Growing Up

Computer screens, Netflix, iPads and iPhones. It’s all too much! It’s too much for an adult, much less a small child. One day, I suggested the kids go outside to play and I was met with whining. “I’m working on my Minecraft World!” “I’m watching Little Mermaid!” “I don’t waaaaant to!” It’s happened. I tried my best for this day not to come. We haven’t had cable/satellite in our home for 6 years. I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn’t want my children to be screen zombies. We don’t have endless channels on our TV, I boasted. But I allowed them each to have their own computer. (In the family room, with strict filters; of course.) I allowed...

I love my daughter's baby book. It's beautiful. It's wrapped in dupioni silk. Her monogram is fancily displayed on the front cover complete with a bow. The pages within are classically themed in a Peter Rabbit design. It cost an arm and a leg. …and I've written in it exactly zero times. She's two years old. Yikes. I don't get much free time, and writing in her baby book has just never been high enough on the list of things to do while she naps or sleeps. This makes me a little sad, especially when I think of her opening it one day and seeing a bunch of empty pages (and also, how much it set me back in dollar-dollar bills y'all),...

It's no secret that I LOVE throwing parties--I find any excuse to break out the striped straws and personalized tags. Some people cannot stand the "Pinterest pressure" of it all, but I thrive on dreaming up themed parties, executing them, and then standing back and admiring all the fun details that went into it. I know my sons won't care that I make a personalized birthday shirt each year or spend hours designing the perfect invitation--it's just something that burns off my creative energy. This past year, my oldest wanted a Spiderman birthday party. Had he ever seen the show? No, but he insisted for months. As we were figuring out where to have it, it hit me that...

{For just this week, we are handing over our computers to the men in our lives and turning this little piece of the world wide web into Red Stick DADS Blog!  Read along with their joys and their struggles, and find out why we are so very thankful to have these awesome dads in our lives.} My wife and I have a daughter who is 3.5 years old going on 15, and a new son who is 4 months old. While I would love to explain a typical day with both children (which is more an exercise of keeping the 3 year old busy and/or alive and the 4 month old fed), I will instead describe a typical day when my daughter and...

{For just this week, we are handing over our computers to the men in our lives and turning this little piece of the world wide web into Red Stick DADS Blog!  Read along with their joys and their struggles, and find out why we are so very thankful to have these awesome dads in our lives.} As a parent, life is full of new and daunting challenges. Some of which we tackle head on, some we reluctantly work through, and some we tend to avoid as long as possible. Unfortunately, “the sex talk” often falls under the latter category. As a counselor who deals with parents and children alike, I don’t think this is because of a general distaste for the subject matter...