Gen X Parents Raising Connected Children

The world has changed, in so many ways, between when you were a child and today. Parents who are part of Generation X are the first to raise children (and teens) in a world where the internet is so prevalent. Times have changed, in so many ways! The Washington Post has an article titled “Parenting as a Gen Xer: We’re the first generation of parents in the age of iEverything”. It was written by Allison Slater Tate and posted on September 19, 2014. In it, she comments on the difficulties faced by parent who can’t understand why their kids won’t … Continue reading

How Does Having Children Affect Friendships?

Sometimes, I worry about what having kids will do to my already nonexistent social life. I’m not whining about not being able to go out and have fun anymore. That’s just not my thing. I’m a stay-in, watch-movies, read-books, play-video-games kind-of-person. My closest friends are those who like to do the same thing. What I’m worried about is growing further apart from the friends that I do have. A lot has already been written about how important it is to preserve one’s friendships outside of our marriage. We may have (hopefully) married our best friend, or at least one of … Continue reading

The Children Discussion

Last week I posted my recent rumination on whether or not I’m ready to have kids. Looking back, I realized that based on the tenor of my article it really belonged more in the parenting or pregnancy blogs. Why? Because it focused on me and my marriage is made up of two people. Today I’ll rectify that by going over what the discussions on the topic have been like for my husband and me. Jon and I didn’t talk about whether or not we wanted kids until we were engaged. Perhaps we should have done so sooner; what if we’d … Continue reading

Children Who Are at Risk of Being Abused

This week I watched a horrifying story on Dr. Phil about a mother who remarried and whose three girls endured years of sexual abuse by their stepfather. It was just absolutely gut-wrenching to hear what these girls endured. While I felt for the mom, a part of me couldn’t grasp how 8 years of this could go by and she had absolutely no clue. In fact, at one point Dr. Phil asked her if looking back now, could she see signs and she still says no. I certainly don’t want to point any fingers at her but what I am … Continue reading

Teaching Your Children Your Morals

Not all homeschooling families are religious, but many are, and have chosen to incorporate their values into their homeschool curriculums. This is true of me and my family. We are Latter-day Saints, and we choose to make our religion an integral part of our lives. This overflows into everything from our interactions with each other to the way we approach certain subjects—creationism rather than evolution, for instance. The other night, I had an experience that made me sit back and look at my daughter in a new light. She has been taught from infancy what we believe, and I know … Continue reading

More Families Seek Public Health Insurance for Children

Research shows that more and more families are relying on public forms of health insurance in order to provide their children with health insurance coverage. This growing trend is connected to the unemployment rate, and the current economy. Large budget cuts to these programs would financially devastate many families. It seems to be a growing trend. Research that was done by the Carsey Institute, at the University of New Hampshire, shows that there has been an increase in the number of families that are using public forms of health insurance in order to provide their children with health insurance coverage. … Continue reading

Exploring Emotions With Young Children

Young children are a study in differences. Some preschoolers have advanced large motor skills, while some kindergarten students struggle with large motor control. Other children have excellent spatial skills, and still others have the ability to understand emotions in a way that is beyond their years. However, even if they may be at different stages of social and emotional development, all young children can benefit from activities that explore emotions and increase social skills. How can you encourage your young homelearners to explore their emotions? One of the simplest ways to study emotions is through discussion of a picture book. … Continue reading

Preparing for Children’s Summer Vacation

When you run a home business and you have children in school, one of the things that you have to prepare for is their summer vacation. And since my children’s summer vacation is less than a month away, I know that I need to get cracking. So what does this mean exactly? Well I think first of all, what it means is sitting down with your kids and having a discussion about some rules and boundaries. Your children need to understand that while a benefit in working from home is your availability to your children, it doesn’t mean that should … Continue reading

Talking Politics With Your Young Children

I love the car. Ok, I have a serious love-hate relationship with the car. I dislike its gas-guzzling properties, but I love it for talking with my daughter. It’s the perfect conversation starter. Trapped in a confined space, you talk about all sorts of things that wouldn’t normally come up. Today’s discussion was politics. Normally I don’t talk politics much. I grew up in a family where talking about politics was poor dinnertime conversation. I have deeply-held opinions on issues and I don’t keep them quiet either, but I rarely connect them to political parties, at least not in everyday … Continue reading

My children’s perspective – “Discoveration”

I went for a walk today with our youngest daughter, and I decided to use that small bit of alone time to talk to her about her feelings and thoughts about the adoption. In our house there is always someone else around, and I realized that I hadn’t had a chance to really talk about this one-on-one with each of our children. So I figured it might be a good idea to ask them each how they felt, during a time when there wasn’t anyone else around to put words in their mouths or interrupt them. When we have talked … Continue reading