About Me

The basics

I guess it’s time for my least favorite part of blogging…..talking about myself. It’s so awkward!

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, IL. As the oldest of 5 siblings, I am a natural “achiever” and like to control my surroundings. Although my kids have taught me that going with the flow is necessary to keep my sanity.

I wish that I could say my childhood was all bunnies and rainbows, but that wasn’t the case. It was a textbook example of growing up in the cycle of abuse.

I grew up, as we all have to do at some point. That exact moment happened to me when I became pregnant with my daughter in 2007. She was born in 2008 and it was just the two of us until I met my future husband in 2011. We got married and had two more children.

Why did I start this blog?

Recently, my mother told me a moving story. After I was born, she would bring me to McDonald’s. It wasn’t for the Happy Meals or the milkshakes (ice cream machines didn’t work back then either). She went there to watch other parents interact with their children. She had grown up in a dysfunctional home and didn’t know what was considered “normal.” She hoped that by observing these parents she could figure out what “normal” looked like.

After hearing her story, I realized that I had my own “McDonald’s story.” Instead of hanging out with The Hamburgler, I took many psychology courses. A lot of them focused on child/development and neuropsychology. I also took an interest in doing research and was lucky enough to be asked to participate in creating a research study with one of my psychology professors and one of my collegiate peers. I craved an understanding of human behavior because I did not want to continue the cycle of abuse.

That takes me to why I decided to create this blog. I know that there are so many others with their own McDonald’s story. I wanted to use my research skills to create a place where people can find support and information on parenting with trauma.