(Editor’s note: please welcome this guest post from Jane about teaching responsibility. Thanks Jane!) How Children Learn to be Responsible In an age where cheating in school is at an all time high and people often value good results over hard work, many parents are at a loss for how to raise responsible children. Responsibility [...]

Editor’s note: please welcome Sandy’s advice for getting the kids to help around the house. Thanks, Sandy!) For years I struggled with motivating my children to help me clean the house. As soon as I said the two magic words “cleanup time” they all disappeared. My oldest would grab a book and hide on the [...]

Having a little fun today…one of the great rewards of parenting is being ever so slightly irritating. Heh. Or maybe that’s just my twisted sense of humor. 1. When they go into a bathroom shout, “Hit the water!!!” 2. Let their older siblings stay home while they have to accompany you to the store 3. [...]

After spending a relaxing weekend away, you would think I’d come back all patient and have some stress-free time with the boys.  This especially because the younger boys are visiting Grandma (and doing school with her) this week. Nope. Today hasn’t been difficult because I haven’t asked them to do much.  We have a monthly [...]

I’ve been working like a crazy woman on my todo list this summer.  It’s pretty big, including building a block retaining wall around a flowerbed that’s about 65 feet long, hauling in about 30 yards of mulch, replacing the stairs going down to the basement, and more.  Okay, the stairs thing is Hubby’s job – [...]