Parenting
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Mother Tongue
Let me take you on a lie journey, and where we end up isn’t going to be where we start. Not long ago, I had to have a conversation with one of my kids about lying. This particular lie was not one told to avoid childhood punishment. It was one of those lies told for convenience, or heehaws, or trying to keep the peace. You know the kind of lie I’m talking about. Those are the scariest brand of lies to me because they aren’t squeaked out under duress. Instead, they are the “casual lie,” and that’s what makes them so insidious. They can be difficult to detect, easy to…
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Celebrating “Failures”
My kid scored poorly on an assessment, and we celebrated with ice cream. We celebrated the four hours over four days she spent studying for a simple quiz. We celebrated her ability to teach the lesson back to me. We celebrated her success in completing the online review without missing a single question. We celebrated because regardless of whether an assessment gave her the score she desperately desired, she knew the information. When I picked her up from school, I knew that quiz score would undoubtedly throw her on the “what’s the point” treadmill. She would be frustrated and tempted to listen to a deceitful voice whispering that she’s not…