2016 | PulseonParenting

Hooray for Super Bowl Commercials…But Should Our Kids Watch Them?

Feb 02 2016

Super Bowl 50 is just around the corner, which only means one thing. Well, two. The first being if your adoptive home is Colorado, and your son’s new favorite team is the Denver Broncos, then you are thrilled. And the second is all those original, entertaining commercials, which for many (myself included) are the reason to tune into the game. So anticipated are these ads, they seem to get at least as much post-game chatter as the game itself. Which is interesting because apparently my generation (X) is a pretty jaded bunch. As in, more resistant to the influence of…

Jan 26 2016

Back in May 2015 I wrote a post entitled Moms, Get Your Mammograms. I gave some (hopefully!) clear advice about when to obtain a first (baseline) mammogram and when to get clinical and self breast exams, because the information out there is confusing. It’s conflicting. Even the medical community grapples repeatedly with the when-and-how-often of screening. And they have done it again: in October of 2015, the American Cancer Society (ACS) released an updated set of guidelines regarding breast cancer screening. So I’d like to share with you some of the new recommendations, focusing on the information we women…

Jan 19 2016

Forget your troubles, come on get happy You better chase all your cares away Shout Hallelujah, come on get happy ~from the song Get Happy by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, performed by Judy Garland in Summer Stock (1950) If you smile, you will feel happy. There are some pretty fun studies out there to help support this. Just try it yourself. Smile, and you start to feel exactly what the upturned corners of your mouth show. But is feeling happy the same as being happy?

Jan 12 2016

I have never made it a secret that my twin boys are the product of science…I’ve “put it out there” since my husband and I shared the good news that we were finally expecting. And we’ve talked to our boys about their beginning, showing them pictures and telling them about the special doctor who helped us become pregnant with them. We found a wonderful age-appropriate book to read to all three of our kids (our daughter, conceived the “old-fashioned way” finds it especially interesting), back when they were in Kindergarten. Since then, I’ve looked for a book that is directed…

Jan 05 2016

What I suddenly understood was that a thank-you note isn’t the price you pay for receiving a gift, as so many children think it is, a kind of minimum tribute or toll, but an opportunity to count your blessings. And gratitude isn’t what you give in exchange for something; it’s what you feel when you are blessed–blessed to have family and friends who care about you, and who want to see you happy. Hence the joy from thanking. ~Will Schwalbe, in The End of Your Life Book Club I felt a twinge of hope when Mr. Schwalbe shared his epiphany about…

Archive - 2016

Hooray for Super Bowl Commercials…But Should Our Kids Watch Them?

A Mammogram Update: New Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines

The Happiness Project

Calling All Family and Friends of In Vitro Fertilization Kids

To Write a Thank-You or Phone it in?