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A Smooth Start to the School Year

It seems kind of silly to me to start school before Labor Day. Although my daughter did get in three full days of school, my senior just had two and my youngest had one and a half. Oh, that’s another thing…those dreaded half days. But that’s another story. So the kids got a taste of school and then immediately enjoyed three days off. And so far it looks like its going to be a good start. I had quite a few concerns about my daughter starting high school, especially since she was coming from such a different environment. Admittedly, some … Continue reading →

Chores Can Prepare for a Strong Work Ethic

Fellow blogger Michele Cheplic recently blogged about “Slave Labor.” Or should I say, kids doing chores. I had to chuckle when I read that her 7 year old daughter’s response to making her bed was, “What am I a slave?” Chores are probably one of the least favorite things that any kid likes to do. And for some kids it only gets worse as they get older. Yes, my teens have tried to get out of doing chores but never could I imagine them doing what an 11-year-old German boy apparently did, by calling the police on his mother. As … Continue reading →

Interfering in Children’s Friendship Problems

I don’t know why I do it…but alas it has happened again. It is parental intervention in a friendship problem with my child. For some reason I really struggle with letting my children work it out. I hate to see them hurt or not getting along with someone, so I attempt to patch things up. However that almost always backfires. When my oldest son was in middle school he had a lot of difficulties with his best friend. The problem is that his best friend’s mother is also my very good friend. Needless to say it ended up causing friction … Continue reading →

Conflict With My Tween

Well I just returned from a three day weekend trip to North Carolina. I attended a Christian writer’s conference and for the first time in my life, flew to another state without my husband and children. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as far as my children being without me for three days. Since they are pretty self-sufficient and independent, I didn’t anticipate it being a big deal. The few days leading up to my trip, my oldest two did express that they would miss me. It was my youngest son, my 12-year-old that seemed more than happy that I … Continue reading →

Preparing Emotionally for Mother’s Day

So I am beginning to emotionally prepare myself for Mother’s Day. Every year I try to not have too many expectations and yet despite that, I always end up feeling disappointed in some way. Maybe it’s really just me or maybe it’s just that my children truly don’t grasp the importance of this day to me. Maybe I shouldn’t make Mother’s Day to be of such importance. Maybe I should just appreciate the fact I am a mother and leave it at that. Maybe… But I would be lying to myself if I tried to pretend that there is a … Continue reading →

Sharing My Son

So this past Monday all three of my children were off school. My work was arranged so that I didn’t have much to do and was available to them. My plans were to have one-on-one time with my youngest son. He picked going to our local museum to see this special exhibit on “Mummies.” Now I’m not entirely found of going to see dead bodies but what can I say? I have a boy in middle school. What else did I expect him to pick? But I was able to look past the gruesome aspect of our time together because … Continue reading →

Using Encouragement to Motivate Your Teen

When my children were younger one of the parenting concepts I tried to follow was to catch your child doing good and give them recognition for that. This was especially helpful during the years when my children were around 2, 4 and 7 years old. Now that I have a preteen and teenagers, I am finding that parenting concept to be helpful yet again. It probably isn’t really this way but it sometimes feels like there is always something going on. There is always some issue with at least one of my children. Having two children in middle school and … Continue reading →

Is Your Teen Ready to Date?

If you are the parent of a teen there is one particular issue that you have probably been dreading for many years…teen dating. It conjures up in my mind all kinds of emotions from my past. I remember how difficult teen dating was. So often my heart would overtake me and I was so sure that I was in love. When it didn’t work out, I was left with broken pieces. Teen dating is not something that every teenager will be interested in. Sometimes we make the false assumption that as soon as high school hits, every teenager will be … Continue reading →

Lingering Memories

This past Wednesday was the first day of school for my children. My youngest son who just started middle school had been up since 4:30 a.m. He was very nervous and didn’t know what to expect. His stomach hurt, he couldn’t eat breakfast and I think he checked himself in the mirror a dozen times. I made my rounds in dropping off my children, starting with my oldest getting dropped off at the high school and then it was time to drop my youngest son off. As he got out of the van he had this terrified look on his … Continue reading →

Give Your Teen Opportunities to Make Their Own Decisions

Growing up I really had very little opportunity to make my own decisions. Even when I was 18 years old and living at home, very rarely could I make a decision that didn’t have to go past my parents. In fact, I remember wanting to drop a particular college course I was taking (and that I was paying for) but my parents wouldn’t let me. By 19 years of age I was on my own, tired of never being allowed the chance to make a grownup decision. I think I tucked that away somewhere inside of me as a lesson … Continue reading →