It was 3:30am on April 5, 2015. The fire alarm in our hotel room was BLARING to the point I thought I might go temporarily deaf. We had just moved across the country with a our 2-year-old and 3-month-old and were only 2 days into this new life adventure. Living on very little sleep and…
Listening to Jenn, my 5-year-old, I hear her uninhibited enthusiasm each afternoon. She always gives a play-by-play and I am taken on a roller coaster of emotions as she tells the story of her day. Her soft blue eyes grow wide as she talks about big emotions, obstacles overcome, and the shocking scandals only kindergarteners…
I recently read a statistic that said not only was their so much plastic trash in the world that it would cover the 8th largest country to be knee deep, but that 80% of plastic ever made has been single-use plastics. That means our world is drowning in trash. So how do we live a…
In 2011, I started shifting away from negative language in my high school classroom to a more positive beat. It’s part of what I studied and researched throughout college. Even so, to my astonishment, I started seeing results almost immediately. As if I was holding some sort of magical potion, these teenagers started behaving differently…
When Jenn was 14 months old, we started “tot school” where I introduced her to colors, shapes, numbers, and fascinating learning experiences. It deepened her understanding of how the world around her worked and fueled her ever-frowing curiosity. With wide eyes and a few squeals of fear, she learned about suction from a vacuum cleaner….
Sometime in 2017, our family started rapidly accumulating games. In fact, I may have declared that all toys should be banished from our house in favor of games (despite having a 1,3, and 5 year old). And family game night became almost a daily occurrence. Even simple games like Sleeping Queens could be complete in…
This isn’t a political post. In fact, I will never tell you how I feel about guns or the 2nd Amendment. But this is about our kids. It’s about their need to stand up, be heard, and make change as they see necessary and to be better citizens. In high school, I remember both witnessing…
The motto of eco-friendly camping is “leave only footprints, only take pictures” and is where every parent can start in teaching their children about environmentalism and responsibility in nature. The warmer months are approaching and family camping trips are right around the corner. Warm summer days and long weekends enjoying nature, are such a dream….
Our family believes in natural and logical consequences. We also strive for positive guidance through tough situations. But when a child becomes defiant or lies, natural consequences feel a little less “black and white” and a lot more confusing both for caregiver and child. It’s easy to feel like we’re grasping at straws to find a…
Sitting on the sofa one evening my husband picked up his phone and started scrolling. A mere thirty seconds later he started smiling and laughing. “It’s a great time to be alive, Kara, a great time to be alive. I have an image in my head from when I was a kid and I just searched…
Armed with what I felt was the perfect curriculum to shape 125 young teenage minds to understand, apply, and actually enjoy world history, I walked into a classroom of sophomores in a small private school to begin my teaching career. I realized that after that first week of school, I had to reshape my expectations,…
The baby was crying. The toddler was beating on pots and pans. The kindergartener was sick. And I had a list a mile long not getting done. And suddenly I realized my family was heading down a spiral of bad moods and bad ‘tudes. I lost all empathy to every little thing that was happening….