March 23, 2015 I’ve been called a mean mom. Well, which mom hasn’t? In this case, though, an another adult backed up my daughter’s case. My family are all huge Harry Potter fans, but I explained to this friend that I only let my daughter read one book a year with one or two exceptions. He…
March 24, 2015 Since writing the article, A New View: We Need to Empower Introverts, about introverts in schools, I’ve thought a lot about behavioral influences on learning. My kids certainly approach their education differently. My son focuses intently because he worries about missing something the teacher might ask while my daughter tends to focus on the…
March 31, 2015 It happened about six months ago. My son went to a friend’s house and played Minecraft. Parents who have experienced this know what came next … the obsession. He started talking about a variety of things that made little to no sense. The conversation ramped up to critical volume when we finally let him…
April 6, 2015 Not sure how to entertain the troops over Spring Break? Maybe you’re going nuts inside the house. One of the newest videos from Common Sense Media offers some fun ideas and hits straight to the core of what I love. Family Friendly Spring Activities lists three apps that will inspire outside adventures…
April 14, 2015 April is National Volunteer Month, the perfect time to think about getting kids involved with helping others. I strongly believe kids need to get outside of their personal life bubble in order to appreciate what they have and develop empathy for those less fortunate. This allows them to grow up with a…
April 25, 2015 Get ready to purchase your red nose and make a difference in the lives of children! Red Nose Day is a campaign dedicated to raising money for children and young people living in poverty by simply having fun and making people laugh. The inaugural Red Nose Day will be held in the US…
April 22, 2015 Earth Day is today. If you’re like me, that’s about 504,172 things down on your to-do list. In short, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” Naturally, in the middle of the chaos, one of my dear sweet way-too-observant children noticed that tiny line on the calendar … Earth Day which, not unlike…
April 28, 2015 A few weeks ago, my daughter and I stopped at a gas station on our way to do some work. I noticed a sale on Gatorade, gave her a few bucks, and sent her in to get us a few while I filled the tank. Her reaction looked like I’d asked her…
May 12, 2015 A few weeks ago, I talked about the tension between “free range” parenting and a more protective approach. A dad in Tennessee gained a certain amount of notoriety for his solution to this very problem. Now dubbed “Drone Dad,” he followed his daughter’s walk to school with a drone helicopter equipped with a…
May 19, 2015 It’s not glamorous. In fact, it’s downright dirty. But we all have to spend some time with the never-ending mountain of laundry. Too many times I look at a shirt and have no idea how to salvage it from the disaster created by my children. How do they manage to get so…
May 20, 2015 School is centered around reading, writing and arithmetic. The focus seems to be on timed tests, words per minute and academic performance, yet as a mom of a 7 and 8 year old, it occurred to me that school is not necessarily teaching kids how to get along. After a week of coaching…
May 26, 2015 “Mom, I’m bored.” “I’m busy, Dear.” “There’s nothing to doooooo.” “Well, figure it out or I’ll find something for you to do.” It’s super cliché but this happens in every house in the country. Every time my kids come to me with this kind of complaint, I roll my eyes. They have…
June 1, 2015 It’s June. For most elementary students, the year is wrapping up. For most parents of elementary students, you are running ragged because the school has decided to plan everything under the sun within these last few days. Whatever your lead-up looks like, you all deserve some sort of occasion or celebration for…
July 31, 2015 I just read a great article about the difference between kids nowadays (overbooked, plugged in and stressed) and the kids in the 1960’s- early 90’s (us). I’m sure most of us remember summers running around the grass with the other kids in the neighborhood. We also remember being bored with a capital…
June 9, 2015 This year has been all about art in my household. I taught art in my kids’ classes and am now planning an art camp for 200 kids in a few weeks. I pretty much eat, breathe, and sleep art. A lot of articles out there can tell me why this type of…
June 29, 2015 It’s summer. The kids are done with school and homework is the last thing on their mind. As parents, we face the balance of how to keep them learning, their brains working, and the lessons fresh while still leaving space for summer fun. I have always been a huge believer in allowing kids to rest….
August 12, 2015 While it’s great to spend time huddled together indoors during the winter months, there’s something about that carefree feeling of summer that can really bring people together. Maybe it’s the lack of inhibitions that allow us to better connect with each other or perhaps the sunshine makes us happier. Whatever it is, warm…
July 28, 2015 You may have reached that point in your summer where the novelty has worn off and you desperately need something that will wow your kids. Here’s an easy art project that will teach, challenge, and – most important to a mom who’s heard one too many whines – entertain. Getting Started If you did our first…
August 5, 2015 Parenting … “It’s the hardest job you’ll ever love,” some people say. While they might be right, I’ll be honest, most days parenting expressions just make me roll my eyes. Being a mom can feel like anything but lovely. Between the sunshine and rainbows of Mommy videos, I’ve found a these 5 videos…
August 20, 2015 It’s that time of year. School, and all of the activities that come with it, are starting up again. One of the best parts of these beginnings is the blank slate. Kids enter the classroom relatively clear. Their potential remains untapped. They have no grades in the grade books or homework assignments…
September 2, 2015 One of today’s most hotly debated topics revolves around how much freedom children should be given. Some parents believe that kids should be independent from a young age while others feel that their children need to be closely monitored. The majority of us fall somewhere in between. No matter what side you’re…
August 26, 2015 It’s that time of year again. It’s hard to believe but school is starting across the nation. It can be a little difficult to get back into the swing of things (it’s amazing how much we can forget when we’re having fun in the sun) so here are some suggestions for making…
August 25, 2015 We’ve been seeing them for a month now: back-to-school pictures, back-to-school sales, back-to-school supplies and so on. But if you have a little one at home, “back-to-school” might not look like an August commercial. What can you do with those toddlers who get left behind when the older kids go to school…
September 1, 2015 It’s the first day of September, that wonderful month that traditionally signifies “Parental Freedom.” Oh no, I meant to say “Back to School.” Whether your kids started weeks ago or still have a week of vacation, you can probably relate to the feeling I have today. Even though I know the massive…
September 15, 2015 This summer gave me plenty of time to interact closely with my entering-adolescence daughter. It also left me with a sense that we were going to need a different approach to discipline. Raging hormones just aren’t that responsive to sharp words or punishments. I realized that I had to step into her shoes,…
September 29, 2015 Deep in the wilds of Nepal lives a native people group perfectly adapted to the harsh environment and challenges of mountain climbing. Climbers attempting to ascend Mount Everest turn to them as guides. They are Sherpas. Their name has become so synonymous with knowledgeable leadership that in our modern culture, we use…
October 6, 2015 Last Sunday night, my kids and I sat in the middle of a field on a rock watching the moon turn red. My children have always been interested in space but it was so fun to hear them marvel at the idea of seeing Earth’s shadow. “It looks so big,” my daughter said…
November 17, 2015 We’ve all heard it, especially around this time of year. “It’s better to give than receive!” “Give back to the needy! Work in a soup kitchen or donate to a toy drive!” The idea even pops up in most of our holiday stories. “The Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day!”…
December 7, 2015 When the California lemonade stand girl, Vivienne Harr, rang the bell on the New York Stock Exchange floor two years ago to ring in Twitter’s IPO, both she and her dad thought their amazing run had closed with a bang. But they were so wrong. Right after Vivienne, then a fourth grader,…
January 8, 2016 It happens every winter. Kids fall into the January doldrums. Despite the new toys that likely came along in December, the short days indoors can cause children to be bored or want to play video games all day. I, like many parents, won’t allow that! Some gentle redirection, and perhaps thinking out of the box,…
January 12, 2016 Three women from very different spheres of my life all made the same comment to me this week. I don’t know if it’s just because the holiday rush is over or if the beginning of the year draws out a little more reflection on the bigger picture of our lives, but they…
January 26, 2016 Be it a massive snowstorm on the East Coast or El Nino rains on the West, many of us face the possibility of days inside with the kids. No matter what your opinion on screen time and video games, they can only hold a child’s attention for a certain amount of time. I’ve worked…
February 9, 2016 Our family took an impromptu trip to Disneyland this weekend. We kept hearing about the fabulous nighttime parade and fireworks, so decided to find a spot early in order to see them both. You would think getting there an hour ahead of time would leave plenty of time but no, it didn’t….
February 17, 2016 It’s that time of year again: In early March, expect your child to spend hours a day feeling antsy and filling out bubbles with a number 2 pencil. As schools are being held more and more accountable for increasing student achievement relative to state learning standards, additional classroom time is being devoted to…
March 8, 2016 It started this summer when I took my son to a robot birthday party at a specialty store. They had this poster on the wall: Two thoughts occurred to me back to back. The first, “He’s probably right. The language of computers will be become as important as our spoken languages.” The second,…
March 22, 2016 I’ve entered a bit of an underground battle. It happened completely by accident. The policy at school says all kids have to sit at the lunch tables before school hours. But because we have another earlier drop off, we spend about thirty minutes waiting. I don’t think I’m the only one who…
March 29, 2016 I don’t know about your family, but mine craves adventure. My kids love to see new things but my wallet, sadly, can’t really afford to take them to all of the places that catch their fancy. Frankly, it’s not even possible to reach all of those places! But then we stumbled across…
April 26, 2016 Last week, I almost had to punch a co-worker. During a discussion she actually said, “Well, your kids can take care of themselves but my animals can’t.” I’ll pause here to give you a chance to roll your eyes. Still, she can’t be held completely responsible for her perceptions of parenthood. She’s…
May 5, 2016 Mother’s Day is a beautiful opportunity to let that special woman in your life know exactly how you feel about her. If you are a mother, then, of course, you probably have some expectations about what your kids/family should do for you. This can be a recipe for disappointment, unfortunately, especially now…
June 6, 2016 When Mother’s Day and Father’s Day roll around, it can be tough to know whether to include expectant parents but, really, why wouldn’t we? They are already caring for their child by preparing for their arrival. Interestingly enough, we seem more willing to include pregnant mamas but how wonderful would it be…
May 19, 2016 None of us want to talk about something like this but we have to. Every day around the world, children go missing. Sometimes, everything works out and they are returned to the safety of their homes. Sometimes, the outcome is devastating. When a child goes missing, the families rely on many resources…
May 9, 2016 Mothers aren’t known as the subset of people most likely to be spoiled, especially now that Mother’s Day has passed. Breakfast in bed and massages aren’t generally on the schedule. On the other hand, most of us, whether we admit it or not, have some way of injecting a bit of sanity…
May 24, 2016 Not too long ago, I tried to explain to my husband–who works Monday through Friday out of town–why the last year of parenting my daughter had sucked the life out of me. She does homework more or less on her own and follows direction as well as any tween might. Plus, lucky…
June 7, 2016 Memorial Day doesn’t mark the start of summer. Neither does the solstice. We’re parents. Summer starts ten minutes after you walk through the door on that last day of school when kids tell you they’re bored. Many of you have already started “summer.” Our district likes to drag it out until it…
June 21, 2016 Every year, I have a series of moms ask me about workbooks and classes over the summer. Research shows that the “Summer Slide” is a real thing. We should be concerned about keeping our kids mentally and academically sharp through their break. On the other hand, we all know intuitively that our…