Author Archive
Finding *me* again…
One of things I realized while writing my Hazardous Parenting book was how much of “me” I had lost during my Hazardous Parenting years. Somehow I became so immersed in parenting, often just surviving, that even though I had many different roles that were greatly rewarding, I seemed to just get eroded away. It wasn’t [...]
Getting to *no*…
Yesterday a course or book crossed my line of vision at a time when I didn’t have time to read on or get any info about it. However, the little I did get made me burst into giggles. It was about a course, or maybe a book, I’m not sure, that was called something to [...]
Stress, telomeres and you…
In my Hazardous Parenting book and healing workshops I spend a lot of time talking about the necessity of recovering from the stress of the difficult years. Researchers have found that stress actually shrinks the brain, and heaven knows we have had our share, and more, of stress, as have our children. Here’s an article [...]
Change and loss…
I sometimes wonder if the main task in life is to learn how to cope with loss. I don’t think we need much skill to cope with the good times or with the positive new things that come into our lives, but loss…well…there just aren’t any skills that take away that pain, are there. Over [...]
What I’m giving up for Lent…
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m an Anglican, which means, among many other things, that I follow pretty traditional Christian events and seasons, such as Lent. Lent is a time when many Christians decide to give something up as a form or penitence, or devotion. I’ve never been very good at this because in my more [...]
Rejection versus abandonment…
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the difference between abandonment and rejection. I know that many adult clients come to me wanting to work on their issues of early abandonment by parents who failed in their parenting duties due to addiction or whatever it was that ailed them. Well, I’m not one to tell [...]
Opportunity for change…?
So, one of my littles is going into an early puberty – complete with Attitude and a compulsion to wear skanky clothes at every opportunity. As I fasten my seatbelt for the inevitable bumpy ride ahead, I realize that this is an opportunity for me to do something different as I parent yet another p0tentially [...]
Stumbling through my thoughts…
I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching lately – I’m at that age where one starts to speculate on all that one has done wrong. I would love to speculate on all that I’ve done right, but my mind doesn’t seem to go there. The thing about this reflective state, is that it isn’t [...]
Muddling along and succeeding at times…
I realized that most of my young and not so young adults are doing quite well. They all had such tumultuous lives while growing up – police involvement, jail, violence, theft, drugs and alcohol, and other things that were less than pleasant for all of us – but now they are all doing pretty much [...]
It’s all about perspective…
I was at a church function last night – a fun way for families to celebrate in a less formal gathering – our new church does this once a month – it’s a potluck dinner, a fun activity and then a different form of church service than we have on Sunday mornings. In case you [...]
