I watch my nearly 16-year-old twin sons and their three- or four-hundred fellow students pour out the doors of the high school they attend. My mind goes back to my own high school days a very long time ago. A lot is different. No backpacks back then or phones or cool sweatshirts or yoga pants or these damn masks, but much seems familiar. The laughing and flirting and cajoling and teasing; nice cars and beaters; happy kids, sullen kids. Couples holding hands, couples longing to hold hands. Kids with big instrument cases and large art portfolios and dangling lunch boxes and the … [Read more...]
Conversations Short and Calm Move Child (and Dad) Away from Meltdown
Humans are animals, bound and acted upon by forces of nature that are, at times, far beyond our control. Something rooted deep inside desires a few, core needs to be filled. It’s this natural and unrelenting reality that makes emptying our homes, shoving our priceless memories into questionable cardboard boxes, and piling them into rickety metal rectangles, so wildly dramatic and stressful. It shouldn’t be so stressful. It shouldn’t illicit feelings of being displaced, wayward and lost, but it does. Despite my best efforts, my most recent move sent shockwaves through my family of … [Read more...]
Studying Tips to Get Your Children Their Best Grades Yet
Does getting your kid to study feel like pulling teeth? Do you bite your tongue to stop yourself from admitting they’re right when they scream “It’s boring” and “I don’t want to do it!” Studying is simply no fun. But if they want to pass their tests and earn better grades you know they’re capable of, they have to do it. If you have a child who has all the potential in the world but struggles with test taking, it probably has nothing to do with their intelligence. It might be that they never learned the right strategies for studying effectively. So here are six of the best studying tips for … [Read more...]
Point of View Turns Family’s Bad Luck into Nothing But Good
I thought 2020 had run out of curveballs to toss by the holiday season. So around Thanksgiving our family decided to tackle a home renovation project: updating our basement. While the bad lighting, 1970s carpet and tombstone gray wall panels had served us fine for our first three years in this house, we needed a change. A contractor friend helped us with the plans and, by mid-December, the renovations were going pretty well. One evening after the workers had left, I started making one of my favorite dinners for the family: smash burgers! Cooking them tends create a smoky house so, as … [Read more...]
Life Enhancement Should Be Everyone’s Priority During Our Precious Time
The year 2020 has thrown a lot on our plates. COVID-19. Social and political unrest. Economic uncertainty. Some of us are also dealing with health issues or the loss of loved ones, which may or may not be related to those issues. Through it all, we must constantly remember: It's not necessarily what happens to us, it's how we respond to it. Think hard about what's going on, and you'll find many scenarios literally out of our control. But what's always in our control is how we approach life. So ask yourself this: Am I about life enhancement or am I just waiting for the next shoe to … [Read more...]
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