A Special Kind of Endurance
If you’ve ever loved a child suffering with addiction (or mental health issues, learning differences, social challenges or any of the other tough situations that young people face), you know how hard and painful it is to let go while also being present and not giving up. Parenting calls upon the limits of human endurance.*
Are You Full of Yourself?
Our family had an unspoken mantra: Even if you’re good at something, don’t show it. It was a self preservation of sorts. Make yourself small so no one can cut you down.
Decades later, when I picked my daughter up from pre-school, I asked her teacher, “How’d it go today?”
Our beloved Gay Gay replied,
“It was great! Your daughter is so full of herself!”
It was a moment of awakening words and positivity knocked be upside my head.
Here was my daughter: a self-possessed three year old, full of her interests, her curiosity, her body, her life… full of herself!
Why Does the College Admissions Scandal Bother Us So Much?
My heart ached because of the obvious social injustice that permeates every aspect of our society but there was more. I realized that the story drew me in because -- if I’m being honest with myself -- I could genuinely relate to the motivation of those parents.
Tiny Shift, Big Impact: How You Praise Your Kids Can Make All the Difference
Remember that day last summer when I took the girls to the pool and I decided to get out of the middle of the parenting road (because heck it’s dangerous standing there!)?Here’s the scene: I’ve got two 9 year old girls, my daughter Sonja and her friend Gracie. These girls are avid swimmers, eager to get to the pool to play. I fantasize that our trip will include my making serious headway with my summer reading (even tho it’s September), while they amuse themselves.
Get out of the middle of the parenting road
It’s summer and my daughter and her friend want to go to the pool to play. I fantasize that the girls will occupy each other and I’ll be able to read or at the very least get some knitting done. Turns out, they want me to join in their amusement. They plead, watch us, watch us as they scheme to perform synchronized, dramatic water jumps and dances.Quickly it’s apparent that I’ve got three options in how to respond to their pleas:
