I wondered to myself this morning if I’m the only mom I know who calls my kids out on their…well, you know…”stuff.”  When my teen or pre-teen daughters are being hard-headed or rude or just plain dumb about something, more often than not I call them out on it.  When they were younger and acted [...]

This daughter of mine, she astounds me. Three years ago for the 4th grade talent show, she chose to sing not Britney Spears or Hannah Montana, but Weird Al Yancovik’s “The Saga Begins”.  I was terrified for her – what would her peers think?  would she remember all the words?  would the audience “get” all [...]

As my children have gotten older, I’ve been surprised at how difficult it is for me to follow one of the golden rules of parenting:  don’t do for them what they can do for themselves. It’s not that I don’t want them to learn responsibility, I just have the hardest time letting them deal with [...]

Kajeet‘s slogan, “the cell phone service made 4 kids ™,” is an answer to my prayers.  My 15yo daughter has endured the embarrasment of being the only teenager she knows without a cell phone, and I can’t say she’s endured it well.  Still, I needed to find something that allowed me to give her the freedom [...]

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So, the April edition of the online parenting magazine Root & Sprout is now live. You really should go read the ENTIRE edition, but if – by chance – you’d like to jump to my submissions, they are: Teaching Tweens and Teens How To Be Self-Sufficient and Review:  Cool Sets Sleepwear Please go check it [...]

A parent’s arsenal is loaded with heavy ammunition when teaching teens to abstain from sex.  Disease, pregnancy, religious commandment – these are pretty loaded bullet points in the “Wait until you’re married” talk. But what convincing arguments do we have against falling in love? Maybe you don’t think there should be an argument against teens [...]

What do you get when you take ONE TEENAGER: ONE SPORTY COMANY CAR: and ONE EMPTY PARKING LOT: You get the first behind-the-wheel experience for teen (and teen’s MOM!).  She doesn’t have her permit yet – we’ve got to go through an online program before we can take her in for the test, but since [...]

My oldest daughter turned 15 today.  She was very busy today, which left little time at home with the family (what’s new?).  We did manage to sit down and eat together, though.  She made me so happy by requesting my chicken & dumplings dinner.  Here we are, enjoying ourselves: (ps:  I’m gonna need to start [...]

Please go check out this month’s issue of the online parenting magazine, Root & Sprout.  I wrote an article for the “Blossoms” section entitled, “Is Your Kid’s Best Friend a Bad Influence?”  The current format of Root & Sprout does not allow for comments on the articles, but feel free to come back here and [...]