Tweens

When I walk through the library I am used to seeing clusters of teenagers all looking at their phones. Recently I realized those same teenage groups are now talking to each other while looking at their phones. My initial...

Some of you may recognize the title from Game of Thrones: "Mother of Dragons." Unfortunately, it is not original to me. However, there are days that I feel like it is the perfect description of my role. My oldest daughter...

There’s a pretty good chance I’m never going to win Mother of the Year. First of all, I’m not even sure when they give those awards out, or where you go to accept them. It might be broadcast on...

CANDY! I don't know about you, but we try to cut back on the amount of candy that our children get for holidays. However, there are special candies made for EVERY holiday! Even on the 4th of July we get candy tossed...

Have you ever had one of those days when no matter what you say, your child (conveniently) does not hear you? You could be talking as loud as your voice allows, doing hand gestures to express yourself, while repeating...

I have fond memories of watching TV shows with my family when I was a kid; Mork and Mindy and Happy Days were some of our favorites. Now everyone has their own device, which means that one person can...

My husband and I were sitting in the living room the other night, talking about our day, when our oldest came in and sat down nearby. She was listening at first, but then she started contributing to the conversation....

Fall is one of my favorite times of year. It's not because of the beautiful colors the leaves change to, or the fun times my family has at the pumpkin patch, or the fact that it's apple season and...

Recently I met my high school girlfriends for a weekend trip to Galena, Illinois. We had not been in a room together for over 25 years. As is the case with many people in their mid 40’s, we reconnected via...

When my daughter was little, I wanted her to experience lots of different activities and try everything at least once. We started music classes and gymnastics before she could walk. As she got older we added in dance, T-ball,...