Search Results for: blog i can hear you im just not listening

The Importance of Listening

How could I possibly resist listening to this adorable angel? My daughter’s smile can light up a room, but her insanely long recaps of lunchroom drama between five girls, a shoe, a note and some other item that I have no earthly idea about, are far from illuminating. In fact, her convoluted conspectuses often make my ears burn, though the pain could actually be my brain frying, as I try to decipher what green socks and Eggplant Parmesan  have to do with how she fared on Friday’s spelling test. I try to make sense of it all, but I’m old. … Continue reading →

One Trick to Stop Nagging Now

Ever listen to a dripping faucet?  It can quickly become an annoyance.  But have you ever considered that maybe this is how we sound to our teens? Nagging is oftentimes attributed to wives.  We have somehow earned this stereotype.  Yet the reality is that parents can easily fall prey to this bad (and annoying) habit. Here’s what I think happens when we start nagging our teen.  Suddenly all they hear is the sound Charlie Brown’s teacher makes when she talks. In other words, we are incomprehensible.  Nothing is getting through because they stop hearing what we are saying. No wonder … Continue reading →

Three Simple Rules for Anyone Attending a Birth

 This post is dedicated to all of the fathers, partners, husbands, and others who will be attending births in the near future. While we, the pregnant women, appreciate your willingness and desire to be present at the births of our children, we do respectfully request that you follow a few ground rules during your participation in this important event. Here are a few suggestions to keep in mind when the time comes. Rule number one. Everything changes once those contractions start coming. It does not matter what I said last month, last week, yesterday, or even this morning. It does … Continue reading →

Parents Listen To Your Instincts

Have you ever had an experience where you allowed yourself to be influenced by what another parent was doing instead of listening to your gut? How did that work out? If your experience was anything like the experience that I had today, it probably did not work out too well. It started at the grocery store. Before we went in I reminded Dylan that since we had just had a snack, he would not be getting a snack at the store. To his credit, he did not ask me for a snack while we were at the store. He did … Continue reading →

Barking Orders

Wouldn’t it be interesting to be able to playback the things we say throughout the day? I think it would be pretty enlightening. For whatever reason, there was this moment I experienced a couple of days ago when I really heard myself. And I didn’t like what I was hearing. The realization hit me that I give a lot of instructions, particularly with my youngest child. “Put your shoes away.” “Feed the dogs.” “Turn down your television.” “Do your homework.” It’s not that giving instructions is wrong. But is most of our communication spent barking orders? I had to ask … Continue reading →

Rich Parent Problems

“My other car is a Lamborghini. Just like this one.” That’s one bumper sticker you’ll never see on my vehicle. After all, it’d look pretty silly on the back of my bike. Just as I don’t have time to turn turkey bones into chandeliers, I simply don’t have the income to drop $50,000 to have my kid attend a fancy schmancy kindergarten. However, this is not a problem for some of the world’s most affluent parents. Forking over 50 grand so their child can be surrounded by other rich kids and learn Mandarin in a highly-integrated community equipped with the … Continue reading →

Women Guilty of Tuning Out

It’s a common complaint with women…he never listens. Communication tends to be a huge problem in many marriages but most of the blame gets put on the husband. I bet you can picture a scene in your mind. He is sitting on the couch, watching the game and his wife mentions how so-and-so is really fed up with so-and-so, that they might even separate. “That’s nice dear.” What? Did he not just hear what was said? They might get divorced! Clearly, he wasn’t listening. And so she spouts off about how he never listens and it escalates into an argument. … Continue reading →

17th Annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival

I’m breaking with my own tradition here: usually I wait to post about the Epcot Food & Wine Festival until closer to when it will actually start. We’ve got just over a month until it kicks off, so why am I writing about it now? I’m doing so in case anyone reading this is interested in going, and wants to sign up for one of the seminars or other special events. As of right now, some are sold out but others still have spaces available. Slots are going fast, so sign up ASAP if you’re interested. Here’s a quick summary … Continue reading →

Learning the Real Rules of Life

I recently finished reading “The Real Rules of Life: Balancing Life’s Terms with Your Own” by Ken Druck, sent to me in exchange for a review. This is probably one of the most life-impacting books I have ever read. In fact, I plan on reading it again but taking more time with it. There was so much to take in and the opportunity to really apply what you read. I greatly appreciate not only the effort that went into this book but the heart as well. “The Real Rules of Life” was written after the author’s loss of his 21-year-old … Continue reading →

Natural Cleaning Products are Getting Better

All natural cleaning is really coming into it’s own. More and more people are using vinegar to clean instead of harsher chemicals, and we are talking about it, on blogs, in forums and where ever women talk about cleaning. There is a move towards products that are safer for our families and better for the environment. Heinz, who currently makes more than 7.5 million gallons of vinegar a year for American households has announced it will be making a stronger vinegar. The new product will be 20% stronger than traditional vinegar and still be safe for cooking. This move shows … Continue reading →