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As a mom, I wanted to instill confidence in my three children, but I always feared that if they became overly confident, they would struggle. Confidence is an attribute that will serve a child for life. However, overconfidence can keep kids from growing, learning, and reaching their ultimate potential. At the same time, if children care too much about the opinions of others, they may start to question or doubt their own intrinsic self-worth. As parents, embracing our children for wh …

Have you ever asked yourself, “How many friends do I have?” Of course, there are many different levels of friendship. You have your “Bestie Super Close” friends that are a part of your soul, your “Kinda Close” friends that bounce in and out of your life often, your “Hi – Bye” friends (called acquaintances), and finally those friends who don’t really fit into any of your categories other than “Friend.” Regardless of the friendship level, one rule stands constant: In order to hav …

"You need to be more patient!" Six words that I have heard ALL of my life. To me, patience means waiting…and waiting is really hard! Personally, I think that a lack of patience is and always has been one of my biggest faults. When I was little, my grandma would give me candy corn in two small plastic bags. She’d say, “This bag is to eat now, and you can save this bag for later, because good things come to those who wait.” Let’s just say that my later bag never made it to later. When I was se …

Children are born without bias. As infants, they don’t care about race, gender, religion (or lack thereof), sexual orientation or cultural identity. As they grow, any prejudice they exhibit regarding others could be the result of learning via observation. That means if you wish to educate students who are nonjudgmental; you must first take a look in the mirror. You must also understand that the key to building relationships and educating nonjudgmental students is through the developme …

When I was 11, I walked over to the corner store to buy a soda. I paid with a twenty-dollar bill, and the guy mistakenly gave me back some ones and a fifty instead of a ten. I ran up to my dad and said, “Guess what? I just got paid to buy a pop! It’s my lucky day!” My dad looked at me surprisingly and said, “You’re keeping it?” I replied, “Heck yeah! He’ll never know.” Then he said, “But you will know. You’ll know today, and tomorrow, and forever. You just sold out your integrity for forty …

Two kids + 1 bottle of bubbles = BIG problem! Sound familiar?I watched from across the driveway as my granddaughters went at it! My first instinct was to go into the house and pull out another bottle of the bubbles that was stashed in the closet, then both girls could each have their own. Boy, am I glad I didn’t do that! A few minutes later, my son stepped in… “Hey girls, that’s enough. I think this bottle of bubbles wants both of you to have a turn. Let’s compromise and flip a co …

Five tips for teaching kids how to cope with and react effectively to rumors.Have you ever been targeted by a rumor? I have! In seventh grade, I accidentally burned my neck with a curling iron. The burn resembled a hickey. I tried to cover it up with makeup, but it took less than two hours for a rumor to circulate at school that I had made out with someone, was easy and loose and was most likely pregnant! Growing up in an extremely conservative area, I lost most of my friends by the end of …