Kids and parents can often butt heads. What starts out as a simple request to clean a room or put away clothes, can turn into a power struggle and once a power struggle begins, it can be hard to put an end to it.
You don’t want to back down and your child has dug in his heels and feels he has no other options but to keep digging them in. What’s a parent to do?
Instead of having the situation continue to escalate, introduce the concept of a Clean Slate Pass.
The first thing you should know about Dr. Kim Foster is that she is one of the expert writers here at YMC. Her blog, Wicked Health, is informative but down to earth which is exactly how Kim is.
Long story short, I stumbled across this website late last week called Peek. It’s a new user testing platform where you submit your blog/website URL and a real person will visit your site, record a five minute video with their first impressions, and then it is emailed to you. For free.
One of the many great things my parents taught me was how to cook. From the age of 11, once a week I was responsible for finding a recipe, ensuring we had all the ingredients (and adding them to our weekly grocery list if we didn’t), cooking the meal, and cleaning up afterwards.
I remember being in that kitchen, feeling like Cinderella and my parents were the meanest parents in the land.
Last summer, two men in our community drove around in a white van trying to entice kids to get in. Police issued warnings and it was covered in our local paper several times.
You’ve used it, I’ve used it. It’s an innocuous three letter word, a word we’ve all used at one time or another. Yet these three letters are the biggest cause of, or continuation of, arguments because it is the word that negates everything you've said previous to it.
I'm often asked how I got my start at YMC. I mean, how does one get a job working with Erica Ehm when one doesn't even know who Erica Ehm is or that she runs a website or that you even want a job?
I remember when my kids were small and I knew every aspect of their life, 24/7. I also remember wanting a break, needing time away to recharge and reconnect with myself.
Oh, irony. How you mess with me.
Because now, my kids are older and I’m fighting to stay connected with them.
My husband and I have now been married 15 years *insert applause here*
In the grand scheme of things we are still in the baby stages of our marriage. I’m knocking-on-wood, we’ll be doing the old person shuffle dance–which bears an uncanny resemblance to the way we dance now–at our 60th, 70th, and 75th wedding anniversaries (although that last one will make us well into our 100s, so realistically, we’ll be sitting.
Valentine’s Day is coming up and while cute cards and pink everything may cut it with the younger set, if you’re a parent of older kids, finding a gift that isn’t too cutesy can be a challenge.
Listen, I know I’m not going to win any fans with this, but if you want to be less stressed and enjoy your mornings more, try getting up earlier. And I don’t mean waking up earlier, being in complete denial, and trying to fall back asleep. I mean actually getting out of bed.
If you smile at strangers 9 out of 10 will smile back. The 10th will give you a look that says “I think you’re a serial killer” and will avoid eye contact at all costs.
Head Tilt
The degree to which a person tilts his or her head when you’re describing something going on in your life is directly correlated to how f*cked up your life actually is.
Forgot to email your boss a report that was due two hours ago: Slight tilt = Meh, not a big deal
When Adam was a toddler, he was diagnosed as having severe allergies to all nuts, eggs, shellfish, wheat, dairy, and strawberries. That was the day carrying an EpiPen (epinephrine auto-injector), reading food labels, asking about ingredients, and always being vigilant about the food he came into contact with became a part of our lives.
The good is that we are spending more time together as a family. We talk more and I’ve laughed with my kids more in the past two months than previously when we were all hooked into computer screens.
