When our kids were growing up, we never used the word “allowance” in our house. I made that decision partly because the concept of an allowance sounded to me like entitlement, on the one hand, and loss of agency on the other. If you get an allowance simply for being someone’s offspring, that sends a...
I recently donated a Little Free Library to a local mobile home park. I stopped by the library, which is located near the playground, the other evening and chatted with some of the kids who were playing there. Some of them had seen and even used the library, the others hadn’t noticed it at all....
Parents love giving advice to their grown kids, at least this parent does. Advice, though, is not always welcomed or well-received. My husband is always reminding me, “They’re not asking.” And he’s right. Sometimes our kids don’t ask because they’ve already made up their minds and don’t want to change them; sometimes it’s because they...
I raised three awesome teenagers. I never would’ve guessed when my children were toddlers that I’d be able to say that someday. People were constantly reminding me to “enjoy them while they’re little, because someday they’ll be rotten teenagers.” I was also told to enjoy them while they still wanted to be around me, because...
Brené Brown made it okay for us to talk about shame, both men and women. So, let’s go there. Because it seems to me artists deal with more than our fair share of shame. And it comes at us from opposing angles, to the point where sometimes we feel we can’t win: “You spent all...
My daughter did something very sweet this year. She asked all of her parents, siblings, grandparents, and aunts to tell her the names of their favorite books. Then she started to read those books and opened conversations with each relative about the story. If you really want to get to know someone, finding out more...