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Decision making is crucial because the decisions your children make dictate the path that their lives take. They need to judge the risks and rewards of their decisions in the short run and the long term. ~Psychologist Jim Taylor, Ph.D. The car shirt or the train shirt? Pasta or stir fry? Inside or out? (The last question uttered by moms the world over who are sick and tired of doors slamming and flies whizzing into the house.) Fortunately, whether to involve our children in making decisions is one decision we as parents don’t have to make because the answer is…

It was a why didn’t I think of this before? moment. My husband and I have had our kids for over a decade now, and it didn’t occur to me until a couple months ago to actually be prepared for cold and flu season. Instead of a rushed trip to the grocery store for soup and Powerade, why not have a stash ready to go in case of fever, runny nose or vomiting? This viral season I’ve been especially grateful to be prepared. First there was my husband’s bad luck with bad eggnog (not a virus but it sure acted…

I remember in college a particular room down the hall from mine. The two girls living there used what I’ll call the Floor Organizational System for everything and I mean for everything, they owned. It was impressive. I often wondered what lurked beneath the jumbled layer of wrinkled clothes that floated like an oil spill on the ocean. I held the opposite, more retentive perspective on organization, preferring a fully visible floor in case of a wasp attack. Then I could drop my organic chemistry book on top of those suckers without getting too close, a strategy that was really…

Back in November, a child at my kids’ middle school was allegedly assaulted with a knife. A group of students had apparently been “playing around” with plastic knives during recess and one of them decided to take his game to the next level: using his weapon on a peer. Where was the adult supervision when this “game” was being played? How did these kids manage to bring knives to school? Two completely valid questions. The answer to the first is yet another question mark. The answer to the second is two-fold. Firstly, these kids didn’t bring knives from home. Rather,…

The kids are back in school and the routine of homework, extracurricular activities, and getting the kids up-and-going begins yet again. Lost somewhere in the course of these busy days is the time to truly connect with our kids. Throw in our own adult obligations, geography, and teenagers who retreat to their rooms immediately upon entering the house, and real interaction with our kids seems futile. So many factors work against parents and grandparents, teachers and anyone else who works with kids, wanting to “be there”. Several years ago I received “150 Ways to Show Kids You Care”, a list…

The Nutcracker. An event as much the holiday season as It’s a Wonderful Life and rum-soaked fruitcake. Or that may not be fair…Wonderful Life gets people fake- (or real-) gagging and fruitcake, well, does the same. Some may agree regarding this beloved ballet, but The Nutcracker doesn’t make my stomach turn… It gets me giggling. I admit I have a twisted, ever-the -wheels-a-turning mind, but don’t get me wrong. I love The Nutcracker. It’s an all-around gorgeous feast for the ears and eyes and draws the audience in with its beauty. Tchaikovsky, Petipa and Ivanov knew what they were doing when they birthed this…

The holidays are a time to connect and reconnect, sometimes the only time we do so with some of our family, friends and acquaintances.  We wish our reach-outs could be more frequent, but time speeds by in our fast-paced millenial society. The holidays are particularly busy, and anything helps to streamline the preparations at hand.  Think about how the Christmas card has evolved…from the boxed-card-and-family-newsletter to an electronic greeting sent via Facebook.  The time saved and the number of people reached with the latter are tremendous.  We can reach out to everyone in a fraction of the time. In the…

My husband and I agreed long ago that getting a puppy for Christmas is not a good idea.  The initial surprise and adorable photo opportunities are one thing, but the extra work and lack of sleep during a busy holiday and having to housebreak in frigid, snow-covered weather just spells Bad Plan.  So what happens? We get a puppy at Christmastime. One morning in November my kids ambushed me at the door, classifieds in hand.  There’s puppies for sale in the newspaper!  They were the right price, a wonderful breed, and only two towns away.  So we sought.  And we found a…