Parenting

Being a patient parent is much easier said than done. When you are pregnant with your first child, you have an idealistic image of what parenthood will look like. You imagine yourself using positive discipline and having a child who doesn’t really misbehave. You imagine how patient you’ll be teaching him or her to tie […] More

Are your teens getting enough sleep?  Chances are, they are not.  Most of us don’t even realize how much sleep that our teens need.  Teens need an average of about 9 hours of sleep a night, according to The National Sleep Foundation.  Some teenagers can get by on 8 hours but the majority really need […] More

An internet curfew will not make you a popular parent but chances are it is needed as much at your house as it was at mine if you are a parent of teenagers.  Most teenagers live on the internet.  Phones don’t ring with friends calling to chat.  Instead, they ping with texts constantly at all […] More

Having a daughter (or two, in my case) is a pretty awesome deal. They’re sweet, cuddly, funny, silly, smart and always fun to be around. Now that mine are growing up, particularly my oldest who is now five, I find myself inspired to spend some real quality time with her as her school schedule and […] More

Good sportsmanship is not a skill that our children are born with.  It is something we have to teach them through modeling good sportsmanship ourselves and having some open, honest discussions with them.  What are the best ways to pass this skill on to your children? Modeling good sportsmanship yourself is step one.  You cannot […] More

Parenting: As I sit here about to begin the second trimester of my third pregnancy with one daughter in kindergarten and another in midst of her terrible twos (which could be SO much worse, I know), morning sickness that lasts all day every single day and what I believe is now a full-blown head cold, […] More

If there is one thing that I’ve learned as a parent, it’s that Murphy’s Law applies most to children. Anyone with kids, or anyone around kids on a regular basis will get it. The rules that apply to real life do not always apply to children. Since parenting isn’t always serious, it’s sometimes funny to […] More

Some days the stress of being a mommy makes you feel like running away.  It is understandable.  Being a mommy means that you are constantly taking care of other’s needs before your own and you get very little appreciation for doing so.  What makes those days worse is adding guilt on top of mommy stress.  […] More

Getting your kids to open up and want to talk to you about their day is a skill some parents seem to effortlessly put into use. It’s also a skill that other parents (my husband and I) can’t seem to master. The worst part; our kids are two and five. Seriously, we sit down after […] More

Daddy took the kids to the store or maybe grandma has the kids at her house for a few hours to bake cookies and go to the park. Either way, one thing is true; you are child free for a few hours and you are loving every second of it. Except….what are you supposed to […] More

It’s that time of year again, when we all begin examining our morning routine to see what could help us get out of the door easier in order to smooth the transition of back to school.  So, what can we do differently to help prevent the rush that seems to overtake us on a daily basis again this […] More

It has happened all of us.  You are out in a public place and your child says something embarrassing and you want the floor to simply open up and swallow you.  Of course, you aren’t lucky enough to escape the situation so what can you do? Take stock to see how many people heard your […] More