This weekend was the annual father-daughter camping trip. I look forward to it, as it is an opportunity to spend very good quality time with my 12 and 7 year old sons, and this year was no different. On Friday, my 12 year old asked if he could have a sleepover with a few friends.…
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One of the adoptive parents with whom I work had a frustrating experience this Christmas with her 11-year-old adopted son. They gave all the kids one gift to open on Christmas Eve and when she gave one to him, he shook it, said it sounded like a puzzle and then threw it across the room.…
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This morning, while my daughter was eating her breakfast, she told me that in school she had to write a persuasive essay on a person was important to her and why, and she chose me. I smiled, looked into her eyes, gave her a kiss and asked her what she wrote in her essay. She…
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I read about a study on www.gozen.com that said that a whopping 75% of kids want help from their parents when they are stressed but only 22% actually reach out to their parents for help. That is a surprising bit of information, and it got me to wondering why that gap exists. I can only…
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Welcome to the new friends who are following me and thanks to all of my loyal followers for your love and support. Now that we have our heels firmly planted in 2015, I want to ask each of you: What is your intention for 2015? Research estimates that even though more than 40% of Americans…
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In the spirit of this holiday season, I thought I would share an update. Back in August of this year, I wrote a story about how we had given our head waiter on our cruise enough money in a tip form for him to be able to fly home to Guatemala to spend time with…
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Last week, I got a call from our middle school’s vice principal. I wondered why she would be calling me – certainly not because of something my 7th grader had done. My neighbor and I recently met with the vice principal and principal of our school to talk about the school discipline policy and how…
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My recollection is that Thanksgiving is usually a joyful time for me, full of gratitude for the many blessings in my life. When I was feeling sad and out-of-sorts on Thanksgiving this year, my husband pointed out to me that I usually go through a period of sadness around this holiday each year, much to…
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I am beyond thrilled today to interview Cathy Cassani Adams, the author of the just-released book Living What You Want Your Kids to Learn: The Power of Self Aware Parenting. I have been a fan of Cathy’s for several years, and had the privilege of reading and reviewing an advance copy of her fabulous new…
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