How to ruin Easter

How to ruin Easter in 5 easy steps... Remind your stepkid that they have gotten to hunt for eggs for 10 years with no competition and to let your toddler do more. Don't communicate with your spouse ahead of time and get yelled at for messing up when you try to get your 12 year…

Toddler Blues

We are in it. That stage when up is down and everything is a battle. Toddler parenting. I try to remember when things changed, and I think it was the day she turned 3. December was filled with another failed attempt at potty training. Today bathtime became a war zone. Tub toys were hurled. There…

It’s okay to be a quitter

At what point is it okay to throw in the towel? To quit? Is there some mandatory life lesson held in forcing a child to stick with something because they asked to try it once? Or do we get attached to the idea of our children being something? Or feel pressured by the check we…

Balancing Technology

How do you find balance with technology everywhere?

Take care of yourself

I feel like I have fallen off the face of the earth here. It is that time of year as a school counselor where you don't just want to hide in a hole, you literally have to. I have been pumping out letters of recommendation and meeting with stressed out seniors trying to find their…

The Invisible (Step)parent

Step parenting is messy. There I said it. Now don't get me wrong. It's also rewarding and can be beautiful and I wouldn't trade my blended little family for the world. But some days, I know every stepparent has a fleeting "this is so complicated and hard" moment. Maybe it's when your step child is…

Off Balance

Obviously I've lost my balance along the way. It's been weeks since I've taken the time to sit down and write. I've been back to work for two weeks and already I've begun bringing it all home with me, checking emails as I snuggle my daughter on the couch, running through the list of things…

Balancing Summer

Where I work is not a year round school, but it looks like it when you see our high school classrooms filled with students all summer long. I've signed countless summer school permission forms as a school counselor, not because my students have failed and need to make up classes to graduate, but because they…

The Garden

When we bought our house in early spring, it was lush with gardens. Flowers and herbs around the patio, wildflowers along the back bed, flowering bushes out front, and a plot for a vegetable garden freshly picked over as the last owners moved out. How lovely we thought! Our first spring in the house, I…

Growing back together

Is it ever possible for a friend to stay in your life forever? Do people always have to grow apart? How does that happen? These were the deep questions from one of my wonderful high school students today. They stuck with me and hit so close to home, a job hazard in school counseling. I…