Search Results for: blog is going out actually dating

Speed Dating, Animal Lovers Style

I know people who aren’t comfortable with adopting pets from shelters. They have good reasons, such as being uncertain about the animal’s background. Some of them even had specific negative experiences, encountering severe behavioral problems that sometimes come with shelter pets. After all, animals sometimes end up in shelters after leaving neglectful or abusive homes, and that leaves a mental mark. I try to reassure my friends in these situations, tell them that honestly as long as they don’t buy from pet stores or puppy mills, that reputable breeders are always a positive source for pets. But I try to … Continue reading →

Can Dating Cause Teen Depression?

I had a conversation with my daughter some time back about dating. It wasn’t that she was interested in dating or anything, but I just wanted to make sure she didn’t have any expectations that it was something we would allow anytime soon. I explained that in my experience dating at a young age had caused more stress than happiness. Along with dating comes always worrying about how you look, worrying about your ‘relationship’, and worrying about competition and threats to your relationship. Teens also have to cope with unexpected break-ups that can really throw a teenager for a loop … Continue reading →

Can Parents Protect Teens from Dating Violence

As a parent of two teens, a boy and a girl, one of my biggest worries is that they may fall someone with violent tendencies and experience dating violence. I have seen far too many incidences in my time of young women where controlled by their boyfriends and that control turned to violence and even death. I have even seen young men whose girlfriends start off very argumentative and before long start nagging constantly and even hitting and throwing things. Even after breaking free of a relationship such as this a young person is usually ruined for the chance of … Continue reading →

Try to Enjoy the Dating Process

I want to be the first single parent to confess that I have not always actually “enjoyed” dating. There have been periods when I have made the decision that dating was dumb and taken a break from the whole circus. As I have gotten older, mellower, and healthier, however, I realize that the dating process does not have to be horrible—there can be elements of fun. With the right attitude as a matter of fact, I think it is possible to enjoy the whole dating process as a single parent. Dating does not have to be miserable—in fact, consider that … Continue reading →

Saturday Layout Challenge – Update an Old Layout

Have you ever look back in your scrapbooks and found a layout that you couldn’t believe you made. Perhaps it was one of those “What was I thinking?” moments, or perhaps you really don’t care what your earlier layouts look like. It certainly does show a growth. Either way, it can be fun to go back and update an old layout. It really is not that hard to update a previous layout either. Sometimes all it needs is a few added embellishments, or maybe just a few stickers removed. Do you even still use stickers? Maybe you don’t like how … Continue reading →

Drs. Parrott Marriage Book Blog Tour Coming to Families.com

Shortly after I returned home earlier this month I received an intriguing email. It was from a Mr. Michael Pritchard with Zondervan. His subject line read “Courtney, Les and Leslie Parrott Marriage Book Blog Tour Invitation.” Marriage? Books? Blogs? Some kind of tour and an invitation? Didn’t look like the run of the mill spam. Turns out it wasn’t. Zondervan is a big Christian publisher and here they were asking me to help them with a very cool promotion idea. The chance to read Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott’s newest book Trading Places: The Best Move You’ll Ever Make in … Continue reading →

Single and Dating…Learning to Ask Better Questions

I have had a few years to get used to this single parent, dating and socializing scene. I know that some of you may think that I am “down” on dating because I tend to be someone who is perfectly happy with her life as it is now and not at all willing to give that up for something less than fabulous—BUT, I do date and I am open to the possibilities. One thing I have found is that over the years and with all of the experience dating I have, I have learned to be much more discerning and … Continue reading →

Pop Culture Milestones: A Day Without TV and A Day Without Britney

If your child comes running through the house tomorrow screaming about the television being broken DON’T call a repairman. Especially if your mini-couch potato is a fan of Nickelodeon. The cable network will be broadcasting nothing but dead air on Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. (EDT/PDT) as part of its fourth annual “Worldwide Day of Play.” It’s Nickelodeon’s way of encouraging kids to get off the couch and get moving—-preferably outside with other children. Of course, the network has to make money somehow so that evening Nickelodeon is airing “Let’s Just Play Go Healthy Challenge” a show chronicling the … Continue reading →

Today’s Dating Emasculates Men

Normally I watch the Today Show as I eat breakfast in the mornings, but today Providence saw fit I should flip over to CBS’s The Early Show. It was right before Julie Chen started interviewing April Beyer, a Relationship Coach and Matchmaker. Can We Ask a Man Out? I didn’t exactly care for the word choice Chen used when she was starting off the interview. “Can we ask a man out? Can we pay?” Duh! Of course we “can.” We can do anything we want. The better question, and what I think she was probably trying to get at, would … Continue reading →

Courting Before Dating?

The concept of courtship or courting is really a precursor to the modern-era of dating. In ‘traditional’ courting, it is a highly structured series of activities and the rules are very specific. To court someone involves seeing him or her in a structured atmosphere, usually with a chaperone of some type. To court in modern society would involve invitations to events where the intended will be. Parties held by mutual friends, outings with other couples and so forth. These controlled ‘dates’ would allow the couple to get to know each other without undue stress of maintaining personal images. It’s worth … Continue reading →