Sleep-away Camp is No Reason to Get Tents

My kids have always been independent and were ready to take off for sleep-away camp and not look back from the first summer they were old enough. After many seasons of packing for these expeditions, I’ve learned a few valuable tips I’d like to pass along.   Don’t bother packing tons of cute, coordinated outfits […]

Is Reading Fantasy a Bad Hobbit?

When my daughter was in third grade, my husband and I showed up for a parent-teacher conference where we were told that our child was spending too much time reading fantasy books. It wasn’t the reading the teacher had issues with; it was the selection of books. Instead of my daughter’s chosen genre, the teacher […]

Notes from the Backseat

Before I jump onto my mommy soapbox about DVD players in the car, I need to be completely honest: the eight-year-old inside me is jealous. That girl would have loved a TV set in her car.   You see, my mom was a huge fan of random road trips — and by random I don’t mean […]

Dear Star Wars, Yoda Obi-Wan for Me

If your family was anything like mine when I was a kid, your mother probably made you watch The Wizard of Oz. And if you were anything like me, you probably liked the movie well enough, but the “magic” of seeing the movie transform over to color was lost on you, because… color? Duh. That […]