Tag Archives: connections

Budly in Beagle’s Clothing

Two times so far this week I’ve seen Winky (whose name is now Ruby). The first time was Monday afternoon when her owner was taking her for a walk. The second time was at six thirty this morning when I was taking Murph for his walk. On Monday, I was working in my office, which has a huge window overlooking the front yard. That’s when I saw Winky and her people across the street. I hurried and leashed Murph up, then dashed outside to get a Winky fix. That’s when I learned her name was Ruby. I also wanted to … Continue reading →

Friends: You Just Never Know Who You Have in Common

Last night a very weird thing happened: Wayne and I realized a friend of mine was married to a friend of his. Maybe not so unusual in and of itself, but we’ve known both of them separately for years and they’ve been married a while. Except it wasn’t until last night that we made the connection. Here’s what happened. I got a belated Christmas letter from Peggy, a friend I’ve known since I was a little girl. We knew each other through our dads. Growing up my dad had a good friend, Ralph, he sometimes hung out with on weekends. … Continue reading →

Children Need Human Contact

E-mail, computers, electronic games, the telephone–today’s kids have an entire world of “socialization” that occurs without them ever coming face-to-face with an actual human. Add to this reality, the fact that many live far away from grandparents and extended relatives, or never really get to know the people who live in their neighborhood and you can see how our children might be literally starved and challenged when it comes to actual, live human mentors and connections. I believe that we all need human contact for optimal personal development (not just our kids)! Many of our children go to overcrowded schools … Continue reading →

Building Loyalty in a Single Parent Family

Single parent families can feel fragmented—especially if children actually go back and forth and live in two homes. Of course, most of us want our children to feel cherished and attached to both sides of the family which can create some problems when it comes to creating a solid, cohesive sense of family loyalty. There are things we parents can do, however, to help build a sense of loyalty and belonging in a single parent family… Our children need to feel as though they belong and most of us want to create a sense of “loyalty” to the family unit. … Continue reading →

The Return of Lost Traditions

We have written some here in the Parenting blog about family traditions—changing them, establishing them, letting some of them go. As a parent who has seen my children grow from infancy to nearly adult-hood, I am finding it interesting that some of the family and holiday traditions I said goodbye to a couple of years ago when my kids were in the throes of adolescence, have started to return… My eldest daughter and I were chatting this morning on our post-dawn commute—making some plans for the weekend. It was actually a combination of finding out what her social plans were, … Continue reading →

Marriage Fitness: Tuning Up Your Marriage

Marriage fitness is the goal of most marriages and it’s about strengthening the bonds of your relationship. Like your physical fitness, marriage fitness requires workouts and regular practice to keep it in shape. For example, when you and your spouse are having problems, internal or external or both; it can be more than problematic – it can actually inhibit your ability to work through your problems effectively. Problem Resolution When you tune up your marriage, you are looking for ways to resolve your problems positively before those problems even happen. For example, if you walk regularly you are strengthening your … Continue reading →

The Emotionally Intelligent Husband

The emotionally intelligent husband is a step up on the husband who has not increased his own emotional intelligence. What defines an emotionally intelligent husband is one who has figured out a secret to marriage that other husbands haven’t yet. That little secret is actually pretty elementary, but can actually be pretty hard. The emotionally intelligent husband has learned to respect and honor his wife; but also knows how to convey that honor and respect. Most husbands value their spouse’s feelings; but they do not always know how to demonstrate that value and respect. When a man’s emotional intelligence expands … Continue reading →

Marriage Fitness Exercise

I have often said that writing is like any other exercise you perform, with practice and repetition, you can improve your skills, endurance and hone your talents. Marriage is a similar task and needs similar exercises in order to keep it fit, trim and enduring. Marriage exercises shouldn’t be as tough as doing weight lifting, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be times when you really need to pump some iron to get to where you want to be. So today’s marriage fitness exercise is about communicating. We’ve talked about using ‘I’ statements rather than ‘you’ statements. Today’s exercise will … Continue reading →

Dancing with the Spouses!

I usually despise reality television. Even shows like The Biggest Loser that help achieve their goals. My distaste is based solely on the voyeuristic aspects of reality television. Frankly, it’s really a personal thing and I understand the appeal for others. But there is one reality show that I almost wish I could write and produce and air – for no other reason than I would love to drag my husband into it. Since I likely won’t be getting producer credits anytime soon, I present to you my reality show. I’m going to call it Dancing with the Spouses! . … Continue reading →