Teaching responsibility and natural consequences to children
The other day, I stood there listing out to my son the things he had to do before he left for soccer practice and what he should be doing with his time. And then I just stopped. I stopped talking. I stopped time-keeping. I stopped nagging. I stopped micromanaging....
Parenting a teen? Talk less and listen more.
Last night I needed to talk less and listen more. My family knows that I am not at my best at night. I am tired and sensitive. And yet it’s at bedtime that my children often want to talk. Sometimes I can barely handle it. I get more easily triggered. I don’t respond...
The number one trauma parents want to prevent: child sexual abuse
We're going to talk about something hard today: preventing child sexual abuse. I lived in Boston at the time when the first child sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church broke and became public. Like many people, I was shocked, disgusted, and angry. It was such...
It’s time for beauty, honor, and integrity
It's Time for Beauty When your heart is heavy, when your eyes are tired, when you’ve been working too much and too hard, when your anxiety runs high, when you’ve read about yet another cruelty happening in our world... let it be time for beauty. Yes, pause just...
I was that new kid sitting alone at the lunch table
Part 2 of 2: I was that new kid sitting alone at the lunch table. I shared part 1 of the story here. I thought I was the “only one,” but it turns out that this story resonated with millions of people. There's more to the story. Today, I'm sharing what else...
The impact of teachers who regard their students
The impact of teachers who regard their students is felt way beyond one school year. Just walking into Mr. Erard’s upper elementary Montessori class as a parent, you could tell there was something magical about it. There was a vibe, an energy to the room that made...
What children really need when they face challenges
What children really need when they face challenges isn’t for us to save them, but rather this… “Mom,” my eight year old daughter called down to me, “I’m stuck.” She was standing above me on a small wooden platform high in the trees and far from the sweet, safe...
How to set the compass of your heart…and teach your children, too.
Each day - a new day. A new opportunity to set the compass of your heart. It is so so easy for me to wake up and hit the ground running. Some of it is reality and some of it is self-imposed. I love my work! I love writing! I've written before about the one morning...
Make America great starting with how we regard the most vulnerable
"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows...
Self-awareness and Leadership: 7 Skills Every Leader Should Hone
“Self-awareness is the starting point of leadership,” Bill George, professor of leadership at Harvard Business School, former CEO of Medtronic It’s apparent in today’s political climate that self-awareness and leadership don’t always go hand-in-hand. We need leaders...