Giving New Meaning to Parenting

Every culture has a tradition of oral storytelling. The 35,000-year-old paintings on the walls of the Lascaux Caves are our earliest recorded evidence of storytelling1, and Aesop, a 6th century BC greek slave, wrote tales which even today are used to teach moral behavior to children. Stories are a means to pass [...]

Last week, in grossed-out desperation, I put a sign up above the toilet with “Directions for Use” written upon it in fancy font. I’m not kidding. And, mothers of sons, it’s a breakthrough. All of my ranting, explaining, and pleading have never had the stunning effect of this simple sign. The same things that I [...]

“The average child sees their first porn by the age of just 11, thanks to the internet” – Psychologies Magazine, UK Edition July 2010
That statistic made me sit up straight. I called my two older boys in and said, “Wow. What do you think of this?” It was the start of a really interesting chat. [...]

It was a lovely evening. We had just finished eating out on the deck and the kids were playing while my husband and I were enjoying the last of the red wine in our glasses. The phone rang. My husband started talking. I just figured it was for him. He [...]

We’ve sent our kids to all sorts of summer camps.  Traditional, sleep-away camp, day camp, academic camps, – you name it.   Having attended a YWCA sleep away camp for several summers growing up, I thought this sort of gradual independence would be good for my kids- a time to get to know new people, and [...]

Every once in a while, I learn that my kids really do listen to the things I tell them. One such time came about this weekend with a story my sister shared about her most recent time with my kids.
A couple weeks back, my sister came over to watch the kids for me. I [...]

Being a tech geek, and having earned some disposable income, I bought an iPad.  This has been cause for much discussion and anticipation around our house, not only from me, but from the little geeklings I am raising.  My 11 year-old has actually been saying he is *sure* I will need the 3G model, in [...]

My little second-cousins-once-removed came with their mum to visit us last weekend. It was lovely: I love Joanna, and having a pair of toddlers in the house for four days made me appreciate the fact that my boys are growing up and I no longer have to be present for every wiped bottom! Toddlers really [...]

When I was a little girl I was afraid of horses, yet I always begged to go on horseback rides. However, as soon as I was atop of a horse, I was scared to death. As a teenager, my mom won awards for showing horses, but she didn’t teach me about horses, nor take me [...]

I have two wiggly jiggly seven year old boys, who are not always interested in learning their addition and subtraction facts. Can’t say as I blame them…would you be interested in practicing your flash cards every day?
I thought not.
Since adding and subtracting are rather important in the general scheme of things, I’ve [...]