When I was little I was told to not touch the hot stove – I wanted to see for myself what would happen and touched it anyway. Quickly I learned there’s a good reason I shouldn’t touch a hot stove. As a young driver I learned all the rules of the road before I was allowed to drive. Once I was turned loose with that license and 4000 pound killing machine I decided speed limits were suggestions and more applicable to old people with slow reflexes. Besides bad things just don’t happen to ME. I ended up getting scared into submission when I attended the funeral of a friend and fellow lead foot.
I’m not a genius and sometimes I have to make the same mistake a couple of times before I get it, but I do get it at some point. Not everyone does. I know a lady who is focused on pleasing herself. Nothing will ever come between her and her fun – not her child, ex husband, rules, nothing. If she wants to do it she will find a way. Her amazing determination could take her so many places, but sadly it usually only takes her to the bar. She often brings home the flavor of the night and cant figure out why she feels more empty and sad the next morning. She got what she wanted. Why isn’t she happy? Read the rest of this entry »
Making changes is hard even without outside pressure. It requires going against the grain of who we’ve become. It requires being open to criticism from ourselves. Sometimes we have spent so much time sleep walking through life that we wake up one day not knowing who we’ve become. Staying awake and being in control of our lives instead of allowing life to be something that happens to us takes practice. It is so easy to fall back into the same old rut because the hours of digging out makes us weary. We make excuses for giving up, ‘I’ve survived this long living this way there’s no point in changing now’.
This is not a trait that was unique to me. A lot of people still do it everyday. As long as they can find other people to proclaim the same beliefs, they don’t need to know why they hold it. If someone else believes this, it must be true and so they cling to the belief like their life depended on it. Any evidence to the contrary is immediately disregarded without a second thought. So the belief, or set of beliefs, stays with them like an insurance policy – not completely understood, but always there just in case circumstances call for it. People who fail to analyze their beliefs and refuse to acknowledge the possibility of an other way, fail to 
Children will always live up to our expectations. Have you come to expect your kids to act up when you’re on the phone? They can tell. They easily adjust their behavior and act out when they know they can get away with it. They also behave differently for different care takers. Do your children behave far better for the sitter than you? It is natural for your children to challenge you more than the other adults in their lives. Hopefully, they are around you more and feel more comfortable with you than any other adult. However, if you can never get through a shopping trip without at least one grand-mal fit and the sitter routinely has problem-free outings, you may consider making some adjustments.
we give away our trust very easily. When we were born we had no other choice. There are a lot of reasons we should withhold our total trust in people, systems, and businesses. The first and most obvious reason is 
There are certain behaviors we expect of boys as they grow into men. For many people, looking at naughty photos is one of them. Twenty or more years ago this may have been a relatively innocent activity. Naughty pictures were hard to come by. The most skin some kids had access to was the bra and underwear section of the JCPenney’s catalog. With the Internet, naughty pictures are far more graphic and potentially life altering.
wanted news on the new baby. Was she a good baby, did she sleep through the night… One gentleman began such a conversation that took a different turn. This man was an experienced father of three teenagers. He got misty-eyed and said, “As children grow, they become 
On a message board this question was posted, “Do you think it is odd for a 7 year old to be dating a 10 year old?” There were three or four answers at that point. Apparently, I was the only one that was appalled by such a notion as 7 year olds or 10 year olds dating period little-lone each other!
Whether they can articulate it or not, kids want the two people they love to be together and love each other. This is kind of like how you want your kids to get along and love each other.
Keeping a marriage together feels impossible at times. A glance at divorce statistics reveal that most people believe that it not only feels impossible, but is impossible. Divorce rates have been incredibly high for several generations now. Most adults will tell you 
It is easy to love your spouse when they are being cute and lovable. It takes a strong person to continue to love them when they make the toddler look tolerant and reasonable. So how do you do that? Keep reading…
Every household has rules. Parents specifically set some rules, but most are set by nobody particular. These rules, oddly enough, are the strictest followed rules although nobody is following up on them ready to dole out punishment. Here is a short list of these rules in my house. What are some of the rules in your house? 
