The Grown and Flown Stories You Loved Best in 2019

This year was a great one at Grown and Flown. We continued to grow all of our platforms, allowing even more readers to enjoy and benefit from our top-notch content. Follow us on Instagram, join our G&F Facebook Group, and sign up for our newsletter to make sure you don’t miss ANYTHING in 2020.

Top Ten Posts of 2019

Seven Signs of the Aging Apocalypse
Meredith Trotta’s post about aging got everyone’s attention and had us all nodding and chuckling in mad agreement. Read this and try not to laugh.

couple driving in a car

Seven Reasons Why Thanksgiving Was Just Better in the ’80s
Once again, Katie Bingham Smith tapped into our love of nostalgia. Clearly, there is an endless appetite, not only for turkey and sweet potatoes but also for days gone by.

Thanksgiving dinner

Trey Kennedy’s Video Had Us Howling Because It Is All of Us
This new video called, what else, “Moms,” by comedian Trey Kennedy had us howling laughing, the kind of laughing that involves snorting and tears because we have literally said ALL of these things to our kids. ALL. OF. THEM. Thank you, Helene Hirsch Wingens.

Trey Kennedy

A Viral Trend Proves That Teens Can Hear Things Their Parents Can’t
Who doesn’t a good Internet controversy? In a now viral post on Facebook, Kodie Helmer shared a YouTube link with a sound that according to her post, can’t be heard easily after the age of 40. Christine Burke had us parents trying this on their kids. Hilarity ensued.

couple in high pitch sound test

Director of Admission Shares the Truth About College Essays
Parents loved what Rick Clark, the Director of Undergraduate Admission at Georgia Tech had to tell them about his experience reading college essays. Chock full of useful information, this piece is a must-read.

6 Things You Should Absolutely NEVER Do as the Parent of a College Student
Lori Smith, Assistant Director of Student Disability Services at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, tells parents what they should NOT be doing for their college kids.

Missing Our Kids is Also About Missing Who We Used To Be
Katie Bingham Smith was dead on again in this post about the part of missing our kids that’s really about missing who we used to be when they were little.

Dear Friends and Family, Please Keep Your Snarky Opinions About My Teen’s College Choice to Yourself
MaryBeth Bock tells us that, “No matter what the situation is regarding where your student will be come fall, or what you as a family have decided is the best route for them, the minute you begin to share your news, someone is going to rain on your parade.” And, this apparently resonated with a lot of our parents.

Opinions about college choices.

Buble’s “Forever Now” Has Us in Tears; It’s Our Anthem Grown and Flown Parents
The minute Helene Hirsch Wingens saw this video, she knew it would be a big hit. It is truly irresistible, so grab the tissues and have a watch. But be warned, grabbing the tissues is non-0ptional.

That’s What We Moms Do, We Just Keep Pulling the Sled
In this beautiful post, Carly Crewe describes setting out in the snow with her two young daughters and how she pulled them in a sled. Over the course of her journey, the girls jumped on and off the sled commensurate with their needs and level of fatigue. This metaphor for parenting was obviously super  relatable.

Pulling sled

Other Pieces You Might Enjoy:

The Grown and Flown Stories You Loved Best in 2018

Grown and Flown: The Book – bestselling guide to parenting teens

About Helene Wingens

Helene Wingens has always been passionate about painting pictures with words. She graduated from Brandeis University with a degree in psychology and three years later from Boston University School of Law with a Juris Doctor. In a year long clerkship for an appellate judge Helene honed her writing skills by drafting weekly appellate memoranda. She practiced law until she practically perfected it and after taking a brief twenty year hiatus to raise her three children she began writing a personal blog Her essays have been published in: Scary Mommy, Kveller, The Forward, and Grown and Flown where she is Managing Editor. You can visit Helene's website here

Read more posts by Helene

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