PARENTING IN REAL LIFE

Let’s face it; the teen years can be challenging. Right now may be worse than usual since so many of our kids are home 24/7 with few outlets

Spring is here and with it the time honored mother/daughter outing to find the perfect prom dress. An entire day of bonding. what could be better? Before you get too excited, try to keep in mind that it can also be overwhelming and you don't want to make this into too big of a deal. For her to have fun, and for you to survive with her, it can’t feel like more pressure. They have more thanenough of that, our high school kids. Shopping for a Prom dress can be exciting, frustra

College applications are pretty much finished and submitted. Now the waiting starts--the agonizing waiting to hear did your teen get in or not? Did she get into her top pick? Was any merit or scholarship offered? There’s a lot to do, the stakes are high, the deadlines are strict, and you’re being asked to make major decisions about your future. How could our kids not be stressed?! So what can we do to help our kids take a breath, to work off some of this stress? Luckily ther

Are you ever completely baffled by your kids? Like you have no understanding of why they’re acting in a certain way? The one that always gets me is lying. I catch him lying, he knows he's lying, he knows I know he’s lying...and he lies anyway. And keeps doing it. What is that? As annoying, confusing and even hurtful as being lied to is, it’s actually part of their normal development. In fact, some researchers think a child's first lie is a positive milestone in mental growth

Teen angst. A great phrase; onomatopoeia. But as much as I like how it sounds, I hate the reality

Parenting a child with ADHD can feel a bit like you’re walking in the dark—you tiptoe around, unsure of what you will come up against. Sometimes you may say or do something to set off a mini emotional explosion. It’s definitely something you try to avoid as those can blow hot and strong. On the other side however is a creative, kind, generous and loving kid. It’s a condition of opposites and extremes. It used to be we all assumed that if a kid had ADHD he was going to be the

The tears surprised me. The weepiness I felt driving away from my first parents' weekend. My son is a sophomore but I had missed last year’s event; so I was so thankful to have spent this weekend with him. He won’t be home for Thanksgiving this year, so I did expect to feel a pang and to be a little sad leaving him, but honestly, I’m not really the weepy type. Dropping him off for his freshman year I teared up a little saying goodbye, of course. But I wasn’t that mom who loo