I spent the first three decades of my life running away from home. During my teenage years, I bided my time until college. Then in college, I bided my time until adulthood. I managed to come home only for holidays, despite the fact that I went to a university in the city where I grew up. How did I do that? How did I not run into my parents at the park or the grocery store …

MARK 12:31-33 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” 1 JOHN 3:18 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. It’s dark here still–the sun on its way up chasing the moon. The sky is a purple gray, the color of a bruise. The whole world feels bruised. My children and husband are still sleeping while I think about all …

One night, in the not so distant past, I found myself cooking three meals, three times a day. If you’re doing the math, that’s nine different meals every single day for three very different types of eaters. Dinner was the worst. By 6 pm, I would begin prepping a meal for me and my husband to eat after all the kids went to bed. By 6:30 I’d whip up an easy-ish toddler dish for my …

Oktoberfest, the world’s greatest beer festival, is held annually in Munich and other cities around the world. Stretching from September to October, this salute to beer seems off-limits for kids at first glance. But this isn’t touring wine country with the littles. It is, if done right, the coolest state fair and carnival and concert wrapped in to one. This is one family event where every single one of you can have fun. It’s ironic …

Amazon bought Whole Foods. Robots are stocking the warehouse shelves. My cable company representative is a staccato automation. This is not Blade Runner. This is the world. I bussed tables in a meat-and-three at age 15. That was my first job. Despite the fact that I wasn’t allowed near any food that hadn’t been chewed or manhandled, I still had to dress the part. I was issued black pinstriped pants with an elasticized waist – …

PSALM 143:5-6 I remember the days of long ago;     I meditate on all your works     and consider what your hands have done. 6 I spread out my hands to you;     I thirst for you like a parched land. I wish I could wear phylacteries without being weird. Observant Jews can wear them during prayers. There would be something so comforting about rolling up those passages of scripture and placing them in their boxes and strapping them on to my …

Having taught public school, private school, home school tutorials, and one-on-one, I’ve seen it all. There will always be discipline problems and tired kids and non-interest (not everyone loves a good John Donne poem). But one key to a child’s success both socially and behaviorally is the relationship between the teacher and the parents. Yet this is often one of the hardest relationships to keep positive. If you let it, it can become the cog …

“Wonder” is coming to theaters in November. You can watch the trailer here. Chances are, if you have kids anywhere from eight to 18, you’ve already heard the premise, which is based on the best-selling novel by R. J. Palacio. The tale is about a child named Auggie who was born with a genetic abnormality that caused facial deformities among other things. The story follows his first attempt, as a fifth grader, to attend a …

“Three under three.” “Three in diapers.” “Twins…double trouble.” “The days are long, but the years are short.” I’ve heard these phrases many times over the last few years (less so now that the kids are 5 and 3) and while it is usually spoken with wonder and sympathy, I always want to laugh a little, because yeah…I know the math. Click on the picture below to see our reality on Scary Mommy.   *Linking up …

PSALM 115:9-11 All you Israelites, trust in the Lord—     he is their help and shield. 10 House of Aaron, trust in the Lord—     he is their help and shield. 11 You who fear him, trust in the Lord—     he is their help and shield. Trust is a delicate thing and precarious, like a magnolia blossom on the edge of a waterfall. It floats and drifts and sends its heady scent up into the mist. It’s beautiful, but …