(ROCKWALL, TX – June 16, 2015) In my kitchen at the back of the drawer that holds the hot pads, is a green oven mitt. Worn, with a few holes in it, the mitt is visible every time I open the drawer. Its mate, regrettably, was lost in a move. The mitt’s been around for […]
ROCKWALL,TX. (November 11, 2014) My earliest memory of reading is singing from the Baptist hymnal. I remember being four-and-a-half, standing next to my mother, moving my finger under each hyphenated syllable as we sang. This was a new honor, as my mother had always done that job. Now I could do it! I know that […]
ROCKWALL, TX. (September 29, 2014) Kitchen Scene: Mom and Dad are getting dinner ready after a busy day. Soccer practice is in 45 minutes. Enter six-year-old with book. “Mom! Dad! I have to read ten pages out loud to you tonight for homework!” Mom and Dad look at each other and sigh. Perhaps you have […]
ROCKWALL,TX. (September 7, 2014) When we do something that we wished we hadn’t, we rarely give ourselves the level of forgiveness and understanding that we give to others. If we evaluate ourselves and subsequently change our behaviors due to negative emotions– shame, embarrassment, or fear to name only a few—we are feeding self-hatred. We are […]
ROCKWALL, TX. (July 28, 2014) Victor Frankl in Man’s Search for Meaning writes about our freedom residing in the space between stimulus and response. Your child hits you. Your freedom lies in the space of time between being hit, the stimulus, and your response to being hit. That moment contains your power to choose how […]
Isn’t it amazing how quickly children interrupt when they hear you on the phone? We wait for that quiet minute to make an important call or task and, poof, our children appear with attention getting behavior. What can we do to find a few minutes of uninterrupted time? Start early. We might think this is […]
ROCKWALL,TX. (July 14, 2014) A long-term study of college students aimed to test their vocabularies while also asking the group to rate their level of happiness. The test subjects with the largest vocabularies declared the greatest satisfaction with their lives. For many of us the vocabulary to express emotions is limited to a few words. […]
(January 1, 2014) “But, Daddy, I don’t want to go!” Moving from one event to another are difficult parenting and teaching situations. Our children are involved and concentrating on an activity, then life gets in the way. It’s bath time. It’s bed time. Preschool is over. Daycare is closing. It’s time to get in the […]
Five-year-old Tommy walked over to his mother, Judy. ‘Write my name for me, Mommy.” “Tommy, you know how to write your name.” “But I don’t ‘member,” he said. Tommy’s mother, Judy, phoned me, near tears, about this conversation. Judy’s concern was that Tommy had forgotten something as seemingly simple as the three letters in Tom. […]
May 27, 2013 – Summer is just about upon us and ideas for vacation fun can start to run low after a couple of weeks. One of our perennial favorites for serious merriment is the drama box. Our drama box began with remnants of Halloween costumes, old dress shoes (cowboy boots and red sparkle heels!), […]