I’ve been reading and researching the Momo Challenge for five days. Before Tuesday, I had never even heard of it. By Friday, a link came home in our middle school principal’s weekly update encouraging parents to educate themselves about it. And as of this weekend, “Momo” is trending on Google search engines in the United States, Australia, Canada,…
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Take a trip with me down memory lane… Years ago, I was standing in my kitchen, when my tween yelled, “I hate you!” at the top of her lungs. Wow. I was stunned. It was as if someone punched me in the gut or perhaps it’s more accurate to say I felt like I’d been hit with a…
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Dear mom who struggles with anxiety, Parenting our growing kids is worrisome for anyone, but if you’re struggling with anxiety, it can be downright brutal. I know. I get it. I get you. It’s hard enough to worry about the well-being of our kids, the safety of our children, and all the details of raising our big…
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Help me. I’m a theater mom. I mean, I’m not A THEATER MOM, but I am the mom of a child who does theater. A lot of theater. After mothering her through the audition process for twelve shows, I’ve learned some basic survival skills. To block off the calendar for the weekend. To stock up on Kleenex. To…
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Parents make thousands of decisions every day. Some small: Yes, you can wear those socks even though they are mismatched and in no way coordinate with your outfit. Some bigger: No, you can not eat cookie dough for breakfast. Again. Some non-negotiable: You will not use your phone at the table – ever. Sometimes we make good decisions:, and…
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Dear wonderful, hard-working, unconditionally loving Mom, I have a feeling you might need a little love and appreciation today; a little reminder how much what you do matters. I know that raising tweens and teens isn’t always easy, in fact many days it’s down right hard. Everything is changing. Hormones are raging. Electronics are crazy making. And you…
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Dear Kids, I know you are well aware of my love for you because I say “I love you” all the time. It’s so very true, but I worry that there may be times when you think I don’t love you- or I don’t love you as much. I worry you might even believe there are…
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Starting February 1st Lets Put A Heart on Our Kid’s Door to Tell Them All The Things That We Appreciate and Love About Them! We do so much for our kids on a daily basis it’s easy to assume that our kids know how much we love them. Yet, we often don’t realize how much we nag, lecture and…
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I remember when my kids were little, parents of older kids always warned me about the teenage years. Over and over again they would exclaim with exasperation, “Just wait until they are teens!” I feared the inevitable looming season ahead and anticipated the worst. I kept thinking that the teen years would be when I’d sink from the weight of…
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When my son began to inch towards high school I became increasingly aware that our relationship was changing. He no longer followed me around or shared with me all the details of his day. I was lucky when I’d ask him a question if I got more than a grunt or a shrug. A common response, “I don’t know.”…
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It’s Not Enough to Raise Good Kids, Let’s Raise Our Kids to be Givers and Mission Makers I pulled into the parking lot late, exhausted from the week’s unraveling of what was expected to be a fine-tuned balance of busy. Instead, I was thrown into that high-velocity fever pitch place, where gravity loses its pull and you’re flying through the…
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To the teen who tries so hard… I see you. You get to every practice and train with relentless effort. You give it your all, everything you’ve got, over and over again. And still your benched, or you don’t cut times, or you lose that match, or you miss that goal. It’s all so hard. So, you think, “Why even…
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