Trying to help A. find a way to streamline her chore list has been a little bit of a struggle. It's the thing she most often gets in trouble for -- forgetting to do specific chores, or only doing them halfway. She has a habit of lying about doing her chores -- saying she's done specific ones when she hasn't to get out of having to do them at all ...

I know that A. really enjoys singing. She wanted to sing in the talent show last year, but the acts were cut due to time constraints. If you're upstairs while she's on the computer, her voice fills the house. The issue is that she generally sings the English translations to Japanese songs, which don't follow the natural rhythm of the songs ...

My daughter, A., is an only child -- at least, for now. While for a brief period of time she really wanted a sibling, she has now decided she is better off without one, and dislikes the fact that Thomas and I are considering trying for a baby sometime in the not *too* distant future. We've had many conversations, of course, about how she would ...

This is part 1 of a 3 part series on our summer vacation. To read part 2 click here. To read part 3 click here.  So, the first week of September, we had a Big Alley Family Vacation. This was A. and I's first time participating in this time-honored tradition of my husband's family. Thomas spent many summer weeks of his youth ...

This past Sunday, I was teaching my 4th & 5th Grade Classroom about Resiliency as a tool from the Unitarian Universalist Toolbox of Faith, and I led them through an exercise on resiliency that I actually found on the Fishful Thinking website about finding the silver lining of negative situations. Finding the silver lining is easier said than ...

Every night, when I tuck my daughter into bed, I always ask her if she's had a good day. Occasionally, I'll even ask her what her favorite thing was about the day, especially if she seems to be having a difficult time finding something good about the day, or tells me that she had a terrible day.So, this morning, when I asked her if she had a good ...

A. brought her mid-term report card home last week. She's making all B's and C's, and she's actually making an A in Work Habits. It's really amazing the progress that A. has been making in school ever since she moved to the CDC classroom. There have been few incidents at school, and generally the only phone calls and emails I get are positive ones ...

While I was at work Friday afternoon, I received a phone call from A.'s teacher. Initially, I was concerned -- perhaps she'd fallen sick, perhaps she'd had another uncontrollable meltdown, perhaps there was some other crisis that would require my intervention or input.''I just wanted to let you know that A. just made a very excellent choice,'' the ...