D-N-D... It's Date Night This Week

I am both excited, and sad, to say...

Please Do Not Disturb...We are on our honeymoon.

Not a very long one and not a very extravagant one, but it's time alone, none the less.

I suppose parents are allowed to get away. I'm just not sure how to do it very well.

Raising three kids for the last fourteen years, I've spent very little time away from them. And when I do, I feel dreadfully guilty.

I am surely being tested this time around, because my two youngest children brought home papers for field trips...asking me to chaperone...although, it's the dates of my honeymoon.(I almost cried, then I almost canceled the mommy/daddy time...Sshhhh...don't tell the groom, I don't think he'd be very happy.)

After talking with some friends I realized I couldn't allow the motherly-guilt to ruin our special time together. I learned from my first marriage...(because I had never spent extra alone-time with my spouse back then)...dates for mom and dad are just as important as time with the kids, and must be scheduled.

So, even though the kids will be going on fieldtrips, and I will feel guilty, my friends tell me 'there will be more fieldtrips that I'll go on and some that I already have ... but there won't be another honeymoom, so enjoy it'.

I am, and I will, but I know even though my husband and I will be away on a honeymoom, it won't be much different than any other date we've been on...

I bet we won't be able to go 20 minutes without talking about the kids.

It happens every time.

Back to School Anxiety: Bullying

Download “School Boy Being Stressed” by David Castillo Dominici via freedigitalphotos.net I recently wrote about how to help your child if they’re struggling with going back to school because they were bullied. My biggest most important tip was to listen, because I honestly could not write a ‘How-to-make-them-not-afraid’ column. Frankly I thought that was absurd. Fear is sometimes real. Anxiety is sometimes truly there, and for a good reason. Our job as parents isn’t to try to make it go away, it’s to try to find out the true source of those worrisome feelings. If you’d like to read more, click here. And if you’re child is struggling to find excitement about the new school year, don’t deny it, just accept it and move forward gently. Here’s some more on bullying: Family Matters Links: A Touching Story/Song Bullying: A thing of the past A Peace Poem By My Teenage Daughter A Deeper Insight into My Thoughts on People Who Bring Harm to Others Other Links: Stop Bul

6 Ways to Support Teens and Mental Health (Column Related)

Enjoying a trip to see family and exploring the outdoors. May was Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s over now, but it shouldn’t be. I’m not a medical professional or anything even close, but I am convinced that every person on the planet (no matter age, economic status, profession, race, or gender) is vulnerable to events that can alter their state of mind. If you’re not sure about this, just research the increase in the amount of people seeking psychological help due to the pandemic, then try getting an appointment with a therapist or counselor that doesn’t require weeks or months on a wait list. There are so many things damaging our mental health that we don’t even realize. Add underlying issues not yet detected and undiagnosed…it’s a bad situation made worse, and the need for support more urgent. Many teens are struggling with mental health issues right now and many of us don’t even know it. How could we? Not too many teens feel comfortable talking to adults about ‘their stuff’ a

Green Punch Buggy....!!!!

Green Punch Buggy...No Punch Back! As I was writing this blog post, my son came to me showing off his Lego creation. And don't you know I got hit at least five times since on my computer screen was displaying at least five different punch buggies, of five different colors thanks to Google Images. (Bad timing I'm thinking...) How can we possibly have world peace with these silly cars in the world!? ;) Don't the owners of these cute-but-obnoxious-cars understand that driving these things around town promotes violence!? ;) Anyhow.... The original purpose of this blog was to ask parents everywhere this question: Do you find yourself saying 'PUNCH BUGGY *BLANK-COLOR*! ' to yourself, even when the kids are not in the car??? I do! Isn't it funny how those games we used to play as a child are still around? I bet our parents say the same thing.... HAPPY FRIIIIIIDAAAAYYYY! P.S. I got hit at least ten more times, since as my son stood beside

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