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10 Things to Teach Your Kids about Texting and Social Media
My kids are 12 and 14, and they have their own cell phones. The deal around here is that when you go to middle school, you get a cell phone. When you turn 13, you get limited and monitored access to...
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One Easy Day
I sat on my front porch the other day, looked at the sky and prayed this prayer: “Lord, can I have one easy day? Please?” I’d been trying to navigate through the waters of a kid recovering from...
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Not So Picture Perfect
Once upon a time I loathed being the girl in the photograph. I hid behind so and so. I offered to take the picture. Or I’d excuse myself to the restroom to the point I’m sure everyone in my family...
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10 Things I Wish My Kids Knew
In our house, we’re in the midst of the tough pre-teen and teen years. The easy days are few and far between. If it’s not one child having a crisis, it’s the other. Hormone-induced tears are a part of...
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When Mom Isn’t Enough
“I didn’t get invited to the birthday party.” “My friends were mean to me at lunch today.” “Everyone else has a date to the dance.” Any one of those statements is designed to break a mom’s heart. And...
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Something to Sing About
I could hear her saying something as I buckled the baby into the shopping cart. Okay, so it was actually more like yelling but bless it if I could even tell. I had totally crossed over into the...
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When You’re Not “Fine”
This space has been empty for a while. Life has been crazy — some of the good kind of crazy, and it seems like more of the bad kind. I’m kind of to the point where I’m almost afraid to get out of bed...
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The End of Me
The FTC requires that I tell you that I received the book The End of Me for free in exchange for a review, and I was compensated with a gift certificate. The opinions in this blog are my own, and I...
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When You’re Too Tired for Christmas
Christmas is in four days. My house is decorated. My kids are excited. And I am tired. This year has worn me out. 2015 has been a long, hard slog from January to December. Every time I thought we had...
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When You Don’t Know What to Do
I have this daughter. She’s 12. She’s smart. She’s funny. She’s compassionate. She’s stubborn. She’s challenging. She sees the world through a lens I don’t have and marches to a beat I don’t hear. And...
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Embracing Your Season
The sun is shining, and it’s warm here today. We’re probably still in for some more cold weather, but it’s clear the seasons are changing. Spring is on its way. My writing in this space has been...
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A Birthday Prayer for My 13-Year-Old
My baby girl turned 13 yesterday. She’s officially a teenager. There’s something about having your youngest child enter her teens. Childhood in your house is officially over. You’ve got five years...
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Making Sense of the Senseless
For the past two days, I’ve sat at my computer wanting to write, but not knowing what to say. I’m a writer. That’s what I do. That’s how I process things. That’s how I make sense of the world. But how...
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Reflections on the First Day of School
It’s just me, my computer, my water bottle and the Olympics this morning. It’s quiet for the first time in three months. The dogs are taking some well-deserved naps. I’m catching up on some neglected...
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What Do We Tell Our Kids About the Election?
Usually, I love election year. I love to watch democracy at work, and I enjoy sharing a civics lesson or two with my kids. This year, my girls are 13 and 15. It’s a perfect time to have great...
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The America That I Know
It’s election season, and I have been listening to the candidates talk. What I hear, makes me sad. Every candidate seems to point out the flaws and the terrible things about our country. It sounds...
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The Quiet Kids
I’m the mom of a quiet kid. She’s the girl in class who knows the answers but rarely raises her hand. She’ll talk with you if you talk to her, but she’s not likely to speak up much otherwise. It takes...
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The Power of No
This space has been pretty quiet for a while. It may seem like I fell off the map. In a way, I did. You see, the past 18 months or so have been pretty challenging. Over the course of those months we...
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