Adventures in Parenting

I am proud of my son, that despite my mistakes in parenting him - I had no experience with him as my first-born - he is turning out pretty well.
Yes, he’s always been a good student and all those things that moms are proud of in their kids.
But what I love best about him is [...]

I believe it was Gary Smalley who taught that everyone has an emotional tank. We function at our best when our emotional tank is full.
Here’s how it works.
When an emotional need is met, our tank gets a “deposit.” It fills up a bit.
A hug, an affirming word, a listening ear, laughter, good times together - [...]

“Mom, what can I have for breakfast?”
I yell from in front of the comfort of my computer screen: “There’s cereal. You can get it yourself.”
My 12-year-old is certainly old enough to get her own breakfast, why should I disturb my ease?
But there were nagging questions going on in my head:
1. Do I want to answer [...]

When I am shopping, I like to give a compliment to the clerks.
I look hard for something to give a sincere compliment. “That’s a nice necklace you have on” or “I like that color of nail polish on you.”
My ulterior motive is, if I am nice to them, they will give me better service!
Dale Carnegie’s [...]

What do we say to our children when they make an ugly face or cross their eyes?
“Your face and eyes are going to get stuck that way!”
In the same way, we can get into a habit of being negative and critical of our children that we get stuck that way.
Dale Carnegie writes this:
“Often parents are [...]

A friend who doesn’t have kids said today, “I am going to make sure that when I have kids, it’ll be when I am ready and really want them.”
I thought I was ready when I was 29 and had my first child. Yet, being a parent so changed my life beyond what I could’ve imagined.
Do [...]

Is it always bad to feel bad?
This is the second in a series about how negative situations can in fact be good for our children. Read the first one here.

“Come on guys, let’s go to a party.” Sure!
“Come on guys, let’s go to a funeral.” Silence.
Nobody really enjoys funerals. It’s solemn, it’s sad, and everyone [...]

I admit, we live a sheltered life here in the suburbs.
I’m not complaining. We like the relative peace and tranquility of suburbia. On the other hand, we cannot live with our heads in the sand.
In my zeal after reading about the devastating earthquake in China, I went berserk last night and lectured my 12-year-old about [...]

Imagine this, if you can:
Your daughter gets ready to leave the house in an outrageous outfit showing way too much skin, to say the least.
You reel on her and yell, “You are not going out of the house like that! You look like a slut. No decent boy will respect you.”
Your daughter pauses, looks at [...]

This is the second article in the series on Discipline.
Honestly, no one likes to be disciplined, isn’t that right? Whether you are an adult being disciplined by the law or by your boss, or you are a child disciplined by a teacher or by a parent, it’s definitely no fun.