Posts
Why Parents Should Avoid Playing Favorites
Health, Parenting
It’s been the subject of books, comedies, tragedies, and countless movies. It can be real or imagined; it can cause arguments over dinner or a lifetime of damaged relationships.
It’s that feeling one child has about a sibling—that…
Catastrophe Awards; How Far Should a Teacher's Punishment Go?
Honor Roll, School
Christina Valdez, the mother of an 8-year-old girl who was singled out by her teacher for not doing her homework with a “catastrophe award,” says she is shocked by the attention this story is receiving.
Two weeks ago, her daughter,…
How Play Can Combat Bullying & Improve Learning
Honor Roll, School
Researchers have found that investing in recess and organized play can prevent bullying, improve students’ behavior at recess and readiness for class, and provide more time for teaching and learning. Playworks, a national nonprofit that…
Keeping Secrets from Our Mothers
Empowerment, Health
At 18 years old, I fell in love with a bad boy. I fell head over heals for a man who was not my boyfriend and who rubbed it in my face every chance he could. Oh, how my heart broke when he kissed other women in front of me. When he asked…
Anger Management: The Right Way to Express Yourself
Empowerment, Health
For many years, I was angry. I was so angry that it became one of the defining traits of my character, as my master’s advisor noted in the recommendation letter he wrote for me, describing me as “a pugilist with a mind that gives off…
How to Protect Your Kids From Peer Pressure
Honor Roll, School
You’ve seen it before: the midriff of a 13-year-old girl who is also wearing shorts so short they are more like a bikini bottom. And you’ve heard the stories of teens getting drunk during unsupervised house parties or worse, getting…
Mommyisms: Top 10 Sayings Your Mom and You Will Say
Empowerment, Health
All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his. —Oscar Wilde
We’ve all had them. Mommyisms. Those moments when you open your mouth and, almost paranormally, your mother’s voice comes out. And it’s…
Mami Dearest: When Mom Equals Fear
Health, Parenting
I am still afraid of my mother. And it’s not because she’s 5 foot 8 or she hit me with a pastel pink belt when I was 10 years old. I deserved the whooping. Always a picky eater and a clever little girl, I had the brilliant idea to hide…
Bean Burritos: Curse or Pride of School Lunches?
Diet & Nutrition, Health
I did something for my kids today that I absolutely dreaded when my mom did for me as a child. I made them burritos for lunch.
Specifically, bean and cheese burritos. I had to make my lovies their lunch for school today, and the most…