Part 2: Four Strategies to Help Our Kids Rethink “Purpose”

(11 minute listen) (Click here to read or hear Part 1: 8 minute listen)   Last week, I raised the possibility that the way we are encouraging our kids is toxic to their mental health. Even if you are the most self-aware, laid back parent, your kids are still getting lots of messaging from the outside that could be […]

Part 1: Maybe It Is Time to Rethink “Purpose” … for Our Kids’ Sake

  8 minute listen: I’ve been thinking a lot about purpose, this hard to define, yet critical component to life, that is widely hailed as the solution. Bored? Find some purpose. Depressed? Find some purpose. Underachieving? Find some purpose. We use it in company mission statements the same way we use it in soul searching […]

One of My Worst Parenting Moments

I’ve forgotten to pack my kids a lunch. I’ve given them a “snack lunch” which basically means there is nothing in the house, so you’ll be getting a bag of mishmosh. I’ve really stretched the definition of lunch to include things like bread with butter and cold pizza. But, this is the first time I […]

Don’t Let the Holidays Stress Get You!

(I originally wrote this post when my kids were younger, but I reread today, and the advice still holds true. I hope it helps you too!) My family loves the holiday season. They are counting the days down until Thanksgiving, and wish the time would fly by. I, on the other hand, am looking at the […]

5 Ways to Get Your Kids to Help

Taking care of a home, feeding all the people that live there, managing multiple schedules and handling emergencies that will inevitably pop up is exhausting. Exhaustion increases stress, diminishes happiness and leaves you with too little energy for enjoying the life you work so hard to maintain. Having helpful kids is a game changer. I am […]

How to Organize All Your Lists.

I have lists scattered everywhere. Post-its on the kitchen counter. Scraps next to my bed. I save photos, links and screenshot suggestions in my phone. I even tried starting a notebook of lists…but I don’t know where I left. I am constantly saying to myself…”Did I put that in my notes or screenshots? Did anyone see the […]

6 Tips for Kids Who Are Scared of Halloween

My 18 year old doesn’t like Halloween. She is the kid who double checks all the doors are locked every night and scolds my husband and me when we are lax about safety. It follows she wouldn’t care for a macabre holiday. She doesn’t understand why I would want fake blood, headless figures and  scary […]

Your Child Left for College … But Also, Not Really

I have never subscribed to the “Little kids, little problems. Big kids, big problems,” line of thinking. It diminishes the backbreaking, exhausting challenges of raising young children, while terrifying parents about what is to come. You mean it gets worse? I do, however, subscribe to the truth that every stage of parenting is challenging in […]