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Optimism is a gift, but resilience is home grown. Contributing writer Sarah Mattison Buhl explores how to develop resilience in ourselves and our children.
12 Essential Tips to Keep Your Teenage Daughter Safe
Teen Trail Crew Work Opportunities this Summer Many teenagers do their summertime growing-up while working for minimum wage. Structured activities (such as part-time jobs) with specific and clear expectations provide teens with more than just something to occupy their time – they learn responsibility, methods of effective communication, punctuality, reliability, and other useful real-world skills. Important though such attributes are, most of the jobs available to teens involve spending time indoors (often… Read More
A “Posh” Life If you are an entertainment junkie as I am, you might have seen or heard about Demi Moore’s fateful night a few weeks ago. According to a released 911 call and several reports, the gorgeous movie star allegedly smoked an unknown “but legal” substance that caused her to go into convulsions. When asked about the report on a red carpet somewhere where I was not and probably will never… Read More
Next to Normal Last night I attended a benefit for our local professional theater. I smiled and laughed at dinner with my sister, her husband and friends. I rocked back and forth, even danced a little in my chair to the INCREDIBLE live music coming from the talented Cabin 3 at the front of the bar. (Okay…a shameless plug for a talented friend.) But if truth be told in the very center… Read More
An Ode to the Eye Roller I am a reasonable human. What I ask and expect is so small, so piddly. My familial desires are quite mundane…and yet, and yet. Each time one is voiced or expected it seems that what I’ve uttered is the most unimaginable, unintelligible, and unreasonable thought, request, plea that any human has ever put forth into the universe. Well. I’ve. Got. News. For. You. It is not… Read More
Hypochondriac Dictionary.com defines the word hypochondriac as someone who is excessively preoccupied with and worried about their health. But really I didn’t have to look up the definition. I could have told you what that meant without even turning on the computer. You see I grew up hearing that word over and over again. One of my grandmothers was afflicted with this disorder. I distinctly remember the phone ringing at all hours… Read More
College—Can I Get a Translator?? When I was in school, (although I hid it well) I realized at an early age that I had a penchant for language. ANY type of language study whether it be reading it, writing it, learning French, Latin and Spanish, came extremely easy to me. What’s more, I enjoyed it. (I hid THAT nugget as well in high school!) As I got older, I continued to study… Read More
We’re Ready! On Thursday we embark on our first trip to visit colleges with our 17 year old, Aidan. We’ll travel to Boston to check out BU, Emerson and Salem State University. By now you know that I am a tad bit (just a tad) on the high strung side. (My children are rolling their eyes at the word “tad” I am sure.) Therefore, I bet that you think since I have… Read More
Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child 9:30 pm—I had just finished cleaning the dinner dishes, sweeping, and packing lunches for school the next day. Like most moms at this time of night, my bones were weary, my muscles were weary, but my mind was weariest. The house was as quiet as it ever gets. Two sleeping boys in their separate quarters and a basketball game droning on in the living room, I… Read More
The Hallow of Hell For 16 years we were a one bathroom house. For 16 years, I was the sole woman trying to pee amongst three men with the bathroom couth of a drunken gorilla. In order to well…do my business in a lady like fashion I would perform a necessary ritual before sitting um…on the throne so to speak. I’d first take out a box of Lysol wipes. Standing with my… Read More
I Know I Lament Motherhood Often… I know that I lament motherhood quite often. It is just that way in my household. Those boys of mine are maddening. Their struggles encompass me. They become my own by virtue of blame or guilt or just plain ol’ desire to help. When it comes to them, I guess one could say that I tend to be pessimistic, worrying about all that COULD go wrong,… Read More
Dispelling Fear I’m sitting and basking in the moment as Jenny, a seventeen year old student, performs her final “goodbye” poem for her weekly “spoken word” assignment in my English class: “Spoken Word has been the greatest present I’ve been given, Giving into fears I thought misgiving. You always say to “go there” and I Never knew where “there” was, just a Place with apparitions and monsters Existing In the back of… Read More
Inspiration I can’t believe what I just saw, heard, and experienced. Standing in front of me is a seventeen-year-old young man who, for the longest time, considered himself worthless, dreamless, lifeless. From my seat in the back of the class, I sit for a moment in awe. Having to give this student a critique on his first “spoken word” performance, a weekly assignment for my English class where students perform their own… Read More
BFF 2.0: Is She Really Kidding? The Problem With “Joking” Online In the latest episode of her new series on friendship and technology, Rachel talks about how “just kidding” and “no offense” can start drama online. Rachel Simmons ♦ Our Daughters: Raising Confident Girls Rachel Simmons writes our monthly column, Our Daughters: Raising Confident Girls. Rachel is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of… Read More
Winter was Forgetting. Spring is Remembering Spring is in the air. Yesterday every window of my home was wide open. I usually love to watch the sheers in the living room billow out with a cool breeze and gently lay back down over the windows, back and forth, over and over. It is usually such a peaceful sight…Usually. While playing on the floor with my toddler, I could hear the annual peals… Read More
BFF 2.0: Using Status Updates to Hash Out Conflicts In the second episode of her new series, BFF 2.0, Rachel talks about using Facebook and AIM status updates to deal with friendship problems. Rachel Simmons ♦ Our Daughters: Raising Confident Girls Rachel Simmons writes our monthly column, Our Daughters: Raising Confident Girls. Rachel is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls,… Read More
We’re Ready On Thursday we embark on our first trip to visit colleges with our 17 year old, Aidan. We’ll travel to Boston to check out BU, Emerson and Salem State University. By now you know that I am a tad bit (just a tad) on the high strung side. (My children are rolling their eyes at the word “tad” I am sure.) Therefore, I bet that you think since I have… Read More
I Am Mother I am not a woman. I am not a scholar or someone with even a brain for that matter. I do not have feelings, or a master’s degree. I haven’t lived a long life or gathered wisdom. I do not have anything to offer the world except perhaps Chap Stick in the winter, and ice cream money in the summer. However, I AM a paycheck, backpack holder, note writer,… Read More
Bill Gates Would Make a Great Parent! I recently joined a blog network full of moms who write about their kids. Being new there and in order to find some connections, I started a discussion group called “Got Teens” for moms of adolescents. Pretty soon the moms started coming out of the wood work to join–mostly to commiserate with others about their teens. I have to admit at first it felt good… Read More
A Magical Fairy Princess She walked out of the school’s front door hand in hand with my son. I looked closely as they approached me and interestingly enough, she wasn’t flying, on the contrary, her feet were firmly on the ground. I offered to give her a ride, not only to get to know the girl who had enamored my boy so much that he wasn’t embarrassed to hold her hand in… Read More
Who Am I Punishing? When I was young it was the telephone, time inside, or the dreaded television punishment that had us shaking in our boots. Three measly things our parents had to choose from to use as fear tactics to get us to behave. I can still hear my mom’s voice saying things like “That room is a mess! No telephone for a week!” This punishment never affected me too much…. Read More
This Hurts Me Much More Than It Hurts You! Aidan failed his driver’s test today…for the second time. It is an interesting phenomenon the heart of a mother. It hurts just as much when your child leaves you as it does when they have what we know are minor life disappointments (but they seem HUGE to them and maybe we hurt for that reason.) My heart is broken for Aidan, as is… Read More
Headline of the Day: World Class Spy Fails to Get the Goods I wish I was James Bond equipped with all that spy gear. A Vespa. A tux. A suave opening line, “Fisher… Logan Fisher.” A phone in the sole of my shoe—oh wait, isn’t that Maxwell Smart? Anyhoo… Being a spy is an essential occupation for a mother of a teenage boy. Isn’t about time Steve Jobs invents an App for… Read More
And Then They Grow Up…. Something happened this week in my home. Something so rare I am afraid I may make other parents of teen boys jealous. But then again, telling you about this rarity make give some of those same parents some hope for the future. What I have to tell you might shake the teenage world as we know it. It is so earth shattering, earth shaking, earth quaking that… Read More
Give Me a D! Give Me an R! Give me an I V E! But Put Your Seatbelt on First! Late Breaking News: Aidan Wright, resident 16 year old of the Fisher household, will be taking (and hopefully passing) his driver’s license test on November 2, 2010. All drivers in the upstate New York/ Massachusetts area take note and take caution. Just sayin… Am I nervous you ask? Let me spell it… Read More
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