Conversations Before College: Preventing Sexual Assault
This is the third installment of my “Conversations Before College” series, written in honor of my daughter and her friends who graduate from high school this Sunday. My hope is that this information will spur parents to have these important conversations with their high school and college-aged kids. “It is estimated that the percentage…
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5 Reasons NOT to Worry While Your Kids are at Camp
Worrying when our kids are away from us is normal for parents. Every time I’ve ever dropped my kids off for a new adventure without me, I’m excited for them. But I’m also concerned about their safety, secretly wishing they would just STAY HOME, then counting the days until they return. I know it’s not…
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The Uncool Mom
One of the numerous times I’ve made my son mad this year was the day I told him he had to go to school when a bunch of other parents were not making their kids go. Here’s the story: My son’s soccer team had a tournament on the last Friday of school before a break.…
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Learning to Breathe
I learned to breathe a few weeks ago. Let me explain. While I’ve been breathing my whole life, I found out a few weeks ago, during a counseling session with a neuro-therapist, that I haven’t been doing it correctly. I spent a lot of my time doing shallow breathing, often while simultaneously feeling agitated. I…
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5 Parenting Mistakes to Avoid
Before I was a parent, I worked with hundreds of kids as a camp counselor and then as a camp director. As an idealistic youth development professional, I was very opinionated about parenting techniques, and I was critical of what I saw parents doing and saying to their kids. I had a lot of “always”…
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The Perils of Perfectionism
When we can let go of what other people think and own our story, we gain access to our worthiness — the feeling that we are enough just as we are and that we are worthy of love and belonging. -Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection Several months ago I was having coffee with a…
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Tips from a Natural Hawaiian Mama
My family has been on a relaxing, beach- and sun-filled spring break this week on the Big Island of Hawaii. This is our favorite vacation spot, as we truly decompress and relax here. I haven’t been doing much writing. Instead, I have been reading, sitting in a lounge chair listening to the waves, swimming out…
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Conversations before College: WHO you are matters more than WHERE you go
I just spent spring break with ten high school senior girls and some of their moms. Several of these girls know where they’ll be heading to college in the fall, but others are still anxiously waiting to hear about acceptances. Since it was spring break, we stayed off the dreaded college topic as much as…
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The Power of Compliments
I saw this video last week, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the power of compliments: Isn’t it amazing? This teacher spent just 10 minutes a day complimenting his students, and he completely changed the culture of his classroom. The kids started being more kind and complimenting each other. Amazing! Well, of…
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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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