If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: Moms (or Dads) of teens (and other kids that
try their patience) need a place they can retreat to, at a moment’s notice, to get away from them. To think before flying too far off the handle. To de-escalate a situation, eliminate whining
and cut the exchange of words short, with the promise of discussion at a calmer time. To be alone in order to come up with really good consequences for certain behavior rather than
“grounding them from everything for life” in the heat of the moment. In other words, when the kids are too old to “go to their rooms” for a time out, you need to go to yours. Or take a walk
outside. Just get away… only, sometimes that’s not so fun to go to …
Month: February 2012
Wake Me When This Trend Is Over: Teens in Sleepwear
Have you noticed the latest sign that our great nation is taking yet another step toward being an
“idocracy”? Teens wearing sleepwear. All day, instead of “regular” clothes. I first noticed it last month while shopping at Target—a couple checkout aisles over, a girl and her mom were talking
loudly and getting ready to empty their cart onto the checkout stand. I think the girl had forgotten to get something and was wanting to go back out into the store. She was dressed in full flannel
pajamas, pants and top, with slippers on her feet, and wearing a short winter coat. At first I felt sorry for her. ‘I wonder if she just got checked out of a teen psychiatric ward of a hospital,’
I thought. (Seriously, that’s what I thought!) But then I remembered the fuzzy slipper craze from a few years ago, when kids were wearing that kind of …
Uncool Parent Hall of Fame: Madonna
Just had to share a video (see below) after seeing Madonna perform at yesterday’s Super Bowl XLVI. It’s a video I discovered […]
Empty Promises: Are We Failing Our Kids By Telling Them They Can “Do It All”?
In January and February, it’s “roll out the red carpet” time here in North Texas for area middle
schools, junior highs and high schools. Which means if you’re entering one of those illustrious institutions next fall, you get to attend a welcome night at said school, and if you
already attend one of those schools and are involved in any extracurricular activity that can “show off” in three minutes or less, you are invited, sometimes required, to be
a part of this welcome. And if you’re a parent of a kid in one of these categories, you attend, too, to sit on gym bleachers and either learn (“Umm, is that a beard and
sideburns I see on that senior?”) or watch your child perform (“Should I wear my photo button?”). Over the past six years that I’ve been attending these dog
…