Trusting our teens as they learn to make their own tough calls.
Numbers Do Not Lie
We’d been at it for several hours, side by side, each of us on our laptops. Spread on the small ottoman pressing against my knees were stacks of old tax forms. On the chair beside me, two more folders with notes and figures. We actually began the process days ago, but I couldn’t continue, and […]
Put Your Kids to Work!
Kids? Organizing? Can the two ever mix?
Parenting Teens: Tips from a Professional Post Party Parent
Are you parenting partying teens? Care to hear my ten tips for surviving party chaos? For surviving normal chaos? The planned, the unplanned, the assumed stuff of parenting pandemonium? Yes, it’s Sunday morning. (Insert *sigh* of relief.) Yes, for the moment it’s quiet. (Sigh number two.) No teenagers as yet stirring in the kitchen, after […]
Hand wash
Teens, travel, laundry. Metaphors abound.
I love you, have fun, be safe. CALL me.
I find myself stranded again. The car zipped down the street at noon yesterday, with my elder son behind the wheel. There was a brief exchange over a hastily planned camping trip in the mountains with friends. It’s a considerable drive, I’m sans vehicle for the weekend, but I said yes. My kid ran errands […]
Weekend Update (Do You Know Where Your Children Are?)
“You’re going where?” I ask. “Brussels, Paris, then Rennes and maybe Brest,” he says. It’s my 18-year old on the phone from Europe. My son the factory worker, my son the office worker, my son the engineer-in-training, with a touch of mad scientist thrown in. Curious about everything. Vibrant and adventurous. My son, calling last […]
Plane snoozing, peanut scooping, eye rolling (Why I love my kid)
Travel time This is my kid. Yes, he’s sleeping. Head down, on an airplane. How can he do that?? Dining out This was last night’s dinner. Out on the town. Shouldn’t everyone go gourmet when they travel? Appetizers This delightful appetizer was part of the ambiance last evening, with that fabulous burger and fries. “What […]
My Son, the Office Worker
He’d managed to get his dirty clothes washed. Finally. But it took a phone call to his grandparents who live about an hour away. I imagine my son convincing his grandfather to fetch him, driving from their small town to the big city, and then back to their home for a family weekend of discussion […]
My Son, the Factory Worker
When the phone rang yesterday afternoon, I couldn’t have been more delighted. I recognized the number immediately – it was my 18-year old son calling from Europe. The last time we talked, he was fresh off 20 long hours of travel. He was weary, but excited to find himself overseas again. He was ready to […]