Parenting Resolutions
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Parenting Resolutions

We all spend our lives searching, searching, searching. We fall in love with noble quests in stories and great adventures in movies and epic accounts in history. All just magnificent synonyms for searching. I spent almost thirty years searching, mostly in all the wrong places. For love. Then for about ten years, assuming the effort…

Authentic Parenting
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Authentic Parenting

What may seem trivial to me is anything but trivial to my little ones. I wrongly mistook encouraging independence with rushing through bedtime routines. And in the rushing, an important connection was lost. Over years, the relationship wavered. For the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world. ~William Ross Wallace…

Raising Leaders
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Raising Leaders

We have four kids. In the house. With me. Every day. Of course they don’t each have a personality that meshes well with mine or with each other. Every day (sometimes every moment) is a challenge. I’m raising leaders, not followers. But the catch is that I do want them to follow my directions. It’s a delicate…

Kids and Email
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Kids and Email

Recently I read of a novel gift to give your kids.  The suggestion was to open up an email account for your child when he or she is born.  Then, every so often, email your child little letters, photos, memories of special occasions and so on.  On his or her 18th birthday, give him/her the…

“Janee Gets Super Embarrassed” – A Lesson about Superficial Behavior
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“Janee Gets Super Embarrassed” – A Lesson about Superficial Behavior

Sometimes we learn hard lessons. It’s difficult to let our children learn from the consequences of their actions, but those are often the best remembered lessons our children will learn! Below is a lesson you can read with your children in order to begin a discussion about learning from consequences and superficial behavior. I hope…

Snapshots of a Mother’s Cancer Experience — Pt 4: Mutiny Reported / Play Date
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Snapshots of a Mother’s Cancer Experience — Pt 4: Mutiny Reported / Play Date

When I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in 2000, I came face-to-face with my own mortality—and learned some profound lessons that transformed my view of reality. I would never sign up for my cancer experience, but neither would I trade away the treasures mined from it. Above all, I learned to live…