“So, how do you handle the death of a pet when your child is older than 7 years?” asked a client after reading my previous blog, When a Pet Dies.  Good question. As children grow and mature, they begin to understand death differently. Children older than 7 years... Read more...

   Way back in February you sent in the deposit. Sleep-away camp, here we come!  It was going to be fantastic—swimming in the lake, roasting marshmallows by the campfire, pillow fights in the cabin.  Just weeks before opening day, your son’s excitement fills the air. I get... Read more...

Sheepishly, the mom asked, “Should I still be wiping my seven year old’s tush after he makes a poop?”  Some of you might be gasping in horror, but others of you are nodding in agreement as you wonder the same thing. The third time in a week... Read more...

I answered the door at 10:00 a.m. Sunday morning, to find a good looking, gray haired gentleman. “Yes?” I said, somewhat perturbed that my racing to set up for the 12:30 p.m event was being interrupted. “I am Jeff Hearn” said the guest who was supposed to... Read more...

It’s August...three, four, even five more weeks of summer vacation depending upon your child’s first day of school. Summer time and the livin’ is (still) easy! Even though the consistent, routinized school year schedule actually makes life easier for most children and parents, getting back into the swing... Read more...

I guess my book, You’re Not the Boss of Me, came out too late for the mom who wrote in the  Two Cents Worth column of my local newspaper:  I think the Pony Baseball Association should consider eliminating playoffs for the younger players (Pintos).  My Pinto player’s... Read more...

With your first born child, it’s pretty easy to control his diet of everything—sugar, television, war toys, choice of friends—for the first few years anyway. But then he hits school age, somewhere after five years old, kindergarten age, and the once controlling parent begins to question some... Read more...

A mom called me from New York today. In a panic she explained that her mother was in the last stages of   her life and what on earth would she tell her child.  She said she needed a crash course in death.  So sad for her, but... Read more...

One of the signs (sometimes laced with a bit of sadness) that your child is growing up is when the inevitable question comes, Is Santa real? While it seems so simple, it is one that puts many a parent into a tail spin.  What should I say?... Read more...