Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you my Mom, Ruth. She is a real character who believes in being thankful for each and every day while embracing risk taking and experiencing life to its fullest. Since she lives in Chicago, the phone is our most often means of communication.

When I receive a phone call from her that begins with, “Guess what?” I immediately freeze.

I quickly sit down, grab a coffee, diet coke and at the same time, a piece of chocolate.

A recent article in the globegazette.com entitled “Emma, Ethan Lead Iowa’s Baby Name List” by Rod Boshart discusses the most popular baby names today. And also the anxiety that parents experience when they have to come up with a name! In days gone by your name was simply your name, the word by which to [...]

Understanding respect and boundaries is crucial to parenting. What does this mean? When I was growing up, respect meant one thing only – how we spoke to and behaved towards our elders. Today, I have a very different understanding of these words.

I loved an article written by Paul Dalton in articlescollections.com called “Happiness – Just How Do You Do It?”

Dalton says that adults refer to the “pursuit of happiness” or “I’ll be happy when…” Happiness for most is conditional and placed in the future. He says that we even refer to ourselves as the human race implying that we are chasing something.

My sister and I were talking the other day about how difficult we find it to NOT be helicopter parents. So naturally, this article at nytimes.com by Amanda M. Fairbanks called “Letting Your Grad Student Go” grabbed my attention.

I know some parents who intimidated me as a young mother. They seemed to get everything just right. Their children were always immaculate, clean and well-behaved. They slept when they were supposed to and ate what was good for them. These same parents found the time to teach their barely toddlers to recognize their abc’s and still find space in a day to work out!

I can’t help but notice the hype around the movie, “Where the Wild Things Are”. My daughter is seeing it twice in the upcoming couple of weeks. Once with her school and then again at a friend’s birthday party. Why are children and adults drawn to this story?

I felt honored to be interviewed by Anamarie Seidel, co-author with her husband Cory, of the upcoming book, “What You Don’t Fix … Your Kids Inherit.” Thank you Anamarie for making me think! The premise of this book is as the title suggests: we need to commit to personal growth during our lifetime if we [...]

What does it mean to have a sense of humour and where does this fit into emotional intelligence? Many successful people have a twinkle in their eyes. They often are able to laugh good-naturedly with others and will often laugh at themselves. However, humour is one of those characteristics that so easily can turn from “feel good” to “feel bad.”

There are so many wonderful things about Jennifer Kolari’s book “Connected Parenting” that I hardly know where to begin.

Kolari understands that even when parents feel despair, overwhelmed, angry or feel guilty because they no longer like their child, that these feelings are just a mask for fear and confusion. Kolari never blames parents who have lost their way and find themselves in a vortex of negativity.