Growing a Giver
I know some families who, when giving their kids allowance, or birthday money, or money earned from jobs, or all three, make them divide it up: the kids have to put some aside for savings, some for charity, and the rest they can choose to use how they like. While I do understand the reasons/values behind this (one of which is the hope that they’ll get in the habit of doing that all their life), I haven’t been of the mindset to want to force giving—I’ve wanted to encourage giving and saving, and hope my kids will do both, but give them freedom and see how the chips fall. At my house, it didn’t take long to see the chips falling on two very opposite sides.

My Elusive Perfect Holiday Season
Gee... just when I was feeling proud of myself for getting the Halloween decorations put away by Nov. 15... the jingling, snowflake-filled ads on TV are reminding me that in less than two weeks, it’s time to get out the Christmas decorations…but first I have to clear the birthday cards off the fireplace mantle in order to make room for the patchwork sitting turkey and vintage pilgrim candles…and the next round of birthday cards. See, in our house, the “holiday season” starts with Halloween and doesn’t stop until New Year’s Day, with all four of our birthdays thrown in there in between, in addition to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Add in all the school programs, music recitals,

Disappearing Doos
Did you know that a lot of women over a certain age never wash their own hair? And they have it "done" only once a week? "That's so GROSS!" say my girls. (Hmmm, if I were them, at least some of the time, I wouldn't be talking...) I think about "the generation gap of hair" once in awhile, especially lately as my 85-year-old mother has been staying with us for her annual visit. That visit always includes finding her a local "beauty operator" to "do" her hair once a week. Just like she's been doing ever since she was in her 20's.

Maybe We Should Just Buy A Rooster...
Jim Fay, co-author of Parenting With Love and Logic (one of my favorite parenting books) often says "You can't make a kid go to sleep, but you can wake him up, so stop trying to control what you can't and concentrate on what you can." In other words, let kids stay up as long as they want, but feel free to bang pots and pans and play musical instruments outside their door early in the morning. His experience has been that kids will naturally regulate themselves on their bedtime and eventually go to sleep at a decent time once they see how tired they are from "staying up". Something tells me this advice was meant for younger kids and not teens. At least, not my teen.

A Day in the Life
When I was once a part of the 9-5 business world, there was a time I followed the adage, "Don't dress for the job you have, dress for the job you want." So lately I've been thinking maybe I should start dressing like a jazz dancer. Or an art gallery/gift shop owner...or anything other than a work-at-home mom... ;)