Building a warm and loving home
What do you remember about your parent’s home when you were growing up? Was it a warm and loving place to come home to? Was there laughter? Did you enjoy being with your family? Do you remember kind and loving words said to you by your parents? Or was there negativity and criticism, shouting and [...]
Dealing with sibling’s constant bickering
A recent conversation with a mom with 3 little kids prompted my post on Getting Control of Your Frustrations. Before I had kids, I was known to be a mild and gentle person. “Katy never gets mad.” But what happened to her after the kids came?? Children have the power to bring out the worst [...]
Getting control of your frustrations
I know how easy it is for a parent to lose it. Screaming, Stomping, Throwing things! I’ve been there. I don’t know how they do it, but our cute little angels are adorable and cuddly one minute, and drive us insane the next. But we are the adult here. We don’t need to be controlled [...]
Happy Valentine’s Day!
I hope you had a chance to share a few special moments with your love ones. Here are 14 things I love to do with my family: 1. Watching Mary Poppins while enjoying brownies with ice cream. 2. Playing video games together. 3. A stroll together after dinner under a clear night sky. 4. Staying [...]
Turn a bad day into a good day
The day was hectic. After I took the kids to school, I met with difficult clients, followed up with a frustrating transaction, and fought traffic coming home. There was nothing for dinner. I was hungry, tired, and irritated. “Get out of my way so I heat up some leftovers!” I snapped. I shouldn’t even have [...]
Passing values on to our children, Part 3
In answer to a reader’s question, How do I pass our values on our children? I posted Part 1 and Part 2. I conclude this series with some thoughts of what we can do when we feel we’ve failed. Millie at Christian Values Legacy has an insightful article on “Seven Ways to Tell if Your [...]
Building a positive home
“Would you want to come home to yourself?” That question changed my life. Would I want to come home to hear myself nagging at me? Would I want to come home to be criticized by me? Would I want to come home to negativity, pestering, and meanness? If I don’t want to come home to [...]
Giving equal time to your children
If you have more than one child, you know it is unrealistic to think you can treat them all “equally.” With different interests, personalities, and ages, it is impossible to be “equal.” The pie cannot be cut precisely the same. You can hear it already – “It’s not fair; he got the bigger piece!” Our [...]
What is most important to us?
I recently came across the story of Bill Havens. The name is not a familiar one, but he is a hero to me. In 1924, Bill was set to go to the Olympic games in Paris to compete in the newly added sport canoeing. He was in fact favored to win the gold for the [...]
The parent-child relationship
“We have two chances at a parent-child relationship.” This is one of the most significant lessons I learned from Dr. Laura. I don’t always agree with Dr. Laura, but she got me between the eyes with this one. As new immigrants to the United States, my parents had to work a lot. They never attended [...]