I have been listening for a long time and often heard you speak about the difficulties of blending two families. The first time I heard you mention blended families don't usually work, I was angry with you, because I thought my blended family was a Godsend. We seemed to be functioning just fine(according to me). Well, my husband of four years decided to leave me and my daughters 2 weeks ago and his main reason was "I am tired of being neglected". More >>

I've been taking lessons in shooting pool now each week for two years.  My teacher, Al Vafa, is a pro:  an interesting, funny, smart, thoughtful guy, and a magnificent pool player. If I am in the right mindset, the average "not that serious" pool player would have a hard time beating me.  Again, that is if I am in the right mindset .  It took the better part of the first year of lessons to stop saying "I suck," to stop crying, getting angry, and even once actually breaking my costly pool cue. This was not just about pool.  This was a metaphor for my life.  More >>

Back to school is in the air. Parents are currently being bombarded with back-to-school sales in magazines, newspapers, television ads, and store flyers... More >>

This past weekend I found myself at a dinner party... I had one couple ask me what I did for a living and I answered, "I raise my 3 kids." They looked at me a little baffled and I could tell they were trying to think of something polite to say... it came out as "Oh....well.... okay..." I just smiled and moved on. More >>

I would like to thank you for your encouragement towards moms to stay at home. Ever since 2nd grade I have been listening to you with my mom, and now I am heading off to college. My mom has always been at home for my 3 older siblings and me, her baby. More >>

As a divorced mother of two, I started my own home business without any capital and paid off $35,000 debt in 5 years on $1,000 a month income. I am often asked what are the top lessons I would give a family or even a single person who is dealing with a tight budget. Here are my top tips for living on a small income.  More >>

Complaints about back and shoulder pain are increasingly common. Parents have every right to be concerned about how heavy their child's backpack is. In fact, overweight backpacks have been getting so much attention that April was declared National Backpack Safety Month by the Congress of Chiropractic State Associations.  More >>

If Robert Frost is right and good fences make good neighbors, are they good for families as well? The boundaries in the mother/daughter relationship are complicated because our daughters expect to be taken care of and also need to individuate. More >>

When was the last time that you really thought about the true meaning of what you were saying? If you have ever taken a foreign language, you may have heard from your instructor that English is one of the most difficult languages to learn because of all of the rules and exceptions, in addition to the many situations when there are no rules. More >>

In terms of emotional oversimplification, children rarely learn to look below the surface of the most salient emotions to understand how emotions such as anger, sarcasm, or arrogance may be triggered by other emotions. More simply, they are not taught to do this. More >>