Parenting
An Open Letter to Our Son as You Turn 18
So you’re turning 18 (a very big deal!) and I’m wondering where the time has gone. I can still hear you as a little boy announcing your birth date: “Feb-uary sev-en.” Your voice is deeper now and I must crane my neck to look you in the eye. The world invites you—welcomes you—as you begin […]
Life Goes On
We said goodbye to our precious shih tzu Lily today. It’s mild and sunny—a perfect Michigan spring offering. Dylan has a soccer game and Alexa is packing up to come home from college. Somehow it doesn’t seem right that life goes on with this hole in our lives that Lily has left. We are heartbroken. […]
The Terrible Joy of Parenthood: Giving Everything for Our Children (and How This Fills Us Up)
“You’re only as happy as your most unhappy child.” Before children, I used to feel sorry for the parents who lived through their children—those for whom happiness was caught up in that of their kids. Of course this only lasted until I became a parent myself 21 and 17 years ago. It is true that […]
Peak Work Performance Summit Special Offer: Bring Work to Life Sample Chapter + Discount
Thank you for taking part in the Peak Work Performance Summit! For your free sample chapter from Bring Work to Life by Bringing Life to Work, click here. And for a discount of 37% on orders of 10 or more books, contact Jill@bibliomotion.com and mention the Peak Work Performance Summit. Best wishes in bringing your work to […]
Stop Overparenting: How to Relax
We parents regularly agree and discuss ‘how fast the time goes’ and how fleeting our moments are with our children. But I was talking with a new dad recently and he said that sometimes he wishes the time would go a bit more quickly – during those sleepless nights or those clueless days of new […]
When it Pays to Lose: The Value of the Stretch
The indoor soccer session is complete and our team’s record is 0-8. The team lost every game, but it was a great season nonetheless. Actually, it was a fabulous season because of the stretch. Through a fluke in the rules, our boys were playing against men (think: facial hair, grown-up swagger, and serious girlfriends in […]
The Presents We’ll Never Open
This is the book that my husband will not be getting or Christmas, as much as he enjoys a good Grisham novel. And these are the boots that I’ll never own, as much as I really, really like them. And we’ll never open these gifts around our tree. We decided to try something different this […]
Parenting is Not a Competitive Sport: How Failing Can Build Community
When our daughter was born, it was a little shocking to me that we were able to drive home from the hospital with so little fanfare. Wasn’t there a parenting license we should have received first? Or some kind of evaluation that was required before we could be entrusted with her fragile life? When our […]
On Being Wonder Woman
My cousin and his wife have one of those families that is really, really cute. We keep up on Facebook, so I’m always in the know about their latest activities. They are engaging and funny and real and seemingly have the best little family life ever. Iain is entering preschool and loves the drums. Ava […]
The Scientific Basis for Parenting: How Our Children Become Part of Us
Every parent who has loved a child knows the extent to which our children become a part of us. It’s a powerful thing. And it’s certainly something that all kinds of parents experience: adoptive parents, foster parents, biological parents. These little humans that pass through our lives, live in our hearts, and take a piece […]