Parenting 101: When we don’t FEEL like we know what we’re doing

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I haven’t met one parent yet who thinks they’ve ‘got it down’.  For a long time I thought I must be the only parent who feels like I haven’t a clue most of the time.  Lately, though I’ve been asking other mom’s and dad’s – ‘Do you know what you’re doing?’  Yes. You can laugh! continue reading

Dating Teens – Tips to Calm your Fears

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If you have dating age teenagers, it might help to calm your fears about your child dating if you are prepared. Developing an open relationship with your children starts when they are little, and continues, as your child grows. Even if you haven’t done a great job of developing a relationship with your teen, andcontinue reading

Denial or Over-sharing…how to get through stress without stressing our kids

Kids n Mom

A few decades ago the conventional wisdom when it came to raising our kids through difficult times was to pretend nothing was wrong.  Today the weaknesses in this approach are obvious to most of us.  The ‘wisdom’ of growing up with secrets—even innocuous ones such as money difficulties—has been fully debunked. Yet the opposite approach,continue reading

Please Don’t Stare

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  At one time or another we have all caught ourselves staring.  We will stare at someone that looks different, someone who might be handicap or maybe even someone who is missing a limb.  And I will be honest I was guilty of this until 10 years ago when my daughter came into this worldcontinue reading

Helping Your Teen to Set Good Goals

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Goal setting is an important key life skill that all people must learn. The teen years are a good time to get a lot of practice with the guidance of parents being readily available. Being able to set  good goals will build self-esteem, create a positive future, reduce unhealthy habits,  improve grades, grow time managementcontinue reading

A Parenting Pause; HALT, Who Goes There?

from Creative Commons

While trying to keep my sanity, get dinner on the table and wishing I’d grown an extra arm for each new child I sometimes wonder if there isn’t a short cut!  The only way to stay even partially on-focus in my super-busy life is to keep things simple. This was why when I first heardcontinue reading