parenting

(and happy NOVEMBER!!!) Teenagers are confusing. And frustrating. And tricky. But they are also pretty dang awesome. I wrote this right before we recorded the teenager episode of “In the Arena” that we published last week (a little late posting, and obviously it was back when I had more teenagers…

That sounds all fine and ideal, right? Maybe, depending on what stage you’re in with your family, it may sound impossible. Because there are all kinds of variations and dynamics in family relationships! And let’s be honest, more likely than not, sibling relationships (at least with younger kids), most often…

We are deep into some serious fall foliage glory for Fall Break right now (too many pictures coming soon), but I’ve been thinking, as we have been surrounded by college kids here in Utah the last couple days (the college kids I know and also the ones I don’t), about…

I keep thinking about the developmental psychology class I took a while back that explored the “Attachment Theory,” the beauty of “being there” as a parent and the miraculous things that does for our children. It is no cakewalk with all the distractions going on in this world of ours,…

There is so much advice about raising kids, and gradually more and more about raising teens, but when it comes to young adults, poof! There’s nothing. And I know that’s because they are adults, of course. You don’t “parent” adults. But as I grow into this business I’m realizing there’s…

There is this thing that happened back when Grace was home for those few months after her mission that I keep thinking about: One of my other kids (who shall not be named to protect the not-so-innocent) was having a rough night. Oh she wanted something pretty terribly (I can’t…

I’ve mentioned the book Mao’s Last Dancer a few times before. It’s one of the reasons I think I kept getting nudged to start a sister’s podcast (planning to launch this summer…more on that HERE), inspired by the power of a memoir to make you think. But I have never…

I have been struggling to feel the Christmas Spirit a little bit this year. And then I found it. It curled around me on Sunday in the middle of our Christmas church service. It wasn’t the music, per se, although it was beautiful and gave me the perfect palate to…

(affiliate links included only for things I believe whole-heartedly in!) You guys, I’m going to sound like a little old lady when I say this, but what in Heaven’s name is going on with teenagers today!?? Ok, honestly and truthfully, I am a pendulum, because sometimes I think they are…

Parenting adult kids is such an interesting journey. Because it’s like parenting takes on a whole new brand when you shift to adult parenting. You’re still the parent, of course, and you still want to support and love, but it’s a hands-off kind of a deal. And why is that…