DELAYING MARRIAGE
As I sit here in my new snoopy PJ bottoms given to me by good friends at Christmas, I’m not quite sure what to make of the fact that so many young people in their …
Thou Shalt Not SHOULD On Thyself
The holiday season is over, but did you take the opportunity to make it what you wanted? Meaning, now that january 1 has passed are you all pissy because you had to do this and …
Look Backward Before Setting Resolutions
Before you blurt out some new resolutions for the new year, I’d suggest you 1st look backward for insight. If you failed in accomplishing goals for 2012, ask yourself “why?” What kept you from staying …
Why Kids Love Boxes More Than Presents
It’s an old adage that little kids often end up playing more with the present boxes and wrapping paper than the presents themselves. And I think that is true for some very important reasons. First …
Kids Process Newtown Tragedy
I sat this week in a classroom of 5th grade students, a class I have worked with with my wife many times since they started the 4th grade last school year. We have been helping …
Lessons from Sandy Hook Elementary School
My first thoughts about what happened yesterday are really not thoughts at all; they are just feelings. Sad; angry; powerless stand out. I work in so many schools and I can’t imagine if it had …
Are Teachers Harder On Girls?
The old logic held that teachers were harder on boys and that boys got into trouble a lot more than girls. I ran a weekend retreat recently for middle school girls and they had a …
Cooperation Trumps Competition
I recently saw a documentary entitled I Am, and was ecstatic to get some science behind my beliefs about competition. When I work with girls in the classroom with my Strong Girls Strong World program, …
Stop Babying Your Children!!!
As I walked through the streets of Cusco, Peru last week, I noticed so many young children standing on the curbs of some really busy streets. There were some tiny little, probably 2 year olds …
Where Did You Go To High School? HUMBUG!!!
It is an annual St. Louis tradition to ask people where they went to high school, because we all have HUGE judgments about each school and what it means about the people who went there. …
Girls Need Sacred Spaces!
I have a weekend retreat coming up in a few weeks for middle school girls, and it reminds me of how important it is for all girls and women, but perhaps most importantly for girls …
The Gifts Of A Storm
I saw some kids living in Sandy-ravaged New Jersey interviewed by reporters the other day, and their thoughts were interesting. Several spoke of their new-found appreciation for what is really important in life, ie. not …
Inappropriate Tweets Deserve Consequences And Education
I read with interest the articles in the Post Dispatch about 10 teens suspended from a local high school for inappropriate tweeting. The ACLU got involved, saying its not in the schools jurisdiction to do …
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Where can we find Heroes for our kids???
When people think about heroes, they often start with sports figures, as we can attest to here in St. Louis with our Cardinal baseball team. But I don’t consider people like David Freese or Chris …
Too Much Noise
A recent study in the journal Pediatrics links background noise from tv sets and negative outcomes in young children. The 4 hour a day average was found to be linked to lower sustained attention during …
People are downright Rude!!!
Okay. So I am at the cardinal game last week, and they are starting up the home-half of the inning, with the top of the order up for the cardinals in a one-run game. And …
Dads and Daughters
I just finished facilitating a 3 day retreat with 25 father-daughter pairs at a horse ranch in California. The girls were ages 7-9 years and one was cuter than the next. I was struck with …
Pearls Before Swine Comic Strip
I have asked the following sequence of questions to over a hundred groups of people, and by people I mean teenagers, parents, and teachers. And their answers are always the same: Q: Why do you …
Let Your Kids Play With Their LEGOS!!!!!
When Nathan Sawaya was 9 years old, he asked his parents for a dog, and they said “NO!” Instead of sulking, he built a life-sized dog with his Legos, and the rest is history. An …
Girls Just Want to Have Fun
When I told people I was about to embark on a one week all girls camp for grade school and middle school girls, I heard the usual litany of dire predictions about overwhelming amounts of …
