Loving HARD When They’re Hard to Love, Essays on Raising Teens in Today’s Complex, Chaotic World by Whitney Fleming, is not a parenting book in the traditional sense but rather the story of becoming a parent and how that role changes and grows, just as a child does from infancy through teenager. The book is separated into three sections. Section […]
Sensitive: The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person in a Loud, Fast, Too-Much World, by Jenn Granneman & Andre Solo, takes a positive look at what is too often deemed a negative trait: being a sensitive person. Using science and data to back up their assertions, the people behind the online communities Sensitive Refuge and Introvert, Dear, convincingly advance […]
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 […]
Each February, after we get over the excitement of a weather-predicting rodent, the world becomes full of pink and red hearts and silly bow-and-arrow-carrying cherubs. It is natural around this time to think about ways to let our loved ones know how we feel. Though teenagers sometimes act as though they don’t want to give or receive love, they do. […]
If you have (or will soon have) teenagers in your house, The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents, by Lisa Damour, PhD. is an essential resource for your home library. Those of us who have parented (or remember being) a teen know that teen emotions can be intense and often change rapidly. In an easy-to-understand manner, […]
There is a video making the rounds now of a mom “pushing her child out of the nest.” Upon arrival at the doctor’s office, she informs her child that she will not be going in with them, that being 18 means you handle this alone. While I agree that a parent shouldn’t be accompanying an 18-year-old to a doctor’s visit, […]
While I don’t think I’ve done anything special, I sometimes have people turn to me and ask “How did you do it?” They want to know why my kids talk to me and theirs don’t. Why I get spontaneous texts and calls while they barely get responses even when they are the ones to initiate contact. This is often followed […]
My love affair with the ocean began in my teens when my parents became friends with a man who soon became family. He had a boat that he used for pleasure and chartering small fishing trips. Breaking his long-standing rule of “No women on the boat,” he invited the family out for an afternoon (of four family members, three of […]
Teenagers occupy a strange in-between world. They are no longer children, but they are not yet adults. They are quick to abandon “babylike” things, then almost as quick to regret that they have done so. It is during the teen years that many of us start to wonder why we ever wished so hard to grow up faster. Trick-or-treating is […]
Tonight is our high school graduation. Though I will not be attending, I am thinking of those students and their families. My kids have already reached this milestone. I know some who are walking tonight and others who will join them as alumni in the years to come. Four times I have sat in the high school bleachers, waiting for […]
