What Teen Girls Experience Online

It is well known that adult women experience harassment online. It can be stressful, frustrating, and abusive. What many parents do not realize is that teenage girls are also experiencing online harassment. It might be a good idea to sit down and ask your teenager about what she has faced via social media. The Pew Research Center did a study called “Teens, Technology, and Romantic Relationships”. Both male and female teens were included in the study. The teens were between the ages of 13 and 17. All of them were American. Some of the study revealed data about how teens … Continue reading

Why you Should Read to your Baby

Do you read to your baby? The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued new guidelines that recommend that parents read to their newborn infants. Some parents may not be doing that because it never occurred to them that babies benefit from being read to. There are some very good reasons for parents to read to their babies and young children! The American Academy of Pediatrics notes that parents who read to their children nurture not only their children’s literary skills, but also much more. They have put together some easy to read information that points out the benefits that come … Continue reading

The Sugar Rush Cometh

It’s Halloween in spring; otherwise known as Easter. Only, instead of going door-to-door to collect sweet treats, kids run around like decapitated chickens hunting for plastic eggs filled with chocolate goodness under bushes, in trees and behind rocks. If parents are lucky, their children will actually make it back to the hunt’s home base with at least a few pieces of uneaten candy to show for their efforts.  The unlucky moms and dads are left to pluck their kids from wherever it is they decide to plant their tiny tushes mid-hunt and picnic from a basket bulging with marshmallow chicks, … Continue reading

What to Do While Waiting for Medical Test Results

Waiting for test results can be a bit un-nerving, especially when the test results might indicate a change in your lifestyle. Knowing what to do while you are waiting for test results can help you keep a positive frame of mind while making sure that you don’t miss any important information related to your tests. Establish How and When the Results will be Delivered How will you know when your test results are in and how will the results be delivered to you? Establish the answers to these questions with the lab or your doctor’s office. Will someone call you? … Continue reading

Four Alternatives to the Grocery Store

Just fifteen or twenty years ago it would have been unusual to buy your groceries from anywhere other than your typical neighborhood grocery store. Things have definitely changed since then and the average consumer has a whole range of opportunities to shop for food. Gone on are the days when the supermarket was practically the only place most people went to get their groceries. According to the Wall Street Journal, Americans are only shopping for groceries at supermarkets 51 percent of the time. So where are they going for grocery purchases, and will those places save them money? 1. Big … Continue reading

The Harmful “Him” vs. “Her”

I know that men and women think differently. My first impulse is to examine how much of that is natural and how much is a result of cultural conditioning, but that’s a study for another time, and really another blog. What I want to focus on today is the sort of “us” vs. “them” mentality that arises sometimes, and how that might affect marriages. I had to read “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” for a high school health class. I found it abhorrent, and said as much in my paper on the book. I understand as much … Continue reading

Who Are You, Really? The Reflection of Disconnect

When technology doesn’t work and we can’t do anything to fix it, we tap into feelings of anger and frustration, of being out of control of something we believe is vital to our well-being. When did we surrender that much power to inanimate objects, allowing them to wreak such havoc in our lives? It’s as if we really do want to believe in fairy tales and have decided technology is our surrogate happy ending. When we have our technology, we will live happily ever after. We have tied technology to personal happiness, which is unwise. Happiness in life should never … Continue reading

He Loves Me Anyway

It’s been a hard last six months. Okay, it’s been a hard last two years. We’ve had ups and downs – lots of downs – and mostly centered around me and my health (and my frustration about my health). You know what’s amazing to me? My husband loves me anyway. He knows that I can’t be defined by all this stuff that’s happened. He knows that’s not really me. And he knows that if he’s patient, I will return to who I once was. That’s one of the biggest secrets in marriage, I think. We need to look past our … Continue reading

He Said, She Said – Let’s Meet Matt!

Good morning, everyone! Today I’m excited to announce that we’re kicking off a new series here in Marriage. My husband, Matt Pinkston, is the new Fatherhood blogger, and he’ll also be joining me one day a week here in Marriage for a “He Said, She Said” style of blog. We both have strong opinions and we both like to talk (a lot), so this will be a lot of fun for us, and we hope it will be fun and informative for you as well. Matt and I have been married for sixteen years, and together we have four children. … Continue reading

Where to Draw the Line

My ex husband and I have a pretty good relationship right now, better than it ever was when we were married. Recently I have been spending a fair amount of time with his family. I took our son to their house to trick-or-treat so he could show them his bat costume. We got talking and stayed for over two hours. A few weeks before that I had to pick Logan up from a birthday party at their house and just last week they invited me over for his brother’s girlfriend’s birthday dinner. I have enjoyed spending time with what used … Continue reading