Five (MORE) Reasons Great Parents Send Their Kids to Camp
There are so many reasons great parents choose to send their kids to summer camp. Two years ago, I shared five of them on the most popular post I’ve ever published. But now I have more to share. Consider this the second installment in a series with others to follow, because the list of ways…
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Be a Better Parent by Doing Less
If you’ve read my posts the past few weeks, you know that I’ve been on a roll with thoughts about letting our kids fail more and preparing them to be competent adults. Reading Jessica Lahey’s The Gift of Failure and hearing Julie Lythcott-Haims speak on her book How to Raise an Adult spurred me to…
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My 2016 Reading List
If you read my post last week, you know that I’m planning to refill my parenting “toolbox” this year (especially my teen boy parenting skills). In addition to listening to podcasts and attending speaking events, I plan to do some reading. I’ve spent time researching books that interest me and have received good reviews. I’m…
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Picking my Parental Battles
“Battle” is probably not the ideal metaphor when discussing parenting, but lately I’ve felt like it’s been one scuffle after another between me and my adolescent sons. As I have a chance to reflect each night, what unfurls is a day that seems to have been filled with a constant stream of nagging, niggling reminders.…
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5 Ways to Teach Kids to Live Life Well
As I started writing this, I realized that my title is inaccurate: “5 Ways to Live Life Well” would be more appropriate. As an adult, I still need these reminders to help me live my own life better. And, as with all things parenting-related, our kids do not learn from what we tell them or…
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Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance, Bob Buford
This is the perfect mid-life read. Buford walks through what the different seasons of life hold and how to plan for more significance during our second half. “Getting back to the center requires us to downshift, to slow down. And once we return to the core—once we know who we are and what’s in the…
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3 Simple Year-End Reflection Activities
The end of one year and beginning of the next offers a unique opportunity to both reflect back and plan ahead. Because I’ve been a journaler and list-maker since I was very young, I’ve always loved this time of transition and chance to start fresh. If you read about my life-changing books, then you know…
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The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
The story in this book is timeless and thought-provoking, and the number of quotable lines is out of control. My bookstore-owner friend recommended The Alchemist, and I read it in two days. “That’s what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.” “Everyone,…
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10 Life-Changing Books
Are you looking for some inspirational reads to help you switch some things up? Over the past few years, I have been drawn more and more to books that make me stop, reassess my life and how I’m living it, and make small changes—or at least think about making them! While some of the “aha”…
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5 Fun 30-Minute Family Activities
With more of my kids away at school than still living at home, I have lofty ambitions for our family together time over these coming two weeks – the only time of the year when all our kids’ vacations coincide. In my mind, I’ve built up an unrealistic vision of music playing in the background…
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One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp
The importance of practicing gratitude cannot be understated, and I need a constant reminder to focus on all that’s good in my life. Keeping track of all the simple and ordinary gifts in each day is what Voskamp reminds us to do. “It takes a full twenty minutes after your stomach is full for your…
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10 Surprising Things Kids Learn at Camp
I would not be the person I am today without camp. -15-year-old camper My three decades of camp experience, coupled with my own and others’ research, have shaped my long-held opinion that camp experiences benefit children in profound ways. Yet even I was astounded by the revelations shared at our closing campfires last summer for…
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