The moment I decided to be a positive parent was years before I ever had kids. It was that theoretical notion of what perfect parenting was and I was too strong willed to let anyone tell me that I would raise my kids differently. For years I had gone to school to be a teacher,…
Parenting can be quite taxing and there is no denying that. Most times, kids just won’t listen to you. They would argue with you and annoy you. It is then that it gets very vexing and stressful to handle kids and to have a positive attitude towards whatever that is happening. Sometimes it is very…
As parents, it can be easy to go about our days and not stop and listen to our kids as we should. Life is busy and stopping to listen can sometimes be an afterthought during those chaotic moments in life. I’ve often thought about times where I’ve seen children in the store, acting out in a negative…
I was 7. It was my first sleepover. And it was all Barbie. It should have been a dream but all I remember is the sheer horror of watching my 12 closest friends trample through my brand new poster, unintentionally ripping it to shreds. It was my birthday, and I was the one crying. Fast forward a couple…
How we celebrate Christmas became an important discussion my husband when our daughter was born. The Santa question was one we had to discuss, along with other issues that are common in today’s society. We choose to not get wrapped up in materialism – this means Christmas without Santa, Elf on a Shelf, or truck loads of…
I was barely ten feet into the store and I heard a woman earnestly whisper over my shoulder “They’re so beautiful.” “Thank you,” I said as she stopped walking to look over Emma and Rhett sitting in the shopping cart. She started telling me all about how she had 4 kids back to back and that she lived…
The absolute toughest day of kindergarten for Jenn yet was the day she came home after someone proudly declared “Santa is not real!” …and that someone was her. My heart melted and sank to the teeny tips of my toes when Ms. Kinsington started telling me about how 19 students almost lost their minds and sense of…
Smartphone addiction is real. So is letting a phone think for you instead of utilizing your own brain. And while we’re at it, let’s talk about sexting. Squirming in your seat yet? Or are feeling sweat drip down the back of your neck just thinking about actually handing your teen, tween, or even elementary school-aged child…
Me too. I echoed this phrase in the minute I saw the first post. I have never shied away from my experiences. While they were horrible and painful and I wish they had never happened, they have become a part of who I am. “By random men in public all my life. By a cousin…
Me too. Me too. Me too… Dozens of posts fill my feed. Dozens of my friends saying the same thing. “If all the women – and men – who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote “Me too.” as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.” It’s pervasive. And…
There’s a magnet on our fridge that reads “Be not simply good; be good for something -Henry David Thoreau” and sits nestled above my daughter’s routine charts. It’s a gentle reminder for all of us to both be good, do good, and go the extra mile to make a difference. Jenn started Kindergarten this year…
“OUCH! That really hurt.” I heard my husband cry out. “Say sorry. We tell each other sorry when we hurt others.” It’s something that we said over and over as our oldest has gotten older. There was nothing inherently wrong with teaching our kids to apologize when they hurt someone or when they were wrong……