From the category archives:

family life

Getting kids to clean up: how to motivate and direct your pint-sized help

February 16, 2012

We all know kids make a lot of mess. But if yours are old enough to hold a broom or put a toy in a basket, they’re old enough to take some of the work off your plate. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to get them to clean up after themselves or [...]

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mini-resolution: look ‘em in the eye and listen

January 27, 2012

“Hmm?” This might be the most-used word in my vocabulary, followed closely by “Uh-huh” and “Just a minute.” And almost always aimed at my kids. I don’t mean to tune my kids out. But sometimes I’m distracted: trying to finish up those last few lines of an important email, edit the blog post I didn’t [...]

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mini-resolution: try something new…for the kids

January 26, 2012

Right now my family is on a “working” vacation at Shanty Creek Resort in northern Michigan. As a travel writer, every so often I have the opportunity to go check out great destinations for stories I’m writing, and locations in our home state of Michigan are my favorite to cover. But if you knew me, [...]

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mini-resolution: come up with some new dinnertime conversation-starters.

January 24, 2012

Last night as we sat eating mashed potatoes (big win for Mom!) and meatloaf (not so much!) I became aware that my efforts at dinnertime conversation have become, well, stale. Apparently ”What was the best part of school today?” and “How about the worst?” are not as titillating to four growing boys as discussions of botflies [...]

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mini-resolution: update our family calendar

January 23, 2012

With our late winter break followed almost immediately by travel, things have felt a little chaotic around here for the past couple of weeks. I’m still trying to get into the swing of the new year, make sure I know about important upcoming dates, and plan some fun family activities over the coming months too. [...]

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On “Carpe Diem”, motherhood, Chronos and Kairos time, and the old lady at the store

January 8, 2012

I’ve been mulling over a blog post written by Glennon, a blogger and mother of three young children. The post, which has turned up on my Facebook feed at least seven times today, is all about the idea of “Carpe Diem” and motherhood: specifically, about how annoying it is when the old lady at the [...]

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Why I’m making a family giving plan in 2012

December 30, 2011

The wrapping paper is finally picked up – well, all besides a few errant scraps littering my living-room rug. The stockings have slowly been depleted of their candy stash. The kids’ gifts have migrated to their bedrooms and the toy box (except for the Captain America and Thor masks, which Owen and William have not [...]

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