wouldn’t leave the house without a GPS tracking device, a helmet, a cellphone, and a Taser Jr. And so I was as surprised as anyone when I realized I had started free-range parenting my daughters, ages 7 and 8.5.… >> Read More

Bubbe

I Learned All I Need to Know from Playing Cards with My Grandma

Carla Naumburg

Deck of playing card spread out on a wooden table in a close up overhead view in random order with the ace of diamond uppermost

Some of my favorite life memories are with my Grandma Dede, who passed away just over a month ago. I particularly remember playing cards with her, including many games of Russian Bank. For those… of you who didn’t have the pleasure of playing Russian Bank with Delia, here’s how it goes: it’s a two person solitaire-style card game, played with two decks. The goal is to get rid of all of your cards before your opponent does, and you do this by building up the center game board, solitaire… >> Read More

Passover

The Relief I Felt After Saying ‘I Don’t Like Passover’ Out Loud

Carla Naumburg

“I don’t like Passover.” I said those words to my husband yesterday morning as I was zipping up my daughters’ lunch boxes. I’m sure my kvetching barely registered with him at first; I’m… a chronic complainer when it comes to packing food for my kids. But this time was different. I kept talking. “I don’t like keeping Passover. I find zero spiritual, emotional, or psychological meaning in not eating an english muffin with my eggs and not being able to feed the girls sandwiches for lunch or mac… >> Read More

work-life balance

When The Kids Are Sick and the Parents Work, Nobody Wins

Carla Naumburg

“Remind me again when you have work calls today?” My husband has already answered that question at least twice this morning, but I am too distracted by my own mental Tetris to hear his… response. I have clients at 10 and 11, and a meeting at 1. I can call into the meeting, but not to the clients. Josh can work from home, and although some of his calls overlap with my meetings, the girls are old enough to reliably zombie-out in front of the TV without needing help… >> Read More

Passover

Why I’m Dreading Passover (It’s Not What You Think)

Carla Naumburg

Traditional symbols on a seder plate for the Jewish festival of Passover.

The first night of Passover is in less than three weeks. I am dreading it. It’s not the cleaning or the clearing or the shopping or the schlepping that has me burying my head in the sand.… It’s not the planning for, cooking for, or hosting the Seder. And it’s not even about giving up my beloved morning english muffin or lunchtime turkey sandwich. I’m dreading Passover because of how hard it is to feed my daughter when bread, pasta, tortillas, and pizza are not on the menu. You see, the child generally… >> Read More

election

How I Talked to My Kids About the Shocking Election Results

Carla Naumburg

Like so many of you, I woke up to deeply distressing election results, and a Facebook feed full of parents asking how to share the news with their children. Here’s how I had this difficult… conversation with my daughters, who are currently 8 and 6 years old. First, I calmed myself down. This required me to take lots of deep breaths and remind myself that I just needed to hold it together until I could get the girls to school. (Please bear in mind that I have cried in front… >> Read More

mindfulness

6 Ways to De-Stress During the Election

Carla Naumburg

Coffe and Book near window with bright sunny light

Election day is tomorrow, but seeing as how you’re online, you already know that. You probably also already know that this election is, well, freaking people out. Americans on both sides of the… ever-growing political divide are anxious, scared, and more stressed out about politics than they have been in years, if ever. As a wise internet meme once said, “If you don’t have a problem, then don’t worry. If you have a problem, and you can’t do anything about it, then don’t worry. If you have a… >> Read More

interesting jews

Jewish Writer Marjorie Ingall on How to Raise Mensches

Carla Naumburg

It should come as no surprise to any of you that I’m always on the lookout for a good parenting book. Bonus points if it has a Jewish twist, and double bonus if it’s written by Marjorie Ingall.… I’ve been following Marjorie’s smart, funny writing on Tablet for years; her piece on the Jews and scatological humor is one of my all-time favorites. But you’ll get much more than a good poop joke in her new book, “Mamaleh Knows Best: What Jewish Mothers Do to Raise Successful, Creative, Empathetic, Independent Children” (Harmony, 2016).… >> Read More

jewish mother project

Finally, A Parenting Book That’s Not Preachy Or Pretentious

Carla Naumburg

I’m not a terribly spiritual person. Even so, I wasn’t surprised by how much I enjoyed Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg’s latest book, “Nurture the Wow: Finding Spirituality in the Frustration,… Boredom, Tears, Poop, Desperation, Wonder, and Radical Amazement of Parenting.” I had loved Danya’s post on Kveller about radical amazement, and I knew from her Facebook posts that she was neither preachy nor pretentious. Part memoir, part parenting guide, and part meditation on a life well-lived, “Nurture the Wow” draws on Danya’s experience as a… >> Read More

jewish mother project

What My Daughter’s Siddur Ceremony Taught Me About Jewish Prayer

Carla Naumburg

My daughter’s siddur ceremony was a few weeks ago. She’s in first grade at a Jewish Day School, and after spending the year studying tefillah, or prayer, the entire class got their own prayer… books. In our school, as in many other day schools, the parents’ job is to decorate the cover of the prayer book. I was thrilled about this task, because it gave me another opportunity to participate in my daughter’s Jewish education, and because crafting is something I can do. My projects never come out quite… >> Read More

jewish mother project

The One Word That Perfectly Describes My Complicated Identity

Carla Naumburg

This article is part of our essay series, “Why Be Jewish?,” based off of “Why Be Jewish?”—a new book by the late Edgar M. Bronfman. I spent the first three decades of my life looking… for the answer to this sentence: “I am ________________.” Yes, I know. I am a woman. But I have never played the stereotypical “female” very well; I was a tomboy as a child, and even now, I don’t cook, I’m not particularly good at dressing up, and I had no idea I was supposed to… >> Read More

jewish mother project

What Setting My Passover Seder Table Made Me Realize For The First Time

Carla Naumburg

My husband and I hosted the second night seder this year. Even though I don’t cook and can’t read the Hebrew in the Haggadah well enough to lead, I do know this: Seders should be fun and engaging… for the kiddos, and we each need to see ourselves as though we were slaves in Egypt, journeying across a desert to freedom. I found an idea online that would fulfill both of those mitzvot, and I set to work. It took multiple trips to my local crafting store (I know, I know, the sacrifices… >> Read More

jewish mother project

The Lie I Told Myself About Good Jewish Mothers

Carla Naumburg

I started the Jewish Mother Project last fall with the declaration that, “My goal is not to become a perfect Jewish mother, but the ‘Best Carla’ I can be for my daughters.” And then I… confidently marched off in the opposite direction, following a path that had very little to do with who I am, and had everything to do with who I thought I should be. Let me give you some examples: I set a goal to roast a chicken, even though I don’t enjoy cooking and have only… >> Read More

jewish mother project

What I Learned from Celebrating Havdalah with My Family

Carla Naumburg

My family and I celebrated Havdalah together at home for the first time this week. It had been a fairly uneventful Saturday; the girls played at home and then at the neighbors’ house. Josh and I… read the instruction manual for our new snow blower. (I can honestly say I have rarely been more excited about a Hanukkah present.) We were waiting for my older daughter’s friend to come over for a sleepover when the girls asked to do Havdalah. I looked at my husband and he looked at me. Sure.… >> Read More

jewish mother project

That Time I Made a Big Jewish Mother Mistake

Carla Naumburg

So, I missed Tu Bishvat. I saw references to it on Facebook; various friends who are clearly more observant/aware/motivated/creative/energetic/(insert desirable adjective of your choice here)… posted pictures of their children hugging trees and displaying carefully arranged trays of dried fruits and nuts. “Huh,” I thought to myself. “Tu Bishvat is coming up. I should probably do something about that.” And then I “liked” the picture and as I kept scrolling through my feed I promptly forgot all about it. But… >> Read More

jewish mother project

I’m Ready to Start a Family Tzedakah Practice But I Don’t Know How

Carla Naumburg

Last week for the Jewish Mother Project, I wrote about the importance of translating kindness into action, so this week I need to put my money where my mouth is and step up to the tzedakah plate… box. Tzedakah is one of the biggies in Judaism. Every year during the big YK (as I like to call Yom Kippur), we learn about the power of teshuvah (repentance), tefillah (prayer), and tzedakah to save our sinful souls. And just to be clear here, tzedakah isn’t charity. Tzedakah is justice. It’s fairness. It’s our… >> Read More

jewish mother project

5 Ways I’m Being Kinder to Others Every Day

Carla Naumburg

In my last post for the Jewish Mother Project, I wrote about compassion and kindness, and how I want that to be at the core of my identity and practice as a Jewish mother. The thing is, as much as… I like to spout off about big ideas, we Jews are all about action. It’s really not enough to think about being kind; I want to find ways to make it a part of my daily life. And I’m not talking about the “random acts of kindness” of bumper sticker fame, although that’s always nice… >> Read More

jewish mother project

Being a Mom Means Ignoring Your Kids (for a Sec) & Doing This for Yourself

Carla Naumburg

One of my favorite parenting quotes comes from Brene Brown, my social work/writing/Mama hero: “We can’t give our children what we don’t have.” I find her words to be liberating, inspiring,… and, at times, totally obnoxious—not unlike so many of life’s great truths. Liberating because they remind me that it is just not possible for me to teach my children everything, and it’s OK and even necessary for me to reach out to others for help. Inspiring because they motivate me to make the changes in… >> Read More

jewish mother project

Instead of Focusing on Random Jewish Practices, I’m Making This Change for 2016

Carla Naumburg

I love nothing quite so much as a good resolution. Don’t get me wrong; like so many other Americans, I rarely keep my resolutions for longer than a week or two. Nonetheless, I am grateful for the… injection of renewal, liberation, and hope that I get on January 1. As I began contemplating my resolutions for this year, my mind immediately settled on the Jewish Mother Project. What will I tackle in 2016? Will I finally start saying the blessings before meals? Will this be the year that I actually learn how… >> Read More

jewish mother project

Yes, There’s a Cross in My Jewish Home. Here’s Why

Carla Naumburg

“Mommy, can we put up Christmas decorations in the house?” And thus began yet another December conversation. Christmas decorations are out of the question for us, as we don’t celebrate… Christmas in our home. That particular line in the sand is quite clear in my mind, but that’s pretty much where the clarity ends. My family background is a mix of secular Jews, Oklahoma Christians, and skeptical Italians. I was raised hanging pickle ornaments on Christmas trees with my mother and siblings and singing holiday… >> Read More

jewish mother project

The Daily Jewish Practices I Have–And Haven’t–Kept Up With

Carla Naumburg

Now that the chaos of Hanukkah is over (one would think that lighting a few candles each night wouldn’t be that disruptive, but one apparently didn’t take into account late nights, gelt, and… presents), I’ve had some time to reflect on the Jewish Mother Project thus far. Some of it has gone quite well; I’ve enjoyed the holidays more than usual this year, and I’ve found great meaning in the Jewish traditions around death and mourning. I’ve been quite happy wearing my Star of David necklace each day,… >> Read More

jewish mother project

I Forgot the Hanukkah Blessings, But Discovered This Miracle Instead

Carla Naumburg

My husband always sings the blessings. Whether it’s Shabbat dinner, the Shema at bedtime, or the blessings over the Hanukkah candles, he always leads the blessings when he’s home. He knows… them better than I do, and he has a much better singing voice. I‘ve done bedtime often enough on my own that I can sing the Shema without any trouble, although there are nights when I can tell my singing is off key and I have no idea how to fix it. READ: Star Wars and… >> Read More

Load More Articles