Welcome to My Family Wellness and Parenting Blog

Welcome to my family wellness and parenting space. This is a blog for parents who are treading water in the chaos, running on coffee, and doing their best to juggle work life, home life, and maybe carve out a little time for themselves. Some days feel overwhelming. Other days feel surprisingly calm. This space is for all of it.

I am Tori Akselrad, a second grade teacher, mom to two spirited girls, Olive who is five and Violet who is two, and wife to my husband and best friend, Zach. We live in a ski town in the Colorado mountains and are learning what it looks like to survive and thrive as two full time working parents raising young kids.

In my limited free time, you can usually find me skiing, mountain biking, weightlifting, running, hiking, or listening to a favorite podcast. I am especially influenced by the work of Dr. Amy Johnson. Her book Just A Thought reshaped the way I think about life, parenting, and personal growth, and much of what I share here is informed by insights I have taken from her work. If you are curious, her podcast Changeable is a great place to start.

If you have followed my writing for a while, you may remember my earlier blog where I shared openly about recovery from binge eating disorder. That space held an important chapter of my life, and I am still grateful for it. Over time, and especially since becoming a parent, my identity has grown beyond that story. While I still navigate complicated thoughts around food and body image, it no longer defines me. Life feels bigger, fuller, and more layered now.

This blog reflects that evolution. Today, my focus is on family wellness, parenting, mental load, and what it means to care for ourselves while caring for everyone else. I write about habits that support physical and emotional well being, realistic routines, and the everyday decisions that shape family life. I am not interested in perfection or performance. I am interested in sustainability, awareness, and showing up with a little more steadiness in a very busy season of life.

Teaching is still a meaningful part of who I am, and there will always be space here for that perspective. Education and parenting are deeply connected, and my experiences in the classroom often inform how I think about kids, behavior, regulation, and learning at home. I do not believe we have to choose one identity or lane. Most of us are carrying many roles at once. That being said, I do also have a separate site for my teaching resources. For all things phonics and reading related, please visit feelingsbasedphonics.com. I also have all my resources available on my TeachersPayTeachers page, so feel free to check that out as well.

My hope is that this blog feels like a place you can come to feel understood. A place where other parents, teachers, and stretched thin humans can relate, connect, laugh, and feel a little less alone. The mental load of motherhood is real, and I know I am not the only one navigating it one day and one coffee refill at a time.

I will also be sharing the behind the scenes of building this blog alongside teaching and parenting. Starting from scratch without a background in web design, SEO, or tech has been both challenging and grounding. I plan to be honest about what works, what does not, and what it looks like to build something slowly while still trying to stay healthy and present at home.

If you are here for parenting reflections, family wellness routines, educator insight, or simply some honest writing about real life, you are in the right place. Take what resonates and leave the rest.

Thank you for being here. I am truly glad you found your way to this corner of family life, reflection, and coffee. If there is something you would love to see on the blog or a question you want to ask about parenting, teaching, or simply surviving the week, feel free to reach out. I would love to hear from you.

Let’s not lose our minds together,
Tori