♪ It’s the most wonderful time of the year…♪ Do you remember that ingenious commercial that used the well-known Christmas song to illustrate how parents feel when the first day of school finally comes around? Even today, thinking about the image of those parents gliding happily along on their back-to-school shopping carts while their children trail […]
Do you have a back to school tradition in your family? Back when I was a kid, going school shopping especially for new “school” shoes, was a big event in my family. We also did the big school supply shopping trip where my brother and sisters and I would spend an inordinate amount of time […]
It is no wonder we call them grand children and they call us grand parents. From the moment they arrive, they transform us into the grandest we have ever been. They give us new names, and we are never the same. They fill our hearts with love and laughter and other wondrous gifts of grandeur. […]
One of the worst things I’ve ever done in my life was to laugh at my husband when he told me about an idea he had. He had imagined a door mat that had some sort of automatic trigger in it, so that when it felt weight, it would ring a doorbell. This would be […]
If your little one is heading off to school for the first time, I feel for you both. That first day of kindergarten is one of the biggies when it comes to parenting. I hear from friends with teens, that heading off to kindergarten and heading off to college evoke the same sort of intense, […]
With all the extra daylight hours, plus the nice weather that comes with summer, this could be a great time for your family to think about getting out into the world and making a difference. Children as young as 3 can pick up trash in the neighborhood, older kids can make sandwiches for a local […]
Your kids are heading into a new grade. Whether they’ll be surrounded by the same faces they’ve known for years, or they’ll be faced with the challenges and joys of making new friends, there are some insecurities they are likely taking with them. Have my friends changed over the summer? Will I have the same […]
As the editor of Ask, I get to learn about some amazing and unusual people and writing “The Amazing Adventures of Manjiro” for our July Shipwreck issue of Ask was no exception. This is the true story of a young castaway rescued by an American whaler who became the first Japanese person to visit the […]
Around this time each summer, the joys of no school start to fade into the cries of “I’m bored.” I’m not sure there is another phrase emerging from my child’s mouth that annoys me more than the ubiquitous “I’m bored.” I always try to tell her to think before using it because it is inevitably […]
A story is only as good as its first sentence. That’s probably why some authors spend as much time crafting the perfect first sentence as they spend writing the rest of the book. If you can’t reel your audience in with the opening line, what’s going to motivate them to stick around for any line […]