Silent Yelling and the Myth of Being Unprepared
"Mom, there were about twenty different ways you could have handled that." Although my preteen son got a scolding for saying so, he was much too right. I had just given my kids a Silent Yellin…
Parenting
Six Little Things Teens Need for Successful Relationships
I don't write very much about raising teenagers, even though by this fall I will have five of them under my jurisdiction. Yeah, I know. Five is a lot. The reason for this writing hole? My lack of p…
Parents Versus Google
I slipped into the quiet room filled with rocking chairs and slung my thirty gallon diaper bag off of my shoulder. The bag will shrink with each child until it resembles a lone diaper tossed under t…
Book List 2018: Parenting and Otherwise
Who has time to read? This busy parent does. Yes, it is wedged between after school activities and homework. It is interrupted countless times. It is done next to looming piles of I-should-be-clean…
God Believes Women: The Bible Story I Tell My Girls
It is the best of times to be female and it is a lousy time to be female. But mostly the best, with only a trace of lousy. As everyone attempts to define women, decide their rankings and judge t…
Raising Confident Kids
He turned his melty brown eyes to look at me as he confessed the saddest moment of his day. A kid in his class had done the unthinkable. They had called him a baby. I tried to pull off a …
Why I Didn’t Cry on the First Day of Preschool
I'm tempted to think it is because I am an unemotional, cold-hearted jerk. Maybe you are tempted to think it is because I never carried him in my belly and my attachment is not as strong.…
8 Tips for a (More) Organized School Morning
Whether our kids are in favor or not, most of us are waving goodby to a carefree summer. Schedule and routine are about to become the norm again. (This is me high-fiving you for surviving another summ…
Three Unconventional Ways My Dad Modeled God
Growing up, I watched him open Father's Day cards like a classic North American dad and I told him I loved him on a weekly/monthly basis. Probably. If you don't count a few of the teen years. I did…
What Every Kid Needs to Know about Their Identity
Nicknames are a sign of affection and most of mine have a few that have come and gone over the years. But one kid in particular has had many, many. And most of them at his own insistence. When h…