Can we just have a moment of complete honesty? Being a stepmom is hard. Like really hard. It’s as if I’ve gone zero-to-elementary-school in milliseconds. But from all that I’ve heard, it’s difficult no matter how you’ve become a parent: marriage, fostering, adoption, traditional pregnancy. Parenthood guarantees two things: you’ll need to pick your…
Less than a year after we were married, my husband shoved my sister against the side of a car and told her he never wanted to see her again. And so began the worst period of my life. In retrospect, I realize the tension between Mike and Beth had been growing for some time. They…
Splink 1: The Price is TOO High Announce a fun event (movie night, ice cream run, etc.) and then announce that anyone who wants to participate must bring a certain amount of money (an amount bigger than they could pay). Talk about how the price has to be paid when they express disappointment. Finally,…
Sherry Surratt, Executive Director of Family Strategy at Orange, talks about how grandparents have a great opportunity to influence the lives of the next generation through their grandchildren in today’s episode. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/342116902″ params=”color=0066cc&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] How to listen: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | TuneIn YOUR CUE Grandparents, try to…
“Wow . . . really?” “God bless you!” “I’ll pray for you!” These are the top three responses I get from people when they learn I work with middle school students for a living. And usually, it’s said in a tone of confusion or skepticism. Most adults simply can’t believe someone would choose my…
I’ve never been a big fan of January 1st. Too much pressure to set a goal or make a resolution, and then an impossibly long 12 months to keep it. But the start of the school year? I love it. Maybe it’s the smell and look and feel of new school supplies, maybe it’s…
When it comes to parenting, it’s easy to think of a few goals for yourself. You want to help your kids find something they are passionate about. You want to give them a healthy self-image. You want to challenge them and encourage them to grow. You hope that they develop their own faith, instead of…
Splink 1: Working Together Choose a project and work together. Break the big project into smaller “jobs” and write each one on a slip of paper. Put these in a basket and let each person draw a slip of paper to find the job they are to do to complete the project. Project: Clean…
I will just go ahead and say it, my grandkids are brilliant geniuses. First grader Maggie can read the word ‘pinkalicious’, four-year-old Mollie can smell chocolate a mile away and baby Mason can fill a diaper like nobody’s business. Okay, some might say brilliantly average but not me. These are my grandkids. I’m…
I’m a “fix it” mama. Sibling argument? I’m there to mediate. Upset stomach? I have medicine for that. Shoes have a hole? No problem. I can buy new ones. Difficult homework? We can figure it out together (thanks to YouTube tutorials). Yep. I was pretty good at the whole “Mom to the rescue” thing up until…