They’re Watching Us!
When my daughter Katie was four years old, she enjoyed pretending to cook in the play kitchen at her grandparents’ house. One time my mother-in-law, who was laughing hysterically, called me into the room to observe Katie, who was watching…
Let Them Witness the Fitness: Getting Your Kids Involved
It’s February now, so how is everyone doing on their New Year’s resolutions for health and fitness?! If you’re not where you’d like to be, I’m sure you’re not alone. Sometimes family life can be what makes it difficult for…
An Education in Life: Taking Advantage of Teachable Moments During the School Years
Not all lessons taught during the school years involve textbooks. And they’re not all taught by teachers in classrooms. In fact, most important lessons are taught by us parents, and we do our teaching at home, in the car, in…
Let’s Take Responsibility…And Pass It on to Our Children
Responsibility. It’s a quality that we all desire for our children. We parents must realize, however, that responsibility is something that must be taught. And we are the ones who must teach it. Start Early The key to raising responsible…
When the Saints Go Marching In…Wearing Snuggies
Note: This post was first published in 2012 in my “Growth Spurts” column for Parents & Kids Magazine. In light of today’s match-up between the Saints and the 49ers, I felt that it was time to re-share it! My son…
It’s So Tempting…
Have you seen video clips of the marshmallow test? You know, the one where they put a big marshmallow on a plate in front of a kid and tell him that if he can wait 15 minutes without eating that…
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…
