I am a fun mom. Really, ask anyone. Ask my kids, my husband and my friends. I love having fun, pushing the routine from time to time, and a good belly laugh makes my day. But when it comes down to manners, even a fun mom has to be shown a little respect. I think it hit me when my kids started karate a few weeks ago and even Sensei Diana demanded a little respect. She would not accept "Yeah" as a child’s answer when asked a question. She requested eye contact, a calm body and a proper "Hello" and "Goodbye." I like Sensei Diana! Boy, those kids listened and listened happily. I decided then, …

  I’m old school. I’m stubborn, and I don’t follow trends when it comes to parenting. We don’t watch TV during the school week, we don’t sit on the computer and play mindless games and there are no hats, cell phones or bad manners at our dinner table. So, when my friends started asking me how much allowance I give my elementary school-aged children I laughed ... out loud. Why in the world would I pay my children to do the things needed to sustain the house they live in? I did some research on the topic and, it turns out, much to my surprise that there are a host of “professionals” that …

  Let’s just put it out there, shall we: We don’t keep our New Year’s resolutions. We mean well, but those grand thoughts of ditching the holiday weight and curbing our TV watching usually fall by the wayside just weeks into the first month. Not this year! I am making resolutions that I can actually keep. What’s my secret you ask? Simplicity -- no need to set yourself up for failure. Make some resolutions that are actually attainable. Here are some off my parenting list: Count to three before yelling at kids. Mind you, I didn’t say stop all yelling at kids; I just suggest that taking a deep …

If I hear my children ask when they can open the gifts already under our tree one more time, I promise you: Mine will be the house you pass with all of their gifts thrown on the front yard. Oh, and with crying children standing on the front porch. No, no, I wouldn’t really do that. But some days I day dream about it. Some days, I want to ban presents all together and just stand around the piano as my daughter plays Christmas carols and my son dances about. Keeping children focused on the real meaning of Christmas is hard. Thankfully, I am determined. And after watching How The Grinch Stole …

  In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting the range of emotions run from terror to sadness to anger. I can’t get the image of terrified little Kindergarteners out of my head. I tried distracting myself with mundane chores. I tried playing Legos with my Pre-K and first-grade children. I tried calling friends and family. I finally decided to write. After all, that is what I have been doing since I was in Kindergarten. I write when I am happy and I write when I am sad. But as a parent, you never want to write about this. I was horrified when I saw the hoards of emails coming …

  This is the time of year I get the most questions about life as an interfaith family. They are all good, honest questions, so I never mind sharing how we do things. To be honest, when I met my husband more than 10 years ago, our different faith backgrounds didn’t cause us to skip a beat. One reason may be that we have both experienced “the other side,” so we were no strangers to each other’s holidays, traditions and culture. One of my dearest friends and neighbor growing up is Jewish, and I swear I spent as much time at her Temple as I did at my church. I loved the rituals, the stories, the…

  I'll admit it took me a little longer than usual to get in the holiday spirit this year. I'm sure it has something to do with the broken foot I have been nursing since Columbus Day. Fall is an incredibly busy time of year for everyone, but try adding in two birthdays, a husband’s crazy work schedule and the insane idea of hosting Thanksgiving and then you have a superstorm that doesn’t allow for putting your foot up on ice. But I digress. Getting into the holiday spirit is usually fairly easy when you have kids. You just can’t help but look at things through their eyes and go a little crazy…

  Ah, the holiday season. The turkey's been gobbled up, the pumpkin pie inhaled and our waistlines doubled over our already too tight jeans. As we unpack our Christmas decorations and dust off our menorahs, we start to think about how we, as parents, can keep this time of year from becoming less about family, giving and love and more about ourselves, receiving and mall frustration. When things get out of hand in the holiday department we need to go back to basics. Back to traditions, back to our community and back to a handful of carefully selected gifts that may even include some that are …

  I haven’t always liked board games, but now that I'm older and wiser I know it is because my three older brothers always been the pants off me at most any game we played. My dad was about the only one who “let” me win from time to time. Now that I have kids we have really gotten into the spirit of board games, I look for games that teach them something no matter how small. Recently, I discovered that with a little coaxing most any board game can be a learning experience for kids. Very quickly I saw how board games helped both kids learn about taking turns. My youngest was about 3-years-old …

  I am hosting Thanksgiving this year and couldn’t be happier about it. Mainly because I get to see my family, but also because we don’t have to endure the busiest travel day of the year via planes, trains and automobiles. I will be sure to remember that when my brothers show up with their families looking tired and defeated. But the prospect of my sister-in-law's delicious cooking and a few rounds of ping-pong (family tradition) will surly cure what ails them. But I think the best part about this Thanksgiving will be my “let the kids take over” mentality. I feel like my kids are finally old …

  I would love to rename Election Day as "Freedom Day." I think more people would vote if they could remember or, in some cases, even know what it took and what we lost in order to secure our Democracy. I guess you can tell by my tone that I have always been fascinated by politics. Yes, it can get ugly -- especially in a presidential race -- but cut through all of that nonsense and you get to the core of what Election Day is really about: Our freedom to decide who runs our country. My father was born in Germany and never ever took his right to vote in the United States for granted. He was …

  When we moved into our new home a year ago I was thrilled: Great town, great schools, great next door neighbors. Life was good. I did however begin to miss living in a traditional neighborhood. We live on a bust street and while I do like the constant hustle and bustle of that, I worried we wouldn’t get to know our extended neighbors. I chalked it up to one of the few things I would have to give up living in our new house, could be worse.  Life was moving along fairly well and we had a great relationship with our next door neighbors from day one. Soon, new neighbors moved in behind us and …

  I love driving around this time of year. I love seeing kids of all ages outside enjoying their youth, having fun and practicing their sport. My kids have noticed it too. We drive by many open fields and schools on the way home from my youngest child’s school and that gives me ample time to chat about the benefits of practice. The key word there being chat, not lecture. “What are those kids doing, mom?” asks my son. I answer with one short sentence and let it stick for a moment, "They are practicing their skills.” I can almost see the wheels turning in his mind as he pictures himself “…

  I've never been a fan of lunch. Maybe it is because what passed as lunch at school when I was growing up was inedible, and many say not much has changed. When my daughter began Kindergarten last year I decided to pack her lunches until I got a lay of the land. I studied the school lunch menu, asked other parents their opinion and, finally, allowed my daughter to buy lunch on the rare occasion she liked what was on the menu, which wasn’t often. Then I asked her what she thought. Beyond the thrill of standing in the lunch line and buying lunch, there was not much to report. The pizza was too …

  I don’t consider myself a martyr, but after a recent admission to friends that I hadn’t been away from my kids overnight in years, I began to rethink things.  The weekly all-nighters, the hourly feedings and the screaming fits are over. Well, to be honest, the screaming fits still happen just not at 4 in the morning because of diaper rash. So, doesn’t that mean that taking time for myself should be easier?Maybe the problem aren’t the kids, maybe the problem is me.   Well, that’s a load off my shoulders. I thought my kids were dragging me down. It turns out, I am dragging myself down. I am …

  I pride myself on being a very well informed and in-touch parent, but just as my daughter’s first sleep over request snuck up on me so did the realities of stranger danger. I did the basic "stay away from strangers" talk, roll played common abduction scenarios and how to yell "fire" instead of "help," reminded them never to leave my side and harped on who is OK to talk to and who isn’t, but when the outside world comes close to home my talks suddenly seemed inadequate. My town, Lexington, is struggling with and debating over what to do after a Level 3 sex offender has been hanging out in …

  Believe it or not, I have a friend who once claimed, “I am bored at home because raising this baby is so easy. My baby is easy!” Of course every set of eyes at the dinner tabled rolled with contempt as our friend blathered on about life with an easy baby. "She coos all day. She goes to sleep without any fuss and her poops smell like roses." Blah, blah, blah. None of us bought it for one moment and, while I wanted to press her for the real deal, I let it go. If she believed her baby was easy, then what was wrong with that? For starters, it makes the rest of us feel like inadequate, …

It’s about time I write something to stir up the comment section. I usually stick to the less controversial issues and leave the hardcore topics to the more tough-skinned. But I am done dodging the age-old question of whether or not it is OK to drink at kids' birthday parties and playdates. I am here to say that (for me anyway) it is OK!   Now I am not talking about binge parties and keggers. I am talking about hosts supplying some beers and some wine at their child’s birthday party or offering a glass of wine during a play date. A lot has been written about this dilemma in the past few years…

I was not prepared for the birthday invitation my 6-year-old daughter got about a month ago. I was thinking the usual bouncy house, gymnastics, bowling or pool party for the cool first-graders, but then I saw the words "sleep" and "over," and my heart sank. Decades of repressed sleepover disaster memories came flooding back. I sat back in my chair, reread the invitation and immediately wondered how and if this would work. Maybe we would be out of town. Maybe my daughter wouldn’t want to go. Or, maybe, there would be a hurricane and the whole stress inducing, bad childhood memory-making day …

I think it is fair to say that every mom dreams of dressing up their little girls in the sea of adorable outfits clothing manufacturing dream up every year. I will be the first to admit that, while I only bought one or two little boy outfits pre-delivery, I bought several perfectly pink frilly ensembles even though I had no idea what I was having. Good news is I was right in my assumption that I would have a girl first.  So now that the kids are getting older and their opinions louder, when is it time to look the other way and let kids dress themselves? Judging by some of the outfits I see at…