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Thankful Magic Moments With My Kids
Every morning I wake a half hour early in order to begin my day in thankfulness. I grab my coffee, climb the stairs to my writing room and sit in my grandmother’s old lazy boy chair facing the window with a view of our canal. In front of me are a collection of books. The Power of Now and A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, The Magic by Rhonda Byrne, Manifesting Change by Mike Dooley, Firstlight by Sue Monk Kidd, and The Book of AWESOME by Neil Pasricha. I choose one or two of the books open to a random page and begin reading. Just like I go to the gym to keep…
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Is Homework Helping or Hurting Our Children?
Is Homework Helping or Hurting Our Children? What does homework teach? There was a phrase I was taught to use as a new teacher when speaking with students. Every day I asked, “Did you do your personal best?” It was our way of trying to teach the kids to put effort into their work and not just slop something down to get it done. I’ve been thinking a lot about this phrase and my early years of parenting. When my children started school, it was extremely important to me that they were enrolled in a gifted program. I suppose it was partly due to my own insecurities about my school performance as a…
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This Sucks!
I called my friend yesterday in a panic. “What should I do? What would you do? Arielle called and she’s sick. She went to the clinic twice, received antibiotics and IV fluids. I should hop on a plane–right?” My friend knows me well. “What does Eric think?” “Oh Eric, well he thinks we should tell her to go see a doctor. But she needs me. You would go–right? I know you would go.” My friend is my children’s Godmother. I’m not catholic but it’s my way of saying you’re their second mother. If anything should happen to me, it’s all on you. She’s known Arielle since she was three and…
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The Hardest Part of Parenting is Understanding Your Children are not Yours
The hardest part of parenting has been understanding that my children are individuals, separate from me. As much as I want to control their behavior and who they are and what they do–I can’t. Kai began teaching me this lesson early on. His humor, his temper tantrums, his speaking exactly what was on his mind, refusing to eat healthy foods or wear a jacket– I found shocking. I wanted to control him, make him eat the broccoli because then I’d be a good mom. But from the age of three he let me know it wasn’t going to happen. I could try but I’d have a huge, unnecessary battle on…
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Be The Wall
They’re big, full of life, curious, fearless, and they watch your every move with inquisitive eyes. Life with teens can be unpredictable, exciting, frustrating, and awe inspiring – all in one day. There was a time when the thought of having a teenager, especially a girl, put me into a panic. How was I going to parent a teen? It didn’t seem like that long ago since I was hanging out with my E-town friends at Friday night football games. Decorating the ladies room at our school district education building is a poster that reads-Be The Wall, the teen brain is still developing into the early twenties. Be the wall.…
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Thought For the Day
Inspiration can burst through my lazy thoughts when I least expect it. This morning I was chatting with my daughter over a bowl of Wheaties FUEL. It was the crack of 9:30 am and son was still asleep. Gone are the days when I used to hear “Mommy!” and crawl out of bed wishing for just one more hour. I had been up since 6:30 editing Mystic and enjoying the silence. Daughter and I were discussing life when out of my mouth popped-“There’s a difference between feeling you deserve something and feeling you’re blessed to have something.” She agreed. Still in editing mode, I went upstairs and wrote it down.…
