This fall my 18 year-old son, my first-born, my newly minted young adult, will be leaving home to start university.  I have never been an overly protective mother.  Over the years, he has often left home, even for extended times.  At 8 years old, he spent a week with members of our extended family whom he barely knew. After that there were...

Teach your kids to cook so you don't have to! Here's my philosophy in a nutshell: Each year after age 10, they learn to make one meal per year. So at 11 they can make 1. At 12 they can make 2. At 13 they can make 3. And so on, and so on, and so on. That way, when they move out at 18, the goal is that they can make seven different meals well,...

Publishers’ note:  This article was originally published Spring 2010, that will be evident in the details here, however due to the important nature of timeless truth this is being published here for our readers again. I love the Ontario Catholic School Boards. We all owe them a debt of gratitude, whether we’re Catholic or not. They took one...

#1 Parents must have the password The password is the key to unlock the door for full access into your child’s Facebook profile. It must be shared with the parents and only with the parents! This is essential for accountability and building trust in the relationship as it allows parents to spot check the News Feed and Inbox from time to time....

Every now and then, an idea explodes through our collective consciences, challenging our notions about how life works. It happened in the fifteenth century when Galileo argued that the earth was round. It happened in the eighteenth century when upstarts in North America decided they wanted to govern themselves. And I hope, for some of you parents,...

My daughter cut herself for the first time when she was 12 years old. Today, 11 years later, she is still struggling to overcome this problem. At the time I knew absolutely nothing about "self-harm" and it scared me to death. I was shocked and bewildered that she would do such a thing. It’s important to understand cutting - what it is, who does...

This is totally weird!  We packed up the car and the four of us headed out for spring break. The first part that is weird is the car part. You see, we have been driving the family van for the past 16 years.  The “loser cruiser” is what our teenage children call it.  But we drove it happily because the seven-seater fitted our family of six...