Whose Move Is It Anyway?: How to Proceed in Decision-Making When You and Your Spouse Don’t See Eye to Eye
My husband and I had three days to look at 30+ houses, visit three different schools, and decide where we wanted our young family to live. It’s no wonder I developed a migraine. These were not easy decisions! We were…
Summer Fun with the Grandparents: Teachable Moments Included
Over the last year, many of us were unable to spend time in person with extended family members – especially grandparents. So our gatherings this summer will be particularly special. And, parents, we can make this time even more meaningful…
ELECT to Have Teachable Moments with Your Kids
The harvest is ripe for teachable moments with our kids during election season! Seriously, they’re everywhere, just waiting to be picked and used. Parents, are we looking for them? The obvious one is to make sure our kids understand that…
Points on Parental Publishing
When I was around five years old, I remember helping my mother make chocolate chip cookies. I so badly wanted to add the eggs to the batter, and I remember thinking so hard about the correct way to ask my…
Fighting Fairly with Your Spouse
“Fight.” “Disagree.” “Discuss.” Call it whatever you want, but if you’re married, it happens. And that’s okay! I’m not saying we should unleash our anger and let careless words fly whenever we feel like it. We can, in fact, still…
Making Marriage a Priority When You Have School-Aged Children
Remember when you were newlyweds and just couldn’t get enough of each other? Spending time together was never a question; the question was more What else would we do BESIDES spend time together?! But as so many of us have…
Please Listen
Parents, this poem might resonate with you, as it did with me when I read it today. Actually, it felt more like a big brick dropped on my head, because I very much struggle with jumping right into advice-giving when…
Setting Sail
This month my firstborn child will graduate from high school, and, as all parents of seniors, I am wondering how we got here so quickly. In lieu of sadness, though, we are choosing to celebrate Callie’s graduation, so she and…
Trust – We’re Either Building It or Breaking It
We talk about trust a lot around our house. We believe that, pretty much all the time, we are either building or breaking trust with one another through our words and actions, whether we realize it or not. We stress…
Hard Conversations
Hard conversations are part of life. And for those of us who really don’t like confrontation, these conversations can be extremely taxing. The easy way out would be just to avoid them altogether–to “keep the peace”–, but we all know…