You know, I really adore my martial arts and self defense classes - the information and knowledge I’m learning there is just plain gold.
I had a very interesting discussion with a sensei yesterday about fighting and how not to panic when the stress levels are high. When you’re in the heat of the […]

Morning,
Watch the following. It’s very very eye-opening. Share it with kids.
http://www.ranaldofamily.com/SWF/KitchenOilFire.wmv
At the Fire Fighting Training school they would demonstrate this with a deep fat fryer set on the fire field. An instructor would don a fire suit and using an 8 oz cup a t the end of a 10 foot pole […]

Parenting. It’s the ultimate of a hero’s journey.
Okay, true, I suppose one’s own personal growing-up time is really the most soul-searing adventure one can undertake. After all, to first be a parent, you should first have passed all of the life’s lessons that have been thrown at you! You should have […]

Here’s a funny parenting thing.
I had to awaken my daughter early this morning. After she left her room, she hid right by my room with the nefarious plan of jumping out and scaring me.
Well! I walked out, didn’t see her, did see something move towards my face, and executed a perfect(I mean […]

This evening’s Halloween trick or treating was ‘way interesting! One of my kids sprained her foot in karate, necessitating her to be on crutches for the foreseeable future. So! Magnificent mom that I am, I offered to go in her place and bring her back her rightful share of candy.
Enter the […]

You know, you can choose to view everything in life as a hero’s journey. It makes the pain and difficulties much easier to bear.
My right femur is getting worse and worse. While I can still walk and karate-ize and sparrize and what have you…when it’s all done, I’m constantly reminded that hey! […]

Choices.
It’s a great concept.
Yesterday my overly-angsted kid told me, Mom, stop saying I’m making choices in regards to my actions!
?
You know, just think about it. Who controls your mind? Who controls your body? Who holds the knife to your throat and says, okay, go jump into the pool with all your […]

Morning,
I think that being a firm parent is one of the toughest things a mom has to do.
Today one of my kids made some very ill-considered choices…so I chose to inflict specific consequences geared towards driving the point home.
The good news is that was certainly achieved…the not-so-thrilling news is that it resulted in major […]

Morning,
Yesterday’s karate class was (as always!) quite an eye-opening experience. Ever since last week when our beloved sensei drilled us until exhaustion (but he didn’t break us!), my family has adored going to Wednesday classes. We view it as an Ultimate Challenge - will we survive without asking for a break? […]

Ah, the joys of maintaining standards of excellent and self-pride in one’s work!
This morning my first grader brought to me his homework. Now, he is very much aware that half-buttocked attempts at work will result in mommy ripping up the page and having him do it again. Be that as it may, […]