Is Excellence No Longer Valued?

The older boys have been complaining about our insistence that they go to Scouts every week, and also that we expect them to participate in Tae Kwon Do. When I ask what’s so terrible about either of these activities, there’s not much of an answer. The Mercenary told me about 6 times today: [...]

What Do You Do When Your Child Lies?

Tonight when Hubby got home from work he happened to notice that two sweets he’d put in the cupboard yesterday were gone. I’d noticed them mid-day myself. Now the shelf was empty. No one had asked me about eating them, and I hadn’t done it. I had the last slice of [...]

WFMW: Snow Day

We’re in the middle of a winter storm warning here at Earnest Parenting. I think I’ll take the opportunity to have a snow day (right after I work with the older boys on the research papers they’ve been avoiding for too long).
There are enough cameras lying around this house that I think we can [...]

We’re Working on that “Getting Along” Thing

Growing up, I didn’t get along well with my brother. Two years younger than me, we were constantly competing for attention and the rivalry was pretty intense. Seriously intense. I hated him with passion, and it wasn’t until we were both out of the house and on our own that we made [...]

Be Surprising

Last year at this time the boys and I went skiing for the very first time ever in our whole lives. Our neighbors’ private school was having a field trip and invited us to join. It was a fantastic trip! The only downside was the 12 months of begging to go again. [...]

Teach Lessons More Effectively Without Warning

I am the Queen of Warning, married to the King of Warning. If the boys are on the wrong track, we both like to correct them. However, this is not conducive to the Love and Logic technique of letting kids mess up to learn lessons. So! I’m trying not to give [...]