Giving New Meaning to Parenting

Someone sent me a link to some videos on YouTube showing children and teens getting upset and angry over gifts that didn’t meet their expectations. The person who sent the link thought I’d laugh. Yea…..no.
The first video I watched showed a girl being surprised with a new car for her birthday. The [...]

I’ve been taking walks with several girlfriends over the past few weeks, combining both exercise and “girl time”.  It’s been amazingly good for me, and I’m noticing trends among the women I know with kids entering middle school- the most important of which is that as our kids get older, we seem to get a [...]

We took the kids to see the new Dreamworks movie: How To Train Your Dragon this weekend. To say that they (and I) loved it, would be an understatement. The dragon reminded us of our now teenage kitten. The lead, Hiccup, was easy to relate to, and, although the action was a bit intense, [...]

I was at a friend’s birthday party the other day, and what made it extra interesting was that parents of kids in the Lower Merion School District were there.  For those of you who haven’t heard, this suburban Philly school district had given every high school kid a laptop, and apparently was using the remote [...]

Last week as my girls were getting their hair cut, I was getting a “lecture” about being the Perfect Woman. My friend and stylist, Renee, was explaining the difference between the Perfect Woman and the Queen. The Queen, she explained, sets boundaries and knows how to receive. The Perfect Woman on the other hand does [...]

Like all of you, I’m beyond sad for the people of Haiti. There simply aren’t words to express the weight of that anguish.
Around the planet people are pledging donations of money, equipment, time and skill to help in the recovery effort. You can read updates here.
Of course it isn’t enough, [...]

Last year on Facebook I remember the Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays debate. Did you see this too? This year I haven’t been on Facebook too much so I haven’t noticed if the debate is back.
Many of the people in my networking group are Jewish, so obviously, they do not celebrate Christmas. My mother’s best [...]

I somehow landed on the mailing list of a company that sells DIY genetic testing kits to parents recently. Apparently, one of the hot new markets out there is genetic testing. Specifically, this company says that parents can discover both genetic deficiencies and inborn talents.
Genetic deficiencies may be a good thing. If I [...]

My daughter is thirteen and about to start high school. With this blessing comes the curse of pop radio. Her current favorite is 97.1 Amp Radio (we live in Los Angeles, but you can go to their site and listen live over the interwebs). It’s not a bad radio station and I’m not complaining or [...]

My son participated in the 3rd grade chorus this year. It was no secret that his motivation was performing at our local Red-Sox-feeding minor league AA baseball team, the Portland Sea Dogs. This past Monday was that night. NESN broadcast the game which was preceded by 127 members of our 3rd grade [...]