Parenting | 100 Words

Let’s Make a Memory. Or Not.

June 27th, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

I wanted my children to have wonderful memories of their years with us, and I worked hard to create them. “Do you remember?” I later asked and waited for the excitement or joy or whatever I hoped to create.

No. I don’t remember.

Was the experience wasted? Maybe. Maybe Not.

Moments after entering the Lewis Ginter Memorial Gardens one holiday, a child yelled, “Butterfly, Butterfly.” Children were running everywhere because, unbeknownst to me, I had chosen a free admission day to visit the LEGO® creations in the gardens.

Given my experience with my now adult sons, I figured these exuberant youngsters would probably not remember the day. However, as they explored the area, they were receiving something just as good if not better than a memory—joy, laughter, wonder, curiosity, and adventure.

Children rarely get what we expect from an experience. When my youngest was four, he went to George Washington’s birthplace with my mother and sister. On his return, I asked about his adventure i.e. his memories. He saw a horse poop. Big stuff for a preschooler—both literally and figuratively.

May God give us grace to choose moments over making memories.

Favorites, Parenting, Relationships

Do You Need a Mediator?*

June 13th, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

As my children aged, their sharing with us lessened and our need to understand them grew. Misunderstandings mounted from our lack of communication. They wanted freedoms we weren’t ready to give, and the resulting arguments wearied us.

How could we break barriers and truly listen? One son, a tween at the time, brought his teddy bear one evening as a mediator.

Teddy** had a disarming voice and a sweet way of saying Grandperson.

“Grandperson, Bob** is mad at you,” said Teddy.

“Why?” I asked.

“He thinks you are unfair.”

“How am I unfair?”

The conversation continued as we patiently listened to each other.

A friend tried this with her son and reported, “It works because you can’t fuss at teddy bears, and they don’t fuss back.”

I shared my experience with another friend. “It is not a new trick,” she said, “but I am always amazed that it works.”

Is this a gimmick? I don’t think so. I think it was a way of breaking bad communication patterns. Variety helped us listen carefully because talking through a teddy bear was unpredictable. And fun.

*Edited and republished for the sixth anniversary of 100words.

** pseudonyms

Book Recommendations, Parenting, Relationships

A Fresh Start: Gordon Korman

April 4th, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

Gordon Korman is one of my favorite authors. I binge read his books after I discovered them. (See here and here.) My friend Barb recently reminded me of my favorites, The Unteachables and Restart.

In the aftermath of celebrating Easter, The Unteachables and Restart would be good family read alouds for those ten and older. While not explicitly Christian, they explore two good questions: What does it mean to forgive and be forgiven? What does it mean to have the opportunity to start a new life?

In The Unteachables, teacher Zachery Kermit was shunned and relegated to the worst classrooms after an eighth-grader’s folly. Twenty-seven years later, Mr. Kermit’s former student repents, seeks to make amends, and be forgiven. His teacher resists while simultaneously helping his current students rise above injustices done to them.

In Restart, Chase has amnesia after falling off a roof. Why is his stepsister afraid of him. Why do classmates avoid him? As Chase’s memory returns, he is appalled he was a bully and wants to change.

Although the themes are serious, the creative plots and memorable characters entertain and lead to great discussions. Can we forgive the deep hurts inflicted on us and by us?

Book Recommendations, Parenting

Our Children’s Books Matter

March 7th, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

Which came first? The love of the color blue or the love of the blue sweaters and blue jeans worn by the children in Pat Hutchins’ art work? My son wonders. He does know his earliest memory of loving the color blue is linked to Hutchins’ illustrations.

It doesn’t matter which came first. What does matter is that the words and art of the books we read aloud to our children, and the ones they later read independently, linger in their hearts.

I recently read a children’s book that was rich in memorable characters and adventure. It was also rich in laughing over brief episodes of profanity and glossing over hinted promiscuity. Otherwise, the stories were excellent. I wondered. With caveats about inappropriateness, could I read them aloud to impressionable children?

The next day, my son called. Our conversation turned to Piggins, a picture book we enjoyed thirty years ago. He told me the details that impacted his thinking and compared Piggins to another favorite, Brambly Hedge. At that moment, I knew I had to abandon the questionable book. The risk was not worth taking.

I am a part of everything that I have read. Theodore Roosevelt

Parenting, Relationships

Please Tuck me In

February 21st, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

One dear aunt reveals her worry about her retired daughter being single by asking “Who will bring her a cup of tea?” (See here.)

During a harder than expected recovery from knee surgery, I have received many cups of carefully brewed tea from the Night Nurse aka my oldest son. (My husband is the Day Nurse.) The tea, no matter how loving brewed, cooled, and lemoned, does not compare with being “tucked in.”

Don’t be deceived. The nerve block hadn’t worn off.

I appreciated my son carefully rearranging my pillows and pulling up my blankets after bathroom trips or medicine time. However, one day while reading, I was surprised at the impact this sentence had.

Will you come and tuck me in?

I was being tucked in by the Night Nurse. Children are regularly tucked in, but adults? And yet that was what was happening to me after I was up during the wee hours of the night. It was lovely.

I last remember tucking in my sons when the oldest was a tween. How sad. I wish I had known that one is never too old to be tucked in at night.

Who do you tuck in?