Young Adults
It’s not unusual for a parent to notice a surge in their child’s skills in some favorite activity. This is happening right now with my youngest daughter and her competitive swimming ability. As we look to support her while she steps it up, I immediately wonder, “what is my role as a parent of a […]
Continue reading about Healthy parenting of rising-star athletes
On my mind today are kids and athletics. It’s fairly well-documented that when a child and a sport find a natural match, the child experiences increased self-esteem from performance in the sport. I believe this is not only applicable to sports but can include any interest or activity in which a chlid excels. But since […]
Most of my blogs this season have been quite cheery. It didn’t seem fair to myself or to you to continue in this vein without expressing at least a little sadness as well. Overall, our stepfamily has come a long way. To be honest, I only use the “step” words in this blog or other […]
I started to tell you last time that I had my daughter “sign her life away” to get her cell phone. Here are most of the terms and conditions we put in the agreement, in case it would be helpful to any of you. I, (child’s name), understand that my phone is a privilege given […]
That is today’s question. My 11-year-old has started to babysit. So far she has one client, third-grade twins in our neighborhood. She has stated her case that it would be helpful to have a cell phone while babysitting in case of emergency when she walks out of the house to take the kids to the […]
Last week I made a case about how I think face time with my kids trumps Facebook. Recently, we’d had the pleasure of having each of my older kids (my stepchildren) move back in with us, one at a time. Last week I told the story of my stepdaughter, her fiancé, and their dogs squeezing […]
I’m here to validate an understatement: for real relationships, face time trumps Facebook. Our stepfamily had a lot of face time in 2010. Each of my adult stepkids (then 23 and 22) stayed with us during the year, living in our basement one right after the other. Instead of just marking “Like” on a Facebook […]
I am reading the book Success in Middle School: A Transition Road Map with my 11-year-old daughter. I believe that the key word in the title is “transition.” I picked that word instead of “success” because I think success becomes a very personal definition for each student. Those definitions will range from success equaling academic […]
In the last month I have seen several references to the havoc that information overload can wreak on our brain power. (Most recently the cover article, “Brain Freeze,” from the March 7 issue of Newsweek.) In light of watching my youngest daughter grow up in an age of constant, excessive stimuli, I couldn’t be more […]
Continue reading about Cheers to the Recent Articles on Info Overload!
I am just so excited to report that I’ve just recorded the Stepparenting the Grieving Child audio with interviewer Barbara Bue of KRFC Radio. Barb herself is a stepparent and was intensely interested in my information, which makes both sides of the interview commentary very engaging. You can expect to hear about three distinct phases […]