It’s hard to feel grateful these days. Between the Pandemic, the election and state of our government, our divided country, civil unrest, fear of the future, and parenting kids who have been locked down with virtual school and virtual life, gratitude is not top of mind. Until today. I received an email from a longtime client, thanking me for all I taught her about cultivating gratitude in her children way back when. She included a photo of the same “Gratitude Jar” she has pulled out every … [Read more...] about Gratitude in the Pandemic…and how to grow it all year long.
Holidays
What’s a Parent to do about Halloween during a Pandemic?
During these complicated, layered, stressful, kind of crazy times it feels like a great relief to be writing about Halloween. I don’t have to think about the Pandemic, distance learning, wiggly kids, depressed teens, the next Supreme Court Justice, the election, or what I am cooking for dinner! When the news came out that trick-or-treating might be banned this year, all I could think about was how children would be crushingly disappointed. We all need some relief from the harsh realities of … [Read more...] about What’s a Parent to do about Halloween during a Pandemic?
“Is Santa Real, Mommy?”
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? Should I tell him the truth? Should I lie? Won’t he be so disappointed? What if he accuses me of having lied to him when he finds out the truth? Let me put your mind at ease. You have not been lying to your child if you have allowed Santa … [Read more...] about “Is Santa Real, Mommy?”
Talking to Your Kids About Homelessness…in the Season of Gratitude
I want to feel upbeat today. Thanksgiving is a blink away, and it’s time to conjure up some gratitude. I do have so much for which I am grateful. And believe me, I am front and center in expressing it to whomever will listen. But today it’s hard to feel that way. My day started with article after article in the LA Times about the crisis of homelessness in my city. Then I went for a walk on this fall day in November, and it is too hot for me to be out exercising, 87 degrees. So, I … [Read more...] about Talking to Your Kids About Homelessness…in the Season of Gratitude
Gratitude Beyond Thanksgiving
Each year as Thanksgiving approaches, there is an mighty uptick in the gratitude discussions at school. Gratitude awareness fills the mommy blogsphere. And parents begin to think about the need for cultivating more gratitude in their spoiled kids…especially as the season of gimme is right around the corner. But shouldn’t gratitude be a year round attitude, part of our regular lives and our kids’ everyday school curricula? We know a whole lot more about the importance of gratitude, beyond … [Read more...] about Gratitude Beyond Thanksgiving
Redirecting the Holiday Gimmes
Sugar Plum fairies and fa la la la la are not the only things that come with the winter holidays. So does a parent’s worst fear that she has raised the spoiled child she swore she would never have. At no other time of year do the cries of “Gimme Gimme!” echo so loudly across our land. A case of the gimmes is not limited to the well-off. Parents across a wide range of incomes are plagued by concerns that they are raising a spoiled, ungrateful child. But here’s the truth of the matter: having … [Read more...] about Redirecting the Holiday Gimmes