Be curious for a moment. Imagine you and your child switched bodies. You are now your child. You are now your child's height and size. The abilities you now have are only those of your child's. Whatever the age your child is, that is now how old you are. For most of us, we can all remember being a kid. If we stop and allow ourselves, we can almost transport ourselves back to our favorite childhood memory or favorite childhood spot. Who was there? Where was it? If you close yo

Imagine your spouse or partner tells you that your in-laws are coming over. Your told that they just want to give you something. "What if they come inside? The house is a mess. Dishes are dirty. Clothes are on the floor. Who knows what's in this bowl, and why is not in at least the kitchen, much less the sink? Ugh!" What do you do? Frantically, you pick up, and if nothing at all, you tidy things up. Why? You are afraid someone will criticize the way your home looks. If you ar

When I was a teenager, I was determined to show all the adults in my life how to be a great parent and how they were not good parents. I was so judgmental. I think most kids are at least to some degree critical of their parents. When I got older in my 20's and before I got married and had kids of my own, my judgmentalism got even stronger. I saw parents correct their kids (or the lack thereof), and I would think, "I will NOT be that kind of parent. I will do things differentl

Sometimes we just need to know that someone is in our corner in it with us.

Last night was easy. She told me. It took the guesswork out of trying to figure out what she was feeling. But she didn’t tell me with her words. She didn’t “use her voice.” Her body told me. She was either cold or she was scared. Frankly, it could have been either, but since we were under a tornado watch and the wind was blowing madly through the tops of the trees and it was beginning to rain, her body was shaking like one of the leaves outside, it was easy for me to tell tha