Are You Trying to Control Your Teen with Anger?

  Anger is an emotion that most of us have to deal with from time to time especially when our tweens and teens push our hot buttons.  Typically when this happens our real desire is to just make the situation go away. “Why did you do that?  How dare you speak to me that way! […]

What’s Beneath the Surface?

Hair seems to be the topic of conversation this week.  Regardless of who I’m talking with, someone makes a hair comment or tells their funny, ridiculous story. Why is it that we get so emotional about hair?  And what is really going on beneath the surface? (pun intended. 🙂 ) Early in the week a […]

Tired of the Shouting Match?

Getting to the bottom of our emotional reactions to our kids can be difficult.  The heat of the moment can cause us to do things we said we would never do. And it has taken me a long time to understand these reactions even in myself.  Years, in fact.  If I’m feeling something going on […]

Time to Tame the Beast in Your Teen?

Dealing with Emotional Outbursts

Let’s face it, most of us have emotional outbursts from time to time.  Even if not openly for everyone to hear, at least internally where we tell ourselves that the person who has “hurt” us is in the wrong.  Hopefully we don’t go into this mode as often as our teens, but we do have these […]

50 Things I Learned From Raising a Challenging Child

A Tribute to Our Daughter August 8, 1988-May 30, 2017

Emerging into the world our daughter arrived six minutes after I had waddled through the emergency entrance at the hospital doors.  Our family joke was that she was the creator of drama and the day of her birth was the beginning.  She had orderlies, nurses, and doctors frantically hustling for her grand entrance while my husband, Dave, was […]

Belligerent or Self Protection?

If you have tweens and teens, at one time or another you’ve probably seen that warlike seething that sometimes seems to explode even when asked to do what you think is a simple request.  Or maybe you see it in your spouse and don’t quite understand it.  How do you respond when you ask someone to […]