What bothers you most in life? What action would you be willing to take this month to be a pebble causing a ripple of change? It feels like there’s an ocean of uncertainty, fear, and just plain bad stuff in our world lately. Terrorist attacks, brutality toward and by police, political divisions and coups and…
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November Bucket List Life Dare: Express Gratitude
Does it ever feel to you like Thanksgiving is here and gone in a flash? Like the blessing over dinner that we pass off as “giving thanks” isn’t proportionate to how much we have to be grateful for? It bothers me, but I have to admit that I’m not very good at doing something about it….
October Bucket List Life Dare: Random Acts of Kindness
We’re into a new month already, which means it’s time for another bucket list life dare. This month is about taking action on those kind, uplifting ideas you’ve had for making another person’s day better. One of my struggles is in making the shift from being a person who wants to be more generous, thoughtful,…
Talk About It: Post-Adventure Family Conversations
What kind of conversations do you have with your kids after you’ve reached a bucket list goal? What does your “debriefing” look like? Over Spring Break our family took a few bucket list adventures. Our eldest daughter spent three weeks on a school-sponsored exchange trip to Spain. The rest of us visited the LEGO Discovery…
Why Bucket Lists Make Me Grateful (Mom to Mom Gratitude Gala Week 1)
Sunlight radiated off a nearby hill. Below us a small lake rippled in the gentle breeze. My daughter and I ate our lunches at a shady picnic table, watching archers arrange targets in the range across the parking lot. It gave us just enough time to observe the local protocol before pulling her bow and…
One Way to Improve Your Kids’ Decision Making Skills
So much to do. So little time. But do you ever make your children choose? And could making them choose under the pressure of “not enough time for it all” backfire? It’s easy to want to avoid making our kids choose between activities. We don’t want them to miss out. We don’t want to shortchange…
Back to School Book Review: A Textbook for Moms & Dads
Almost every new parent wishes their baby came with a manual. Thankfully, as steep as the learning curve feels at the time, those early days and weeks of parenthood are relatively simple. It’s mostly a matter of learning what your baby’s cries mean, how to get him to sleep, when to feed, and how to…
Why We Need the Courage to Admit When We’re Wrong
It’s hard to admit when we’ve done something wrong and hurt another person in the process. Really hard. In fact, it’s easier to point our finger at another source than to own up to our role in the matter. Have you ever noticed this tendency in yourself? You know you’ve got to apologize because it’s…