Big Kids

"I can't believe you failed me! I worked hard in this class and I deserve a passing grade." My student emailed me this message recently after she discovered her final grade at the end of the term. This student had...

Are you tired of reading the same children's books to your kids? Those books that rhyme? Tell the same story? Are mass-produced and mass-marketed? If you are looking for books that are different, read on, I have a few...

In a desperate attempt to up my game in the making mom-friends category, I decided to attend a birthday party for my son's classmate from school. It reminded me of high school because all I wanted was to fit...

It's easy to minimize the pain of our kids. In our attempts to try and help them move through their distress, we can inadvertently put our own experiences and stories on them, which not only turns the focus to...

Maybe you have been waiting for this moment. Maybe you have been dreading it. Either way, it’s go time. You smell the faint onion-y whiff of BO. You see the beginnings of boobs. Your dentist suggests a visit to the...

My daughter had her first legit encounter with mean girls last week. Apparently, there was a group of girls talking about her in the bathroom. Another friend overheard and told her about what the girls were saying. She was crushed....

Along with changing classes and electives, middle school emotions bring changes that can sometimes feel like you are stuck on a roller coaster. At first, the mood changes might be dismissed as hunger or fatigue and then all of...

I never had any intention of being a marching band mom. And I certainly had no idea what it would entail once I became one. Unbelievably long days at competitions, freezing nights at football games, and nearly non-stop fundraising...

  My Dearest Sweet Pea,    I’m thankful you still let me call you that. I’m not sure if one day you’ll resist, but for today we still embrace it. You are about to enter sixth grade. Middle school. These years, for...

Dear Second Baby (SB), This morning, Dad and I watched you board the school bus for the first time headed to your first day of kindergarten (then we headed to the school to make sure you arrived in your classroom)....