“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day.  It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another.  By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks...

I came across ‘The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning’ by Margaretta Magnusson as advertised by one of my favorite little bookstores.  Of course the name caught my attention and being that I was in a cleaning mode, I gave it a try.  The author is charming and straightforward.  It was a quick read, some of which...

As a stay-at-home parent I have steered clear of the so-called ‘Mommy Wars’.  Parenting is hard enough without expending energy into judging the choices of others or opening myself up to other people’s judgment.  I believe that we are all in this together.  However you decide to parent, you have your reasons and I trust...

Sometimes I wonder if my kids wish I had never learned to read.  I am constantly reading books about parenting and ways to improve our family life.  I then go into lengthy lectures about how best to apply the principles I’ve learned or, at least to start a conversation.  Mostly I get a ‘that’s nice,...

We all do it.  We praise our kids for their smarts, their athleticism or any other various achievement that they conquer.  How much praising is too much?  Is there such a thing as over-praising?  Do our words of encouragement help them succeed or hinder their motivation?  In the book ‘NurtureShock:  New Thinking About Children,” authors,...