Redefine ‘Comfort Food’ for Your Kids

 Posted by Julie on November 10, 2009  Nutrition  No Responses »
Nov 102009
 

There is something seductively comforting about a bowl of homemade Mac ‘n Cheese on a cold day.

“What?!”, you say. “YOU, the Nutritionist, eat Mac ‘n Cheese?”

Well, not all the time. In fact, I had totally given up on this fat-laden food many years ago. Then Andrew made it one blustery day back in September. Wow, it was exceptional, and it clued me in to why Max finds such comfort in this tasty treat!

We all have our list of comfort foods. Yes, even the self-righteous…uh, I mean, healthy eaters like me gravitate towards familiar, soothing, heavy foods when the colder weather hits. Seriously, when it’s 40 degrees outside, the salads and smoothies just don’t cut it! Pastas, pancakes, potatoes, meatloaf, hot apple pie – now that’s more like it. Continue reading »

I am new to this…be gentle…

 Posted by Patrick on November 9, 2009  Raising Children as a Single Parent  No Responses »
Nov 092009
 

THE TAO OF PARENTING 

Howdy, I’m taking a moment to introduce myself. 

My name is Patrick Talley and I am a dad of two and I’m from  a big ol’ goofy family down in Texas. 

I’m the happy dad to 2 great kiddos who are now teen-agers.  As teens, they both think it pretty ridiculous that I have written a book on parenting and that I have now been asked to start blogging about parenting. 

Upon completion of my first parenting book “DIVORCED DADS’ RULES FOR RAISING RELATIVELY STABLE KIDS”, my teen-age daughter asked me, “So what makes you think you have a right to put a book out on parenting?” 

I quickly responded with, “Well, to begin with the simple fact that you feel comfortable enough to challenge me on the subject is one argument ‘for’ me.  And hey look around you.  Take a look at your peers.  Comparatively you and your brother are not that screwed up!” 

 Issue resolved….I guess, she just went back to her dinner and later she and her brother continued to tease me about all of this.

 

I have had many trials and tribulations as a dad and have executed with excellence on many parenting occasions.  Continue reading »

 Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,

Communicating With My Kids

 Posted by Bill on November 6, 2009  How to Communicate with Your Kids  No Responses »
Nov 062009
 

Last week I blogged my kids being home from school for the third day due to the snow storm we had here in Denver. I received a lot of emails of support and encouragement from my friends in Colorado and a few “huh” “huh” comments from my friends in sunny southern California. Well as I sit here today I want all of my California friends (that would be Tracy, Mary and Dorcy) to know that today the temperature here in Denver is approaching 80 degrees. Denver has the most amazing climate. If you true enjoy four seasons, Colorado is a great place to call home.

I am reminded that living here is sometimes like communicating with my kids. Some days are stormy and other days are sunny, but whatever the climate, it is guaranteed to change on you before you know it. I have learned to appreciate the sunny days as well as the stormy days. They will all eventually pass, so appreciate them for what they are. It doesn’t matter to me if I am having a sunny communication day or a stormy day, I am at least enjoying the moment.

I thought that this week I would give you one of my You-Tube Videos about communicating with your kids. I hope that you enjoy it. For me I am headed outside to enjoy the weather. Have a great weekend everybody. Continue reading »

Battle of the wills

 Posted by Tracy on November 4, 2009  General  No Responses »
Nov 042009
 

I had come to pick Paris up at her dad’s house and she was working on her homework.  He asked me to sit down with her and help her with her homework.  After a few minutes she asks me to tell her what the answer was.  As much as I wanted to, I instead attempted to guide her so she could figure out the answer on her own.  She proceeded to get really frustrated with me and eventually got up to basically tell her dad on me that I wasn’t giving her the answer.  I thought to myself, “Oh this is going to be interesting to see how all this plays out.” I prepared myself on how I was going to handle it if her dad just gave her the answer which would of upset me because then I would have looked like the bad cop and him the good cop.  Since he has been in Kentucky pretty much her entire 7 years of life, we have not often had to deal with this scenario.  But since we have managed to do so well agreeing on pretty much most topics I assumed this wouldn’t be a problem.  Boy, was I wrong. 

I recently read an article that made a lot of sense from a lady that teaches Redirecting Children’s Behavior courses.  The article was titled “Free yourself this school year from homework.”  She talked about how parents have a tendency to be too involved with homework and how it could actually be counterproductive for our children.  Some of the ways we do this is by making sure the child gets their homework done on time, correcting mistakes and sometimes even doing it for them.  All of this seems like the right thing to do but in the end what it could do is rob the child of experiencing what it feels like to have a deadline and missing it because they didn’t properly plan their time.  By correcting their mistakes, we don’t let them learn from their mistakes.  By doing their homework for them, it can interfere with their ability to be creative in solving their own challenges which can create long terms problems in achieving success.  

I was excited to share this new found information with Gray when we came upon this little hiccup where I found him helping her correct the mistakes.  He didn’t give her the answer which was good but then when she proceeded to spell her answer, she spelled the word wrong.  When her dad reviewed the homework he saw the misspelling and proceeded to erase it and tell her how to spell it.  So, I decided to tell him what I learned and was hoping he would at least entertain the idea of this.  But, no, instead I got massive resistance and he proceeded to say, “I’m not sending my kid to school with her homework being incorrect.” Seeing that I was not going to change his mind at all and not willing to bend my position, I concluded that this was going to be one of those instances that we were going to be parenting in two totally different ways.  This frustrates the hell out of me, and I don’t want Paris getting mixed messages.  But in the end, we are not going to see eye to eye on everything and I figure all I can do is let her know that she will hear different opinions throughout her life.  Many that will be neither be right nor wrong but nonetheless totally different views.  The best I can do is let her know that she can listen to both sides without judgment and use a combination of analysis and trusting her gut to decide what makes the most sense for her.  Continue reading »

Teaching Our Kids the Power of Gift Giving

 Posted by Julie on November 4, 2009  General  4 Responses »
Nov 042009
 

With the holidays approaching, I’m reminded of a lesson we learned last year about giving and receiving.

Following an interaction Max had with a friend, I was inspired to make a list of things we could do to share our gifts with others.

Continue reading »

The Kids Third Snow Day

 Posted by Bill on October 30, 2009  General  1 Response »
Oct 302009
 

For those of you living in warm climates you may not know what a “Snow Day” is. Wikipedia describes it as:

“A snow day in the United States and Canada is a day in which school classes are cancelled or delayed by snow, heavy ice, or low temperatures.”

Kids call it the greatest day of each school year. Some call it a day off. Who ever said it was a day off was obviously not a single parent. I live in Colorado, so occasionally we will get snow days. It is rare but does happen. My daughter didn’t have one snow day last year. She was depressed all summer when reminded of this. My son did get a few but that was only because he goes to an all boys school that has students attend from as far away as 45 miles away. Snow days for my kids are better than Christmas, birthdays and the occasional check in the mail from their grandparents. You can only imagine how happy my kids are now that they are going on thier third snow day in a row. Continue reading »

Highlight the positive.

 Posted by Jerry on October 29, 2009  General  No Responses »
Oct 292009
 

I have a long time friend down in Nashville, Tennessee. He and I have known each other since we were 7 years old. When we were younger, he lived with his mom during the school year, in New York City. He would come to stay with his dad during the summer, in Seattle. His dad lived on the same block I did.

One July day, back in 1986, I was walking down the block, and there was a birthday party going on. It was his birthday. He said, “hi!”, and I said, “hi!” back. We’ve been friends ever since.

The kind of friends, that when we were younger, we would beat the crap out of each other, then we’d be best friends again, a half hour later. Continue reading »

Page 96 of 101« First...102030...9495969798...Last »