In his 1993 legendary speech, late great Jim Valvano offered some thoughts on what makes a great day – laughter, tears and thought.Just eight weeks before he died from cancer, Valvano, a long-time college basketball coach, said at the ESPYs, “To me, there are three things we all should do every day. … Number one… Read more »

Whenever the moods of my teen agitate me to the point I lose my composure, I feel tremendous guilt later.It’s funny how this works with parenting. An honest reaction to something absurd he says or more often in our case something he does not do ends up resulting in me feeling bad.Nine times out of… Read more »

Teens have a way of sucking the goodness out of situations.Harsh I know, but it’s the reality sometimes with my 14-year-old moody one. It’s just a phase I can’t telling myself and eventually the boy I know so well will return. Until then my little pet name for him will be soul-sucker.The little nickname came… Read more »

Like most of you, I am sick over another school shooting. I can’t rehash the details again. You know all about the horror. I don’t need to tell you how many have died, how it transpired and recap the incident further. You know as much as I do.  All I can do here is vent.My… Read more »

Sports really do provide special moments.Beckett’s middle school lacrosse team traveled to Easton last week for a game and got crushed. There was a wonderful silver lining though. With the game well in hand, the opposing coach called time out with five seconds left. What could he possibly need to do in the last five… Read more »

Inspiration comes in all forms, and a source this week was Elizabeth Bonker.A 24-year-old woman from New Jersey with non-verbal Autism, Bonker was one of Rollins College’s five valedictorians, achieving a perfect 4.0 GPA. The four other valedictorians requested Bonker deliver the speech during the graduation ceremony. Her speech was six minutes long and presented… Read more »

Take everything day to day.It’s what parenting reminds us daily about life.I view each day with my boys, 13 and 12, as restarts. Each kid is different, and most of the time I can tell where their heads are first thing in the morning.I always strive to be steady with them, or “Even Steven” as… Read more »

There are negatives with raising teens, but I try to be a glass half full type in my life. Therefore, here are some positives I have noted of late with my soon to be 14-year-old eighth grader. With a big research paper project underway for English, Pam and I were curious what Beckett would select… Read more »

When I reflect back on parenting years from now, I am certain there will not be a longing for the morning rush hour around the house.A friend and I caught up recently over some local politics. After we solved all the current issues, the conversation quickly divulged into a commiseration about our early mornings.It went… Read more »

FOMO is a real thing with kids.It stands for Fear Of Missing Out. I had to research to learn more about it. According to ChildNEXUS, FOMO is “a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent. FOMO is characterized by the desire to stay continually connected with what others… Read more »