At the end of May I embarked on a trip of a lifetime. My husband and I traveled to the seeming ends of the earth to go on a South African safari. This bucket list trip was as magical as you might imagine. Elephants and lions soon became familiar companions and watching the sun rise...

I am generally the type of person that likes to incorporate exercise in my life.  I am not sharing this to make you feel bad if exercise is not your thing, but to illuminate a recent understanding I had about exercise and life as a parent. I never go to the gym or workout as...

I am a board member for a non-profit that specializes in vision screenings for children.  I try to be as hands-on as possible to see what is working for the organization and what is not.  A couple of weeks ago I made a point to attend a school vision screening from start to finish.  It...

During my oldest son’s formative years, we lived in Wisconsin just outside of Milwaukee.  This meant our summers were short and our winters were long.  He was an extremely active toddler and those winter months cooped up inside were a challenge.  The most logical solution to our cabin fever was to bundle ourselves up and...

Here is the third, and final installment about the love languages of children.  When my youngest was a toddler, he was extremely physically affectionate.  He would shower me with kisses while declaring that I was his ‘best friend!’.  Sprinkle in some mega-watt dimples, and he was impossible to resist.  About the time he entered kindergarten,...

Last week I asked you to consider the possibility that the people in your life express and receive love in a preferred way.  Of course, I highly recommend you read “The 5 Love Languages of Children” by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell or visit 5lovelanguages.com for even more detail, but for now, I will focus...

My name is Diana DeVaul and I am excited to start contributing to the Riverview Counseling Services blog.  My goal is to support readers in your parenting and everyday life endeavors which of course fits in beautifully with Riveview’s philosophy.   Hopefully as you read, you will find positive support, education and real-life applications to...

Remember those summer road trips you took with your family as a kid? Me too. I can’t remember anywhere we went or a single thing we did. All I remember is that I was the youngest, which meant I got stuck with the worst spot in the car– in the back between my brother and...