Ever feel like kicking yourself?  I had one of those moments yesterday…when I did the very thing I strive to not do, especially in light of the recent tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  I missed an opportunity to talk. It was one of those “life happens” deals.  Picked up the kids from school and was running short on time because I had just an hour to work, dinner to make and a funeral to attend. My 15-year-old daughter wanted to talk and it wasn’t just chitchat.  She wanted me to come into her bedroom and close the door.  That … Continue reading →

Discipline has taken a new form.  Nowadays parents have the option to go public with it.  Acts of discipline have been displayed for the entire world to see on social media outlets like Facebook and across the World Wide Web, such as You Tube. But is this really public discipline?  Or is it more like public humiliation? I know many parents who agree with those that choose to broadcast to the world some of the extreme methods of disciplining children.  Who could forget the father that shot his daughter’s laptop because of her disrespect and abuse of Facebook? There have … Continue reading →

Would you want to marry yourself?  Most of us probably don’t think about this but you might want to if you have teenagers. Why?  They are getting closer and closer to that time of making a lifetime commitment.  And the chances are pretty high they will choose someone similar to their same-sex parent. It’s an interesting thing to consider.  Although my 18-year-old son is nowhere near ready to get married, he does talk about the traits he would like in a wife.  Many of them are similar to mine. Hopefully he will bypass the negative one in me when it … Continue reading →

As a parent of a teen it can sometimes feel like all you do is give, give, give.  In turn, your teen takes, takes, takes. Out of all the ages and stages of life, the teen years tend to be some of the most selfish.  You thought it was bad when your child was two or three years old and constantly screaming, “Mine!” Its one thing to declare a toy as “Mine!” and quite another when a teenager feels the world belongs to them and it should oblige their every whim.  Parents tend to be at the brunt of this. … Continue reading →

Do you attempt to micromanage your teenager’s life?  What that really means is you are trying to control it.  Yet these are the years when we have to learn when to let go, when to start loosening the apron strings. This takes a lot of trust and for me, prayer.  It’s difficult to do.  You sometimes question whether you have done too much or not enough in letting go. At the same time, new freedoms must be earned.  The first day your teen gets his or her driver’s license, you don’t hand over the keys and say, “Have at it!”  … Continue reading →

Has your teenager ever accused you of being a hypocrite?  Let me tell you something, they can detect it a mile away and they will usually be the first ones to point it out. If we were to get real, most of us would likely have to admit that we have been a hypocrite.  Maybe it’s telling your teenager that they shouldn’t do something because it’s not good for them, but then we do it. You might have told your teen it’s wrong to lie.  Yet two seconds later they hear you on the telephone telling a whopper.  Or you … Continue reading →

Do you know a parent who tries to live through their children?  Maybe you are that parent.  Can I give you some advice?  Stop. One of the most detrimental things we can do is attempt to mold them into the person we wished we had been.  These expectations put a tremendous amount of pressure on them, leaving them no room to be who they were meant to be. This was a lesson we learned as parents early on.  My husband has always been athletic, so when we found out our first child was going to be a son; he had … Continue reading →

One of my favorite shows to watch with my teen daughter is “What Would You Do?” hosted by John Quinones.  These are staged scenarios in which you learn who will and who won’t get involved. We oftentimes talk about what we would personally do, had we been that in situation.  One doesn’t expect to get the opportunity to actually experience something similar but that’s just what happened last week.  The only difference is that it wasn’t staged. I had picked my daughter up from her driver’s education class and for some reason, without any thought to it, took a different … Continue reading →