Giving the kids something to talk about in therapy.
With a household of young adults aged 15-20, I am in the final years of my hands-on parenting stage, and the empty nest is getting closer and closer. If I think too hard about this fact, I am liable to burst into tears. However, sometimes this revelation is a light in a tunnel of teenage... Continue Reading →
I recently became enamored with a Points List that a mother used when her kid got grounded. Basically, the mother created a list of things her child could do to get off groundation, each task attached to a certain number of points. Once the child reached 500 points, they were done being grounded. I think... Continue Reading →
I have a 12-year-old son who is a 7th grader this year. Like most 7th grade boys, my son's actions don't necessarily involve a lot of thought. Just this week alone, he decided that buying and consuming a Monster energy drink right before bed was a good idea, skipping his chores and lying about them... Continue Reading →
A friend of mine wrote recently about an incident in her childhood that left a bad taste in her mouth. Her father had set her up on a private computer, telling her she could write about anything she wanted to without worry of anyone seeing anything. What he didn't tell her was that he'd mirrored... Continue Reading →
Yesterday, my son decided that a good use of his downtime was to take a knife and stab a perfectly good cantaloupe repeatedly. I found it on our counter in the morning. As a result, the Taz got woken up by the wrath of his mom, and all his electronics taken away to show him... Continue Reading →
This morning my son tore his room apart. Annihilated is a good word. He had so much anger pent up inside of him that he didn’t know how to control it. And so he raged. He threw things. He ripped his bed apart. He knocked over his chair. And he growled deep into his throat... Continue Reading →
This article will be published in the Press Democrat on Friday, February 8. A friend of mine had to teach a group of teenagers about how seeds travel so they can germinate. Her challenge: how to teach about the topic and also keep these technology driven kids interested for more than an hour. As a... Continue Reading →
The Taz has been a different kid this week. This would be the very first week he's been home without his sister here. They both left for their dad's house two weeks ago, but Taz was the only one who came back. DQ has been adjusting up in Grass Valley, going to a new school... Continue Reading →
I know I already wrote about this. In fact, she has already moved. But after much thought, I decided to also write a newspaper article about what's going on in our home. I figure plenty of divorced families are going through the same thing as their child decides which parent to live with full time. ... Continue Reading →
DQ leaves tomorrow for her dad's. I've distanced myself from this reality, treating it like one long vacation. And for the most part, I've been blissful in my little world of denial. She's been busy packing up her room, taking over the washer machine and boxing up anything she thinks will fit into my car... Continue Reading →
Wine Country Mom 