Carol-Ane Woodard
Carol-Ane Woodard was born in Rehoboth, which is in Massachusetts, but really should be a part of Rhode Island. She grew up taking the Trailways bus into Providence and shopping at the Warwick Mall. She currently lives in Foxboro, Massachusetts with her husband of of 38 years, Paul Woodard, but she misses coffee cabinets, red clam chowder, and hot wieners, and she still considers Providence to be her home city.
Carol-Ane graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1973 with a degree in sociology. She minored in business at U Mass Dartmouth and took a job for the FDIC as a bank examiner. She worked there for 30 years and retired 10 years ago. Other than her 3 children and 5 grandchildren, her hobbies include reading, reading, and more reading, interrupted only by hikes in the woods, Freecell, and knitting. Although her Linkedin profile lists her as a stay-at-home grandmother, Carol-Ane actually has a rather nervous disposition and is frightened by small children. Nevertheless, she persists.
Small Mammals
I have a dog. I’ve named him ‘My Gym Membership.’
“Carol-Ane!” my husband interrupted. “His name is Shiloh and he’s NOT your dog!”
“Well…technically…”
So, once upon a time, I got a dog. I got him to...
Girls Will Be Girls
I tried to raise gender-neutral children. Sorta. I’m a baby boomer, so we didn’t call it 'gender-neutral'. I called it feminism, and, prior to actually having children, I believed fervently that gender roles were...
In Praise of Difficult Children {Princess Terror Is Almost Two}
A year ago, I wrote an article about my first grand-daughter. I titled it “Princess Terror.”
It was controversial. I can’t understand why.
I began it like this:
"They say there are people who just love...
I ‘Won’ the Argument, Maybe?
I won the argument. Maybe.
It had started two months earlier, over drinks with a friend.
It was one of those perennial parent questions. How much help should you give your kids? In my case, it’s...
When Is It Already Too Late?
I was born in the 1950s. We Baby Boomers all studied World War II, and heard about it, and watched it on TV. The question we always asked was …"What about the good Germans?...
How to Raise ‘Creative’ Children
We all want to raise creative children. Except… we don’t actually want ‘creative' children. Wait! Hear me out.
Once I listened to Neil Gaiman’s father on a podcast. (Neil Gaiman is a writer of fantasy...
My Thoughts About Breastfeeding: Then and Now
I always knew that I would breastfeed.
I mean, I had to. Otherwise, my mother would never speak to me again.
My mother was very committed to nursing. For good reason. When I was born, in...
The Car Seat Struggle is Real – A Grandmother’s Crisis
It was a personal and family crisis. It loomed ominously over my whole weekend.
Yes. My husband had taken the car seats out of my car.
Sure, he had a good “excuse.” At least to hear...
A $132,000 Facebook Argument
I got into a Facebook argument. Yes, I know better, but for some reason, I couldn’t let go of it. It was about the family who was charged $132,000 when their five-year-old broke a statue...
Excruciatingly Slow and Over in the Blink of an Eye
It was an excruciatingly slow 10 minutes. I had headed to my daughter's to babysit my grandchildren for an hour or two but had been there for about 6. Mostly it had been fine, even...