This month is when colleges around the country invite parents to visit for Parents’ Weekend. By now, the new students have had enough time to settle in and get comfortable with their surroundings and classes and hopefully are ready to see Mom and Dad without hiding in their luggage on the return trip. On that day back in August or […]
A recent Talker Research poll indicates that more than half of parents of young adults (age 18 to 28) who have moved away from home, expect a daily text from their kids and almost half expect a daily phone call. While the sample size is relatively small (1000 parents, mostly Gen X moms). I found these results surprising. When I […]
The second-year college drop off hits just a bit different. I’m not sure it’s accurate to say it’s easy, but it’s mostly likely not as hard as year one. It may be the change in your child’s attitude. In many cases, they are returning “home,” and while their use of that word for a place away from us is a […]
Less than three years into her first post-college full time job, my oldest child bought a house. There was no trust fund, lavish gifts, lottery win or other windfall. She did this fully on her own, with an average salary, through good money management. As a result, several people have asked for my secret: How did I teach these skills? […]
Being a mom taught me that when you love someone, simply observing and acknowledging their passions can be as meaningful (or even more so), than doing these things yourself. You don’t need to share that passion to take joy from the activity. My four children are four very different individuals, and though they do share some interests, each has specific […]
We work hard all year and look forward to taking time off. We may have vision boards with sandy beaches or mountain retreats, with families sitting around fire pits or playing games around a large table. We count down the days to cozy family time, where everyone is smiling through long hikes, enjoying new foods and settling into strange beds […]
The summer I sent my last child off to college seemed to go faster than most. Before we knew it, we were getting ready to send one, then another child off to their respective schools. A week in between move-in days made it possible to focus on each of them, one at a time, but made for a very busy […]
I am at a point in my life where being a cheerleader is a primary parenting role. Now this may conjure up some pretty funny images (I abandoned the appropriate age and body type in the 80s), but nonetheless, it is an apt description. There is little hands-on parenting for me to do on a day-to-day basis; for the most […]
When I became a parent of college grads, I was somewhat surprised to realize that I shed more tears at the high school ceremonies than the college ones. Somehow this didn’t make sense. This may be in part because there were several of “my kids” graduating from high school – my own children, their friends, and those who I watched […]
WISE DECISIONS: A Science-Based Approach to Making Better Decisions by Dr. Jim Loehr and Dr. Sheila Ohlsson is a useful guide to understanding the science behind our decision-making and, more importantly, how to use this knowledge to make even better decisions. This book makes you stop and think. It’s obvious, but have you considered that beliefs are merely opinions? And […]
