Do Life Right

My oldest child turns twelve today.  As birthdays and anniversaries often do, I’ve been contemplating the years and what they’ve meant to me.  It’s true what they say about a parent with young children: The days are long, but the years are short.
There are full days that felt like years, and lately, the years have [...]

There is something about the “new school year” that seems to bring out the worst in schooled parent-child relationships. Everywhere I go, I’m hearing really mean comments to kids. Sure I haven’t seen or heard the whole story, but I often have seen the set-up to the rude comments and in almost every [...]

Ultimately, what you get out of life is derived by your personal priorities. So, choosing what yours are is highly important. Don’t let other people choose your goals for you. If you do, you will not live an authentic life. This isn’t a “leave others in the lurch” statement - quite [...]

You’ve all heard it: Parenthood is the most important job you’ll ever have.
Thing is, being a mother or father is not a job at all. You’ll never be given a paycheck for taking care of your children. Becoming a parent is almost always a choice. Parents don’t deserve paychecks for the life [...]

Goals are important. Without them, we flounder, wither, and die (if not physically, then certainly emotionally and psychologically).
Yet, no one can truly make goals for anyone other than themselves. This is a trap parents often get into. It’s inevitable — we have dreams and desires for our children. There is nothing [...]

In no particular order:

My earliest memory is of my mother rocking me in a rocking chair. I was calm and content. I didn’t need to be rocked, yet she rocked me anyway because she wanted to. In my memory, the experience lasted a long time. How sweet is that?
My mother has [...]

Never be afraid or ashamed to admit you don’t know something.
The other day my husband asked my older daughter (11.5) if she knew what a particular word meant. It was conversational and light and happened in response to her asking us a question about a clue on Jeopardy! — his asking was not part [...]

An overheard comment I heard recently: “I could never homeschool my children because they have too many drastically different interests and are completely different people.  They’d never manage to get through a day without beating each other up.  Only parents with similar children are able to homeschool and live consensually.”
This statement is sad, yet the [...]

I thought school was supposed to be about learning, not order. Yet, order and control is all it seems to be about anymore. The administrators have lost sight of the real goal by bringing attention to all their “nondisruptive” circumventions.
The Chicago Tribune’s article titled “Neuqua Valley High School student can wear anti-gay T-shirt [...]

This could have been titled “Are you celebrating something special today?”
Twice in one day last week I was asked something similar to the above - once by a checkout lady and the next time by a waitress. Just what was my family doing? Having fun going about our normal day-to-day activities. We [...]